With reappraisals already underway in Montgomery County, property owners in areas along Spring Creek in Harris County may also see some relief on their next tax bills.
While Harris county has not called for countywide reappraisals, The Woodlands Township board of directors approved a resolution to request for homes in the Harris County portion of The Woodlands to be reappraised following the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey during its Oct. 9 meeting.
While the board initially passed a reappraisal resolution for the township's boundaries in September, the request did not include Harris County. Montgomery County, The Woodlands Township and Conroe ISD have all requested reappraisals for all damaged properties in their respective taxing boundaries.
“Right after the hurricane event, we’ve had field staff out assessing the properties all across Harris County,” said Jason Cunningham, chief deputy appraiser for the Harris County Appraisal District. “What happens next once we complete the field inspections is sending out mailers requesting information to make sure we got all of the flood information and identify all the homes that actually flooded.”
The reappraised value will only affect the township's portion of tax bills, as other entities, like Tomball ISD, have not requested reappraisals.
According to Section 23.02 of the Texas Tax Code, homes in the county are eligible for reappraisal following a disaster declaration. The change in property value will be effective as of Aug. 23, the day the area received a disaster declaration from Gov. Greg Abbott, through the end of the year, Cunningham said. Less than 6,000 homes in the Creekside park area are within Harris County’s boundaries.
Properties will also be appraised Jan. 1 to determine property taxes for 2018. Cunningham said the district anticipates many properties will have lower values than the previous year as damage will likely take time to fully repair.
“We know a lot of these properties will not be complete or fully repaired at that time,” he said.
Cunningham said the district plans to mirror guidelines also used by insurance companies to determine the values of new homes.
“What we’re trying to do is determine what is the cost to cure the problem,” he said. “If you have a $300,000 home … and it’s going to take $100,000 to get that home back to livable and complete, we’re going to take off that amount in the improvement value.”
Cunningham said residents can report damage through the district's mobile app for iPhones and Android phones, by emailing
[email protected] or by calling 713-812-5805.