Each property in Hays County is reviewed by an appraiser at least once every three years. The appraiser will note changes to the property, such as the addition or removal of a barn or shed. The district then uses one of three methods to determine the property value: the sales approach, which considers what similar properties have sold for recently; the cost approach, which considers what it would cost to build an identical structure on the property; and the income approach, which is used to appraise income-producing properties.
The average property value in Hays County increased 9 percent from 2016 to 2017. Here are the number of property owners in San Marcos, Kyle and Buda, as well as Hays and San Marcos CISDs that have filed protests with the HCAD since 2014.
San Marcos
In the city of San Marcos, 2,141 properties, representing 14.75 percent of all properties in the city, had protests filed in 2016.
Buda
The city of Buda has had the highest percentage of protests for each of the past three years. From 2014-2016, property owners in the city filed 681, 969 and 971 protests. Those numbers represent 13.3 percent, 17.59 percent and 16.88 percent of all properties, respectively.
Kyle
In 2014, 9.62 percent of properties had protests filed. In 2015 and 2016, that number increased to 14.65 percent and 13.96 percent, respectively.
San Marcos CISD
In 2014, 7.53 percent of properties in San Marcos CISD had protests filed against their appraisals. By 2015, that number increased to 9.98 percent of properties, and in 2016 the number increased again to 11.1 percent.
Hays CISD
In Hays CISD, a higher percentage of property owners than in San Marcos CISD have filed protests against their appraisals in the past three years. In 2014, 9.2 percent of properties had protests filed, and in 2015 and 2016, 13.58 percent and 13.36 percent of properties had protests filed, respectively.
Editor's note: Percentages represent the percentage of properties in the city or district that filed protests during that tax year, so although the number of protests may have increased year to year, if the number of properties in the city or district increased at a faster rate, the percentage of protests would decrease.
