The Harris County Emergency Services District No. 9 board of commissioners approved maintaining the district's homestead exemption for another year April 16.
The breakdown
Harris County ESD 9 offers a 10% homestead exemption to all residents within the district, which allows homeowners to reduce the total amount of taxable property value by 10%, resulting in a lower tax bill from the district.
Homestead exemptions are typically offered by individual taxing entities such as school districts, municipal utility districts and ESDs as a way of reducing the total property tax bill for residents within an area.
Commissioner Jaime Martinez recommended potentially raising the district's homestead exemption to 20%, similar to surrounding entities such as Cy-Fair ISD. However, district legal counsel David Manley advised against the move due to concern it could cause an additional $3.3 million revenue loss in future budget cycles.
The debate
Following Martinez's proposal, Commissioner Rob Paiva suggested raising the exemption by a few percentage points while remaining under 15%. However, board President Naressa MacKinnon said raising the exemption while the district is trying to build additional fire stations could put the district at financial risk.
"I want the public to understand this [proposal] would save them $20 a year and cost the district $3.3 million for an individual savings of $20 a year," MacKinnon said.
Commissioner Cameron Dickey also advised against raising the exemption due to ongoing work to expand fire and EMS services.
"We know definitively, looking at what our reserves are, looking at what our build-outs are for future stations, that in five years we are at a negative number," Dickey said. "So making any type of decision to adjust these exemptions ... You've also got to make sure that if they have an emergency need that we can meet that emergency need."
The outcome
Commissioners voted 3-2, with Paiva and Martinez opposed, to keep the district's homestead exemption at 10%. The board also maintained the district's over-65 property tax exemption at a $300,000 cap.
The next HCESD 9 meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. May 28 in the district administration building at 10710 Telge Road in Houston.
