Hays County’s market value is rising, with property values totaling about $19.56 billion in 2015, according to preliminary data released in April by the Hays Central Appraisal District.

The appraised value rose 14.83 percent from the year before, when values stood at about $17.03 billion.

Growth in home sales in Kyle and Buda is among the reasons behind the increase, HCAD Chief Appraiser David Valle said.

This year marks the first double-digit increase in values since before the recession, Valle said.

“[The market] took a few years to recuperate,” he said. “Now we are here looking at 2015, and there is a pretty good double-digit increase for most areas of the county.”

But how much of a revenue boost Hays County entities will realize from the additional taxable value remains unknown, as nearly 10,000 households have filed protests.

Valle said about 1,000 protests were filed because of flood damage sustained in the Memorial Day weekend flooding that largely affected Wimberley and San Marcos. A majority of the protests, however, were likely filed because the homeowners believe their appraisals were over market value, he said.

Buda

Buda’s 2015 preliminary value rose 23.55 percent from the previous year. In 2014 its assessed values totaled $1.14 billion; they increased to $1.41 billion in 2015.

The average home value in Buda rose nearly 20 percent. At $209,601 the average home value in the city has shot up since 2011, when the value stood at $159,181.

“You start going up double digits in value, and that’s really a significant bill for people,” Mayor Todd Ruge said. “You get into those more executive housing, and I would imagine it really is a big expense for [homeowners].”

Although the city’s tax rate of 0.2978 per $100 property valuation is among the lowest in the region, Buda homeowners will feel the strain because their pay raises at work likely do not mirror the growth in their property values, Ruge said.

“I don’t know of any profession getting double-digit raises,” he said.

He said the significant number of protests—943 as of June 29—will likely make revenue estimates tough.

“It’s going to be an inexact science this year,” Ruge said.

Kyle

Kyle’s property value eclipsed the $2 billion mark in 2015. The city’s values grew 20.61 percent, from $1.97 billion in 2014 to $2.38 billion in 2015.

The city’s average home value also grew sharply. These are positive signs for the city’s economic progress, Assistant City Manager James Earp said.

“As the valuations go up, that’s a good sign that our economy’s strong,” Earp said.

The city’s relative affordability in the region has been a primary driver of growth in recent years, but it also has the highest tax rate of any Hays County city, at 0.5383 per $100 property valuation.

Among the reasons for its high tax rate is Kyle’s residential-heavy property portfolio. In 2011, 88 percent of the properties on the city’s tax roll were residential and 12 percent were commercial. But at 85 percent residential and 15 percent commercial, according to 2015 preliminary figures, Kyle will seek further commercial growth to ease homeowners’ burdens, Earp said.

“Generally speaking, businesses are good for residents because businesses help supplement the tax base and make it to where [homeowners’] tax burden is less,” he said.

San Marcos

Among the three cities along the I-35 corridor in Hays County, San Marcos had the smallest increase in property values with a 14.85 percent jump from $3.91 billion in 2014 to $4.49 billion in 2015. But it is also more mature in its development than its northern counterparts, Buda and Kyle.

Steve Parker, assistant city manager and chief financial officer for the city of San Marcos, said the city gained about $65 million in new residential value and $52 million in new commercial value in 2015.

The average home value in San Marcos rose 10.37 percent, from $129,275 in 2014 to $142,680 in 2015. The city’s tax rate is 0.5302 per $100 property valuation.

Of the city’s $4.49 billion in property value, about $234 million, or 5.2 percent, is under protest, Parker said. That represents about $1.2 million in potential property tax revenue if the reappraisals are denied, he said. Because most protests are not resolved until after the city adopts its annual budget, the revenue will not likely be reflected in the city’s financial planning until 2016-17.

Receiving most of its revenue from commercial property, the city aims to attract residential development that serves higher earners, Parker said.