Res 1992-038 - Laserfiche WebLink

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TAX INFORMATION Ad Valorem Tax Law The appraiJal of property within the City iI the responsibility of the Hays County Appraisal Diatrict. Excludina aaricuhural and open-apace land, which may be taxed on the buil of productive capacity, the Appraisal District is required under the Property Tax Code to appraise all property ~ the Appraisal District on the basil of 100~ of it. market value and iI prohibited from applying any assClsment ratio.. The value placed upon property within the Appraisal District ilsubjc:ct to review by an Appraiaal Review Board, consisting of three members appointed by the: Board of Directors of the Apprailal District. The Appraisal District iI required to revkw the value of property within the Appraisal District at lcut every three years. 'The City may require annual review at it. own expense, and iI entitled to challenge the determination of appraised valuc of property within the City by petition filed with the Appraisal Review Board. Refcrence is made to the VTCA, Property Tax Cock, for identification of property subject to taxation; property exempt or which may be exempted from taxation, if claimed; the appraisal of property for ad valorem taxation purposea; and the procedures and limitations applicable to the levy and collection of ad valorem tAxca, Article VITI of the State Constitution ("Article VITI") and Stale law provide I'or certain exemptions from property taxca, the valuation of agricultural and open-apace lands at productivity value, and the exemption of certain personal property from ad valorem taxation. Under Section I-b, Article VITI, and State law, the: governing body of a political subdivision, at ita option, may grant: (1) An exemption of not Icss1han $3,000 of the market value of the residence homcstead of persons 65 years of age or older and the disabled from all ad valorem taxes thereafter levied by the political.ubdivision; (2) An exemption of up to 20% of the market value of residence homesteads; minimum exemption $5,000. In the case of residence homestead exemptions granted under Section I-b, Article VITI, ad valorem taxes may continue to be levied against the value of homesteads exempted where ad valorem taxes have previously been pledged for the payment of debt if cessation of the levy would impair the obligation of the contract by which the debt was created. State law and Section 2, Article vm, mandate an additional property tax 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 appliCl to either real or personal property with the amount of assessed valuation exempted ranging from $1,500 to a maximum of $3,000. Article VITI provides that eligible owners of both agricuhuralland (Section 1-<1) and open-space land (Section 1-<1-1), 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 taxation on the basis of its productive capacity. The same land may not be qualified under both Section 1-<1 and 1-<1-1. Nonbusiness vehicles, such as automobiles or light trocks, are exempt from ad valorem taxation unlesa the governing body of a political subdivision elects to tax this property. Boats owned as nonbusiness property arc exempt from ad valorem taxation. Article VITI, Section 1-j of the Texas Constitution providea for wfreeport property" to be exempted from ad valorem taxation. Freeport property is defined u goods detained in Texas for 175 day. or less I'or the purpoaeof assembly, storage, manuracturina, proces.ing or fabrication. The exemption became effective for the 1990-91 fiscal year and thereaftu unless action to tax such property has been taken prior to April 1, 1990. Decisions to continue to tax may be reversed in the futu~; decisions to exempt freeport property ate not .ubject to reversal. The City (haslbu not) taken action to tax freeport property. The City grant. an exemption to the market value of the residence homestead of penons 6S years of age or older of $10,000, The City has not granted an additional exemption of the market value of residence homestads. The City docs not tax nonbusiness vehicles. 7