Dallas City Wire

High property taxes have been a hot-button issue for Texas voters for years, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-TX) wants to see a state Senate committee look at what changes could be made to provide some relief. 

The issue was included in Patrick's 2022 Interim Charges to the Senate where he asked the Senate to look into using state revenue to eliminate the school district maintenance and operations property tax. 

“Following completion of the hearings, committees will file reports with their recommendations before the end of the year so we can hit the ground running when we gavel in the 88th Legislative Session in January 2023.," Patrick said in a statement.

The change to property taxes was just one of 84 bullet points highlighted in Patrick's recommendations to the Senate. The Texan reported property taxes are made up of the Maintenance and Operations rate and the Interstate and Sinking Rate.

“I have a deep appreciation for the leadership of our committee chairs and Senate members. I know the long hours they will pour into studying these issues, holding hearings and making recommendations. I thank the entire Texas Senate for their diligent work and I look forward to reviewing their recommendations," Patrick said in the statement. 

Brad Johnson, a reporter with the Texan, tweeted a graphic with data from the Texas Comptroller which showed school districts make up more than half of the local property taxes collected annually. The Texan reported there's an estimated 20%-50% increase for appraised property expected in 2022.

A report published by the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association in April 2022 noted that "Texas property owners need to be prepared for the sticker shock that home shoppers have been experiencing the past year", but found a silver lining in 2019 reforms reduced property taxes by a collective $6 billion across the state. The same report found that School M&O levies accounted for $30.1 billion in 2021.

Elected officials have different ideas to help alleviate the burden of property taxes. Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) would like a compressed rate, but won't go so far as to entirely eliminate the M&O. According to the Texan, Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) believes property tax reform must be rooted in education code reform, while the Texas Public Policy Foundation believes some of the state budget surplus could be used to replace the M&O rate.

According to a report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation, in just four years Dallas ISD's property tax jumped 40% to $1.8 billion in 2020. The combined population and inflation for the city grew by 4.8 percent during that time, resulting in a growth of 35.1 percent faster than the preferred rate of growth.

The same report noted that Katy ISD and Conroe ISD were the only two school districts that kept their property tax growth rate below the preferred rate of growth.