The Senate on Thursday voted to require that any local property tax increase raising more revenue than the previous year be approved by at least 60 percent of every city council, school board or county commissioners court in Texas. The new requirement was contained in an amendment offered by Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, to a property tax relief bill approved by the Senate.
The proposed change is expected to run into strong opposition from cities, counties and school districts when the measure is taken up in the House during the final four weeks of the legislative session. Currently, only a simple majority is needed to raise local property taxes.
“I just want to ensure that if a taxing unit wants to increase the property tax burden on their taxpayers, they have to have a super majority vote to do it,” Bettencourt said. He noted that the Senate requires a 60 percent majority to bring a bill up for consideration.
Several Democrats opposed the new requirement, approved on a 24-7 vote. They argued that the tax proposal was brought up on the Senate floor for the first time on Thursday without giving local government officials a chance to respond to the idea at a public hearing.
The main bill by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, also would remove a requirement that property taxpayers who are due a refund have to apply for it. The measure also would require local taxing entities to justify any tax increase on notices and election ballots.
Further, the state comptroller would be directed to annually compile and publish a list of tax rates by governmental entity, with the list ranking the entities and their tax rates from highest to lowest. Bill supporters said the list would deter local government officials from raising taxes every year.
