Denton County Chief Appraiser Don Spencer said the appraisal district is required to send out notices in the following situations:
- If a homeowner does not have a homestead exemption but appears to qualify for one
- If a property’s homestead exemption needs to be verified as part of the appraisal district’s reappraisal verification process mandated by Senate Bill 1801
- If the value of a homestead exemption changes because of fluctuations in appraisal value
What you need to know
The Denton Central Appraisal District is required to reappraise values every five years to comply with SB 1801, and has split the county into five areas, Spencer said. The reappraisal allows officials to confirm that properties still qualify for homestead exemption.
In cases where the information did not match, a homeowner may receive mail from the appraisal district requesting them to verify an exemption for the property. If a property owner provides incomplete information to qualify for a homestead exemption, the process can become prolonged, Spencer said.
“If nothing has changed on your property, and you didn't get a letter from us asking for a new application, then you're good,” he added.
To apply for a homestead exemption in Denton County, homeowners can apply by mail, online or in-person.
Additionally, municipalities within Denton County exempt percentages of property values from local taxes, which can result in a decreased homestead exemption if appraised values decrease, Spencer said. Some confusion existed for Flower Mound residents, many of whom received notices that their homestead exemption taxes were decreasing, town Chief Financial Officer John Zagurski said.
“Any time their appraised value goes down, it's going to take the exemption value down,” Zagurski said.
Diving deeper
Denton Central Appraisal District typically operates with a backlog between 8,000 and 9,000 homestead exemption applications, Spencer said. Despite the increased mandates, the small staff of the appraisal district did not receive more resources, he added.
There are also some potential processing delays because staff are trying to work through any protests along with providing certified tax rolls to taxing entities by late July.
“We don't like being behind on this stuff,” he said. “With the coupling of the mass amounts of homestead exemption applications we get, and, you know, being inadequately staffed, we’re at capacity.”
Also of note
The Denton Central Appraisal District rolled out new software called TrueRoll last November, which is creating opportunities to make processes more efficient, partly by eliminating manual data entry Spencer said. The software will be used to help improve the homestead exemption verification process.
