CHAMBERS COUNTY, TEXAS – Chambers County Commissioners Court voted to increase the value of property tax exemption provided to senior citizens, effectively lowering the total amount that these residents pay each year.
The initiative, spearheaded by Chambers County residents and presented to Court by Commissioners Billy Combs and Tommy Hammond, increases the taxation threshold from the current rate of 20 percent plus $60 thousand. The 20 percent rate discount rate is set by the state and cannot be adjusted, so Commissioners Court elected to increase the reduction set by the County to $200 thousand.
To simplify, property owners who are over the age of 65 are taxed only on the value of their property that exceeds the threshold set by Commissioners Court. This means that at the new discount, seniors who own property valued at $250 thousand or less would pay zero dollars in taxes to the County. Those seniors whose property is valued at greater than $250 thousand will be taxed only on the value exceeding that threshold. A $250K home would be evaluated in the following manner: $250,000 – (20 percent of $250,000 – in this case $50,000) – $200,000 = 0. In this scenario, Chambers County would assess $0 tax.
“I think this is a wonderful idea and I support it completely,” said Chambers County Judge Jimmy Sylvia. “This is a great way to put money back in the pockets of Chambers County residents and will help increase the financial security of senior citizens.”
Chambers County will see a revenue decrease of not to exceed $1.4 million due to this decrease in tax revenue – something that the members of Commissioners Court are not concerned about.
“We have multiple Chapter 318 agreements that will reach completion this year and those properties will be added back to the tax roll to generate tax income,” continued Judge Sylvia. “That will offset the reduction in revenue from this adjustment.”
The Court worked with Auditor Aaron Thomas and Chief Appraiser Mitch McCullough to create this proposal. All parties will continue to work collaboratively to see this project to fruition.
More information will be available on the Chambers County website (co.chambers.tx.us) soon.