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Rowlett staff reports spike in property values under protest; uses conservative assumptions for FY26 projections
Summary
City staff reported an unusually large increase in certified property values under protest (about $500 million for DCAD), told the council staff used conservative assumptions when modeling revenue, and estimated a FY26 net change of $333,000 and ending reserves near $34 million.
City Manager Smith Wade briefed the council on certified property values and how staff modeled values under protest for the FY26 budget.
Smith Wade said July certified values differed from May preliminary values and that values under protest totaled about $500 million in the DCAD jurisdiction — a figure he and staff do not expect to persist. "Values under protest for DCAD were right at $500,000,000," he said. Because of that, staff used conservative assumptions (a 5% reduction and taking 70% of protested values for budget purposes) and plugged those numbers into the proposed budget to avoid overstatement of projected revenues.
Using those assumptions and the adjustments discussed earlier (police enhancements and training), staff estimated a net change of about $333,000 and ending reserves estimated at $34 million (approximately 53.1% of budgeted fund balance in reserves). Smith Wade said the spike in protested values is likely administrative or timing-related and not expected to permanently increase levy receipts. Council asked questions about the drivers of the protest volume; staff said they will continue to monitor the protests and update estimates before final adoption.
