WHY ARE YOUR TAXES GOING UP?
MISD MISLEADING PROPERTY OWNERS ON TAX HIKES
In the graph above, I’ve marked the No New Revenue Tax Rate in blue. This is the rate that would keep property taxes level for homeowners, meaning you pay the same as the previous year. It includes both the M&O and the I&S parts of school taxes The district would still get additional funding from improvements, new houses, and new businesses that were built since last year, but existing homeowners would not get a tax increase. In red, I have listed the rate that the board members have proposed. As you can see, every year shows a significant increase in taxes. The district’s website as well as many board members personal pages contain misleading information and statements such as, “The board was excited to adopt a lower property tax rate, which will provide homeowners with much-needed relief.” There are also graphs which provide a view of a declining property tax rate, but never once include the No New Revenue Tax Rate. Without a comparison to the No New Revenue Rate, any rate set means nothing. Even lowering the rate from the previous year could mean higher taxes, if property values have increased since then. The benchmark of whether your taxes go up is directly related to the No New Revenue Tax Rate, not the value set by the appraisal district. If the rate set by the board is above the No New Revenue Tax Rate, your taxes will go up.
The Texas Constitution, Article 8, Section 21 contains language that indicates property owners should have an unbiased, clear, and neutral understanding of what a taxing authority is doing in regard to their taxes. Not once have board members lowered property taxes in Montgomery ISD even though they have lowered the rate. Let me be clear. Board members all have the information of what the No New Revenue Tax Rate is BEFORE they set the proposed rate. They also have information from the appraisal district BEFORE they set the tax rate. I have had many people question me about whether the school board is really responsible for their higher property tax bills. I can tell you with 100% certainty, the school board is 100% responsible for the school portion of property taxes going up or down.
What is especially troubling is the claim on the MISD Blog that in 2023, the board gave the largest property tax rate reduction in nearly two decades. Even this is dubious at best. During that year, the No New Revenue Rate was 1.05. The board proposed a tax rate of 1.17 which would have increased property taxes. It was only the Texas Legislature, through compression, that actually gave taxpayers relief. All that was received was essentially the same as the year before, with the district swallowing up any relief the State of Texas intended for property owners. So here we have board members raising your taxes and then turning around and taking credit for lowering your rate while completely undermining the relief the Legislature intended for us.
We need board members that will not simply rubberstamp the wishes of the administration. We need sheepdogs on the board who are willing to ask the tough questions and be completely transparent with the public on taxation. This is why I am running for Montgomery School Board Position 7.
I have included this button below so you can look at the your own property taxes. This is a website mandated through the Truth in Taxation law passed by the Texas Legislature in 2019. It is maintained by Montgomery County. You can see all the taxing entities for your property. It also includes the historical data for you property and the information I used to make the chart above.