Preliminary 2020 property valuations from the Tarrant Appraisal District and Denton Central Appraisal District indicate reasonable growth in both market value and taxable values for real estate and manufactured homes in Keller, Roanoke and Fort Worth.
The city of Fort Worth saw the largest increase in taxable value at 8.09%, according to the TAD, while the cities of Keller and Roanoke saw comparable increases. Taxable value increased 5.21% year over year in Roanoke and 4.5% year over year in Keller.
“From what I have generally heard from other cities, that’s in line with what they are saying,” said Aaron Rector, the director of finance for the city of Keller. “The kicker is we do not have as much commercial value as other cities. That becomes important.”
The current property tax rate of $0.3999 is at its lowest in decades, according to Keller Mayor Pat McGrail. The city has also increased its homestead exemption from 1% to 12% in recent years to “mitigate” increased valuations by the TAD, he said.
By contrast, the property tax rates are $0.7475 for Fort Worth residents and $0.37512 in the city of Roanoke. Overall, taxable values increased to $81.15 billion in Fort Worth, $6.5 billion in Keller and $1.89 billion in Roanoke.
“We budget conservatively, so we're not anticipating more budgeting because of a significant increase,” Rector said. “As long as we can capture the new value portion of the taxes, we should be able to continue to craft a budget that helps provide some tax mitigation.”
With some exceptions, tax code requires properties to be appraised as of Jan. 1 at market value, which is the amount of money a property would transfer for under current market conditions.
Across Tarrant County, numbers from the TAD indicate a taxable value increase of more than $10 billion to $223.92 billion, a 7.08% increase year over year.
Comparatively, taxable values increased 5.21% year over year in Denton County to $115.56 billion, according to the DCAD.
“Recent weeks have been a challenge for all of us, but we will adapt and overcome,” McGrail said. “As we dig further into the budget process and continue work on the recovery of this amazing community in the weeks ahead, stay tuned and stay in touch.”
