Harris County tax assessor explains new notices, homestead changes and rural land revaluation

Shelley, the county's chief tax appraiser, told the Harris County Board of Commissioners on July 1 that tax notices mailed June 24 reflect two recent state law changes and a rural land revaluation the assessor's office completed this year.

Shelley said the notices no longer show an estimated total tax because House Bill 581 removed the tax estimate from the assessment notice and a later cleanup bill, House Bill 92, allowed taxing jurisdictions to decide whether to include an estimated millage; the change and other omissions (sanitation fees and school bond amounts) have caused taxpayer confusion.

The presentation matters to homeowners because HB581 establishes a "floating" homestead exemption tied to inflationary growth: when a homesteaded property's fair market value increases, the office must add that inflationary growth to the statutory homestead exemption (the standard homestead exemption used in the examples was $4,000). Shelley used three hypothetical houses to show how the exemption can rise where values increased, and emphasized that for most homesteaded homes of 5 acres or less, net taxes "will not be higher this year than they were last year" despite reappraisals.

Shelley walked through why the county revalued rural/agricultural land: the assessor's agricultural soil and productivity data dated to 2008 and was flagged by the Department of Revenue. The office contracted GMAS to perform a rural land revaluation; Shelley said the vendor contract cost $26,000 compared with an estimated $80,000 annual salary for an in-house specialist. She reported that, after the reevaluation, about 42% of agricultural parcels decreased in value while the county's agricultural digest value rose about 41% overall.

Shelley explained practical details for taxpayers: notices were mailed June 24; the 45-day timeline to file an appeal begins from the mailing date and this year the last day to file for this digest is Friday, August 8; appeals can be filed in person at the assessor's office, by written letter to PO Box 445, or by email to the assessor's office address listed on the county website. She also said new applications for homestead are allowed under HB92 for taxpayers who owned and resided at the property on Jan. 1 and who have not previously claimed homestead status for another residence.

Shelley addressed specific items flagged during the revaluation: a commercial property used by Mulberry Grove was incorrectly classified as agricultural and therefore had an erroneous factor applied. She said she has spoken with Mulberry Grove representatives, will present corrected notices to the county board of assessors on July 8, and will mail corrected notices to the property owner after that meeting. She said the corrected values will reflect the property's commercial use and that, in her presentation, the corrected bill will be close to last year's amount because the county did not revalue commercial land this year.

The office also noted that some components taxpayers expect to see (school bonds, sanitation fees) were removed from the assessment notice by state direction and will still appear on the bill mailed in October. Shelley said taxpayers should add those items themselves when estimating their October bills and encouraged anyone unsure about exemptions (senior, disability, CUVA/conservation use) to meet with exemption staff.

Commissioners and members of the public asked multiple clarifying questions about how the floating homestead exemption works, why some notices differ by taxing jurisdiction (for example, the city of West Point chose to include a millage estimate), whether the county could proactively mail targeted notices to possibly eligible homeowners, and why the rural reevaluation was done now. Shelley and other officials said the Department of Revenue had urged the county to update outdated soil/productivity data (NRCS soil maps) to avoid audit penalties; they said a delay risked state-imposed penalties tied to public utility assessment ratios. The assessor's office said it is using signage, social media and website postings to encourage eligible taxpayers to apply and that staff will mail corrected notices where classification errors are discovered.

Taxpayers who wish to appeal or apply for homestead are advised to contact the assessor's office; the assessor repeated that appeals filed and resulting in a lower assessed value will carry the statutory lock-in for the applicable years, but appeals that do not reduce value do not receive a multi-year lock.

Shelley summarized available resources, contact points and office locations; commissioners thanked her for the presentation and acknowledged public confusion over the changed appearance of notices.