EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Tuesday, Nov. 4 is election day, and on the ballot, El Paso homeowners will have the opportunity to vote on multiple proposed amendments to the Texas constitution that could have a significant impact on their property tax bills.

“I would say these propositions are more important to El Paso than almost any other county in the state, due to the high tax rate,” Richie Gill, a tax expert with Gill, Denson & Company Tax Advisors, said. “Many property owners (in El Paso) are paying upwards of two and a half, to 2.7% to 2.8%, on their property taxes, which is very high compared to other parts of the state.”

There are 17 total proposed amendments on the ballot for Texans to vote on. Ten focus on tax policy, and Gill said seven are related to property taxes.

Gill said the most important and impactful of those seven propositions is Prop. 13, which would increase the property tax exemption for school district property taxes from $100,000 to $140,000 of the market value of a homestead.

“It’s definitely a positive for anyone that’s a homeowner in El Paso. It’s going to save them money. My estimation is the average homeowner in El Paso is going to save around $432 if it gets approved, based on the increase from the previous $100,000 to $140,000 exemption,” Gill said.

Gill said that Prop. 13 won’t cost school districts revenue they would otherwise collect from these taxes, because the state will be reimbursing them for the loss.

“Schools will actually not lose funding for this proposition. In particular, the state will reimburse the schools. Now, whether the state can sustain that indefinitely is another question. Currently, the state does have the funds in the foreseeable future to fund this,” Gill said.

El Paso County Commissioner for Precinct 2, David Stout, said that courtesy won’t be extended from the state to the county for several propositions which he said could cost the county millions of dollars.

“I really wish that the state would do that for the county as well when it comes to propositions seven and nine,” Stout said. “Seventy percent of the county’s budget is already going to what we call unfunded mandates. That means the state forces us to do certain things, provide certain programs and services at the local level, but they make us pay for it locally. They do not reimburse us. They do not give us money to pay for those things.”

Stout said those two propositions combined could cost El Paso County over $4 million to their budget, while not actually benefiting all El Paso homeowners.

“When you give a homestead exemption to a certain group, that group will receive that. But if you’re not part of that group, then the amount of money that the county will miss out on because of that exemption that is given, will have to be spread out amongst the rest of the taxpayers who are not part of that group,” Stout said.

If approved, Prop. 7 would establish a property tax exemption for the spouses of military veterans who died from a service-related disease. Prop. 9 would provide a tax exemption of up to $125,000 of the market value of businesses’ inventory or equipment.

Stout said that the county could also have to spend up to about $14 million dollars if Proposition 3 were approved – Prop. 3 would deny bail to individuals accused of certain violent or sexual offenses punishable as a felony.

“Then you add on the bail denial proposition three, which is going to increase our jail costs because we’re going to have to have about 300 more people in our jail, on our dime. The state is not reimbursing us for that,” Stout said.

If all the propositions were approved, Stout said it would further strain the county’s budget. He said that during the latest budget cycle they already had to cut all the department’s operating budgets by 5%.

“It puts us in a very difficult situation in the commissioners court because, as our discretionary funds begin to shrink when those unfunded mandates continue to grow and further burden our budget. We have to make difficult decisions as to whether we start cutting personnel and we start cutting services,” Stout said.

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