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<\/p>\nKrista Champine, the Nueces County tax assessor-collector, said tens of thousands of older homeowners in the county are already benefiting from the exemption.<\/p>\n
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 Some older homeowners across the Coastal Bend are seeing lower property tax bills after Texas lawmakers expanded property tax relief last year.<\/p>\n
For some homeowners, the changes could mean paying nothing in school district property taxes.<\/p>\n
Krista Champine, the Nueces County tax assessor-collector, said tens of thousands of older homeowners in the county are already benefiting from the exemption.<\/p>\n
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\u201cSo that’s about 32,000 people who are over 65 and have a homestead are paying 0 school taxes,\u201d Champine said.<\/p>\n
Champine said the school portion of a homeowner’s property tax bill makes up a significant share of the total bill, meaning the exemption can result in substantial savings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe school tax rate is the largest rate on their tax bill. And so to see that go to zero, we’re talking about 75 percent decrease in their taxes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\nHow the tax break works <\/p>\n
Lawmakers increased the state’s homestead exemption for school district taxes last year to $140,000.<\/p>\n
That means $140,000 of a qualifying home’s value is exempt from school district property taxes, reducing the amount of the home’s value that is subject to those taxes.<\/p>\n
The state also provides additional property tax exemptions for homeowners who are 65 or older.<\/p>\n
Political analyst Dr. Bill Chriss said the expansion of property tax relief for older homeowners is also tied to the political importance of that demographic.<\/p>\n
\u201cPoliticians tend to support programs that will benefit older voters,\u201d Chriss said.<\/p>\n
He also said the expanded exemption is intended to appeal to older voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe homestead exemption, particularly for people over 65, has been expanded by the current administration in Texas is an effort to curry favor with older voters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\nSchool districts say funding remains a concern <\/p>\n
The tax relief can mean savings for homeowners, but school districts rely on property tax revenue to help fund operations.<\/p>\n
Tuloso-Midway ISD Superintendent Steve Van Matre said he understands why homeowners want the tax break, but said those tax dollars are important to the district.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that revenue stream is reduced in any way and is not made up by the state, then the schools lose,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Corpus Christi ISD, however, said the district has already accounted for the changes in its budget.<\/p>\n
Karen Griffith with CCISD said the state makes up for the revenue lost through the exemptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cComputed into the district budget, and the district is always offset from the state. So whatever exemptions are given to our stakeholders the state makes the school district whole,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\nWho qualifies for a homestead exemption? <\/p>\n
Homeowners do not have to be 65 or older to qualify for a homestead exemption in Texas.<\/p>\n
Generally, homeowners must own the property and use it as their principal residence.<\/p>\n
Homeowners with questions about whether they qualify can contact the Nueces County Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Krista Champine, the Nueces County tax assessor-collector, said tens of thousands of older homeowners in the county are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-458875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}