City staff recommends raising Richardson’s over‑65/disabled property-tax exemption to $160,000 to preserve 30% benefit

City finance staff recommended the council raise the over‑65 and disabled property-tax exemption to $160,000 — a $15,000 increase from the current $145,000 — to keep the city’s financial-policy goal intact that the exemption deliver roughly a 30% tax benefit for an average senior homeowner.

Assistant Finance Director Todd (last name on file) told council staff had reviewed certified values and projected growth and concluded the $160,000 exemption would provide an estimated 31.75% tax benefit under reasonable growth assumptions. "Our recommendation is to increase the exemption to 160,000," Todd said, noting the change would provide a modest additional tax savings for qualifying homeowners and a buffer against value growth between now and the budget cycle.

Staff presented context: the average senior homeowner’s market value on the certified roll was roughly $480,000; with the existing $145,000 exemption the city’s tax benefit for that homeowner was about $786 annually. Each additional $5,000 in exemption reduces the average senior homeowner’s city tax bill by about $27. City staff estimated the current exemption resulted in roughly $6.9 million in exempted city taxes for fiscal year 2025 and projected exempted taxes of about $7.15 million if no change is adopted next year. Raising the exemption to $160,000 would increase the exempted-tax estimate to about $7.9 million under staff assumptions.

Councilmembers expressed support and asked staff to place an ordinance on a forthcoming agenda; staff said any ordinance must be adopted before July 1 and planned to bring the item back for formal consideration on Feb. 24 and then account for the decision in the city’s summer budget workshop.

Ending: Council gave informal support to the staff recommendation; staff will return with an ordinance and budgetary impact analysis.