Before the vote, council member Natasha Harper-Madison said getting a tax exemption can be a big deal for first-time homeowners.
“When you get that tax bill every year, it really is a barrier for a lot of folks,” Harper-Madison said.
The gist
Council members passed a similar tax exemption in May 2024, raising the homestead exemptions for seniors and disabled Austinites from $124,000 to $154,000, Community Impact previously reported.
At the May 22 meeting, officials approved an ordinance keeping the tax exemption in place for qualifying homeowners. The ordinance also approves an increase necessary to provide the equivalent property tax relief Austin officials approved in the 2024 tax exemption increase, as permitted by law.
In Texas, the current homestead exemption is $100,000 for most homeowners, according to previous Community Impact reporting.
How it works
While there is no state property tax in Texas, property taxes are locally assessed and administered, according to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Texas law offers a number of property tax exemptions for qualifying owners.
Cities and school districts have the option to further cut a property's taxable value. In Austin, the city’s homestead exemption was expanded across the board for all taxpayers in 2021, while officials also approved greater increases for senior and disabled homeowners, Community Impact previously reported.
Offering input
While council member Marc Duchen said he supports the homestead exemption, he noted the agenda item was listed as having no fiscal impact.
According to previous Community Impact reporting, nonsenior homeowners in 2024 could have seen a $100 increase on their most recent property bills due to rising home appraisals and cost of covering the senior homestead exemption.
“I would like going forward, if possible, for us to be a bit more clear about the funding mechanism,” Duchen said. “As we’ve learned, we are proportionately increasing taxes for everybody else not impacted.”
Duchen said the city’s finance department has not yet identified exactly how much other homeowners will be impacted through the tax exemption.
At the capitol
Texas lawmakers are considering two bills—Senate Bill 23 and SB 4—which would reduce property taxes for homeowners and businesses.
Authored by Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, SB 23 would give qualifying senior or disabled homeowners a $200,000 exemption from school taxes, saving them about $950 annually on property tax bills.
Similarly, SB 4 would raise the statewide homestead exemption from $100,000 to $140,000 and would apply to taxes imposed by public schools.
On May 20, the Texas House voted unanimously to initially approve SB 23 and SB 4, but an additional procedural vote is required before they can return to the Senate, Community Impact previously reported.
Keep in mind
Eligible Austin homeowners can apply for the exemption or check their status through the central appraisal districts in Travis, Williamson and Hays counties.
The city of Austin’s tax rate for fiscal year 2024-25 is $0.4776 per $100 of property value, a 7% increase from the FY 2023-24 tax rate.
