Frisco City Council approves homestead exemption increase, property tax freeze for elderly and disabled residents

The freeze for homeowners who are elderly and disabled will be in effect until an amendment to the Texas Constitution changes it, per city documents.

“We want people to come to Frisco to live and to work and to play, but we want you to come to Frisco to retire,” Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Angelia Pelham said, adding that she provided financial assistance for an elderly parent who would have been priced out of their home otherwise.

Frisco first adopted a homestead exemption, which lowers the property value used to calculate property taxes owed, in June 2017, according to city documents. It started at 7.5% and increased to 10% in 2018. City staff evaluate the percentage each year in an effort to maintain both the homestead and elderly and disabled exemption at approximately 33% of the median assessed home value, city documents state.

“The homestead exemption is a personal passion of mine,” Mayor Jeff Cheney said. “It is our goal to get this to 20%, and we’re going to keep pushing every single year [and] stressing the budget every single year to see how fast we can get it.”

The appraisal district office increased the median home value for those over 65 years old from $353,828 to $383,732, per city documents. This increase put the exemptions at 31% of the median assessed home value, which is slightly below the city’s goal.

Estimates from the Collin County Appraisal District project the 2022 average market value of a Frisco home to be $633,300. The city of Frisco’s tax rate is $0.4466 per $100 valuation for fiscal year 2021-22. A person with a $633,300 home would pay about $2,828 in city taxes with the new homestead exemption.

Council Member Bill Woodard emphasized that city staff were required by the state to make recommendations on both the freeze and the exemption in June, which is before the city has final taxable values from Collin and Denton counties.

“[Staff are] projecting as best as they possibly can on what they think is going to happen with no certainties,” said Woodard, who is chair of the budget and audit committee. “There's going to be a lot of additional budget discussions over the rest of this summer. This is not the end of our budget discussions.”