Res 1995-121 - Laserfiche WebLink

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/6Z;[ TAX: INF 0 &. '\fA TI 0 N Ad Valorem Tax Law The appraisal of property within the City is the responsibility of the Hays County Appraisal District (the" Appraisal District"). Excluding agricultural and open-space land. which may be ta.xed on the basis of productive capacity, the Appraisal District is required under the Property Ta.x Code to appraise all property within the Appraisal District on the basis of 100% of its market value and is prohibited from applying any assessment ratios. The value placed upon property within the Appraisal District is subject to review by an Appraisal Review Board. consisting of ~ members appointed by the Board of Directors of the Appraisal District. The Appraisal District is required to review the value of property within the Appraisal District at least every three years. The City may require annual review at its own expense, and is entitled to challenge the detennination of appraised value of property within the City by petition filed Vtith the Appraisal Review Board. Reference is made to the vrCA, Property Ta.x Code for identification of property subject to ta.xation; property exempt or which may be exempted from taxation, if claimed; the appraisal of property for ad valorem taxation purposes; and the procedures and limitations applicable to the levy and collection of ad valorem ta.xes. Article VIII of the State Constitution ("Article VIII") and State law provide for certain exemptions from property taxes, the valuation of agricultural and open-space lands at productive value, and the exemption of certain personal property from ad valorem ta.xation. Under Section I-b of Article VIII and State law, the governing body of a political subdivision, at its option, may grant: (1) An exemption of not less than $3,000 of the market value of the residence homestead of persons 65 years of age or older and the disabled from all ad valorem ta.xes thereafter levied by the political subdivision; (2) An exemption of up to 20% of the market value of residence homesteads; rninimwn exemption 55,000. State law and Section 2, Article vm, mandate an additional property ta.x exemption for disabled veterans or the surviving spouse or children of a deceased veteran who died while on active duty in the armed forces; the exemption applies to either real or personal property with the amount of assessed valuation exempted ranging from 51,500 to a ma.ximwn 0[$3,000. . Article VIII provides that eligible O\VIlers of both agricultural land (Section I-d) and open-space land (Section I-d-I), including open-space land devoted to farm or ranch purposes or open-space land devoted to timber production, may elect to have such property appraised for property ta.xation on the basis of its productive capacity. The same land may not be qualified under both Section I-d and I-d-l. Nonbusiness personal property, such as automobiles or light trucks, are exempt from ad valorem ta.xation unless the governing body of a political subdivision elects to ta.x this property. Boats oVtlled as nonbusiness property are exempt from ad valorem ta.xation. Article vm, Section I-j of the Texas Constitution provides for "freeport property" to be exempted ÍÌom ad valorem ta.xation. Freeport property is defined as goods detained in Texas for 175 days or less for the purpose of assembly, storage, manufacturing, processing or fabrication. The exemption became effective for the 1990-91 fiscal year and thereafter unless action to tax such property has been taken prior to Aprill, 1990. Decisions to continue to tax may be reversed in the future; decisions to exempt freeport property are not subject to reversal. The City has taken action to ta.x freeport property. The City and the other taxing bodies within its territory may agree to jointly create tax increment financing zones, under which the tax values on property in the zone are "ÍÌozen" at the value of the property at the time of creation of the zone. The City also may enter into tax abatement agreements to encourage econoIIÚc development Under the agreements, a property owner agrees to construct certain improvements on its property. The City in turn agrees not to levy a ta.x on all or part of the increased value attributable to the improvements until the expiration of the agreement The abatement agreement could last for a period of up to 10 years. The City has adopted a tax abatement policy. The Tax Law u it Applies to the City The City grants an e."(emption to the market value of the residence homestead of persons 65 years of age or older of $10 ,000. The City has not granted any additional exemption to the market value of residence homesteads. The City does not ta.x nonbusiness personal property. .