County commissioners approve proposed property tax rate in Nacogdoches County

NACOGDOCHES COUNTY, Texas (KTRE) - Nacogdoches County Commissioners Court has approved a new proposed property tax rate for 2019-20.

KTRE 9′s Ryan Ordmandy spoke to commissioners, county judge Greg Sowell, and the Nacogdoches County Central Appraisal District about what the lower proposed tax rate means for residents of the county, and what we could see going forward.

“We approved the proposed tax rate, which is the effective tax rate," Sowell said. "At first glance, it shows that the tax rate has actually gone down.”

Down one cent per one hundred dollars from last year. Sowell explained that the county requires a lower a tax rate to bring in the same property tax revenue as last year.

“The proposed rate is the rate of the tax that it takes to generate the same amount of revenue as last year,” Sowell said.

The proposed rate is fifty-five cents for every one hundred dollars, compared to last years fifty-six cents. According to County Chief Appraiser Gary Woods, an increase in existing property values was the reason for the drop.

“You look at the value of property that was taxed last year compared to the value that’s on that same property this year,” Woods said.

Even though the rate might go down, Woods says the difference in taxes paid will vary person to person.

“Everybody’s gonna be a little different on the percentage change between what tax they paid this year and what tax they paid last year. The effective tax rate is cumulative total of all and it doesn’t hit everybody the same way,” Woods explained.

Sowell says it shouldn’t be a big difference from last year.

“In theory the county taxes should remain the same, even with the reappraisal. So within a few dollars or cents,” Sowell said.

Copyright 2019 KTRE. All rights reserved.