Property taxes are a hot topic being discussed by the Legislature this year and one that is raising an uproar in Montgomery County as property values rise.

Nonprofit Montgomery County Eagle Forum hosted Judge Mark Keough to speak about his contract with Montgomery County as the new judge at Conroe's Incredible Pizza Co. on Feb. 7, where he gave a statement on property tax bills.

"As your house changes in [appraised] value without changing the [property tax] rate, every year we just add another 10 percent [property appraisal value]," Keough said. "And your elected officials are screaming, 'See, we didn't raise your rate, everything's good,' but you raised the value of my home $10,000, which without changing the rates, I wrote a bigger check."

He said if the bill does not address property appraisals, it will not impact Montgomery County.

"Over a period of time, how do we stop that? One is to put a cap—we currently have a 10 percent cap—we can slow it down, it won't stop it, to [a] 5 percent [cap on annual property appraisal value increases]," Keough said. "[Sen. Brandon] Creighton's [R-Conroe] SB 657 puts a 3 percent cap on $1 million houses and under, and a 5 percent cap on over $1 million."

He also supports Rep. Will Metcalf's, R-Conroe, HB 945, which offers a 5 percent annual home appraisal increase cap and a 10 percent cap on commercial properties.

"They both move us in the right direction, and it is my goal if we can get [property tax bills] SB2 and HB2 with amendments that will go here, these could be really awesome bills," Keough said.