In addition to local city and school elections, Rio Grande Valley voters also have constitutional amendments on their May 7 ballot.
Both of those constitutional amendment propositions relate to school district property taxing, specifically to expanding homestead exemptions that could ultimately lower the amount of those taxes levied on some Texans.
“If passed, both of these propositions will cut independent school district property tax bills by increasing homeowner exemptions that will save money for all 5.67 million homesteads in the State of Texas,” reads a statement from state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, the Houston Republican who wrote legislation calling for the amendments.
Proposition 1
Proposition 1 reads: “The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for the reduction of the amount of a limitation on the total amount of ad valorem taxes that may be imposed for general elementary and secondary public school purposes on the residence homestead of a person who is elderly or disabled to reflect any statutory reduction from the preceding tax year in the maximum compressed rate of the maintenance and operations taxes imposed for those purposes on the homestead.”
Essentially, homeowners who are elderly or disabled can have their school district property taxes frozen. Recent legislation lowered school tax rates for homeowners, but did not take into account those elderly and disabled homeowners with frozen taxes.
Proposition 1 would allow those individuals to receive additional reductions.
“The intent is to give property owners over the age of 65 and or disabled the benefits of the state’s compressed tax rate for school maintenance and operations (M&O),” Bettencourt’s release reads.
Proposition 2
Proposition 2 reads: “The constitutional amendment increasing the amount of the residence homestead exemption from ad valorem taxation for public school purposes from $25,000 to $40,000.”
The intent of that proposition, Bettencourt’s release says, is to help homeowners by levying less taxes on them. The average homeowner will pay $175 less in school property values using the statewide average rate of $1.17/$100, it estimates.
“I want to thank Lieutenant Governor Patrick for making both property tax Senate bills a priority, as all homeowners with homesteads will save money on their property tax bills. Over 65 homeowners will see their freeze values actually decline, and lifetime savings from both bills in the many thousands,” Bettencourt wrote.
The release says the passage of the propositions would not result in any school districts losing funding, and that any lost local revenue would be replaced by the state.
Bettencourt said last year that the state’s budget surplus would pay for the first year of tax relief.
