WASHINGTON \u2014 High prices and affordability have emerged as major issues in the race between Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar and his Republican challenger, Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina, for Texas\u2019 28th congressional district, which stretches from the San Antonio suburbs to the Mexico border.<\/p>\n
In a new campaign ad, Tijerina boasts that he has lowered property taxes nearly a half dozen times. But have the tax bills of Webb County residents actually gone down?<\/p>\n
In the campaign, Tijerina said he has worked to make life better as Webb County judge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI expanded the Meals on Wheels program for seniors, provided millions in utility relief to keep water and electric bills low and lowered property taxes five times for working families,\u201d Tijerina said in the ad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Spectrum News examined one of Tijerina\u2019s key claims. During his time as judge, the county\u2019s property tax rate did go down five times. But during those years, the tax bills of county residents, on average, went up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the values are going up at a higher percentage than the rate is being reduced in percentage terms, then tax bills, on average, will be higher,\u201d said Lynn Krebs, a research economist at the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That is what happened in Webb County. A look at the county\u2019s no-new-revenue rate confirms this. In a time of rising property values, the no-new-revenue figure is the tax rate that would be needed to generate the same amount of money as the previous year from the exact same properties.<\/p>\n
Krebs said a jurisdiction\u2019s chief appraiser provides the no-new-revenue rate before adopting a tax rate for the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Webb County, there were eight years where the property tax rate did not fall as much as the no-new-revenue rate declined, resulting in higher tax revenues and, on average, higher property tax bills.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf property values in total went up by 5%, then you have to reduce last year’s tax rate by 5%. Not five pennies, but by 5% in order for the the math to end up with the same revenue, and that really is what you know it comes down to in regards to year-over-year property tax change,\u201d Krebs said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
When asked for a comment, Tijerina\u2019s campaign manager Nick Engstrom said in a statement, \u201cSpectrum’s own analysis confirms the fact: Judge Tijerina cut the county tax rate five times. A county judge sets the tax rate, not a home’s appraisal, and Judge Tijerina used every tool he had to fight for taxpayers while our opponent Henry Cuellar has spent decades enriching himself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cuellar\u2019s campaign declined to comment on Tijerina\u2019s property tax rate reduction boast.<\/p>\n
Cuellar, a member of the powerful appropriation committee, touted the same home energy assistance and senior meal services that Tijerina did in his ad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On social media last week,\u00a0Cuellar said, \u201cI\u2019ll continue working through my position on the House Appropriations Committee to protect these investments, fight harmful cuts and bring federal dollars back to Webb County.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both programs are federally funded.\u00a0<\/p>\n