Taxable property values increase slightly

Property values in Donley County have risen in general, bringing good news to most taxing entities that are busy working on new budgets for fiscal year 2017.
Paula Lowrie, Chief Appraiser of the Donley Appraisal District, said Monday that most entities and all county-wide entities have seen moderate increases in values this year, thanks to values of property owned by utilities.
Public notices will begin appearing in the Enterprise next week as local entities begin the process of establishing tax rates for the new year.
The City of Clarendon is the only entity to see its total appraisals go down this year. The city has total property taxable values of $59,326,427 this year, reflecting a loss of more than $990,000.
Lowrie said each property in Clarendon was reappraised this year, and some went categories went up but others went down.
“The main differences were a decrease in value for single-family homes of $730,713 and in commercial buildings of $636,207,” Lowrie said.
Donley County’s values for ad valorem taxes are up nearly $10.3 million at $238,570,958. The county’s total taxable value is higher than other countywide entities because it is able to tax certain rolling railroad stock that other local governments cannot, Lowrie said.
The Clarendon College District and the Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District has countywide taxable values of $224,502,215, an increase of more than $8 million. The college also benefits from maintenance taxes in Childress and Gray counties. Values in Childress are expected to remain about even, officials say, but values in Gray County have taken a significant hit with the decline of the petroleum industry.
The Donley County Hospital District’s values this year have increased about $7.8 million for a total tax base of $208,786.880. The hospital district, which provides emergency medical services and indigent care, has lower taxable values than other countywide entities because it does not tax personal property, such as cars, trucks, and boats.
The Clarendon Consolidated Independent School District has taxable values of nearly $131,698,299 on properties within its boundaries in Donley County. That’s up more than $4.5 million from last year’s value of $127,131,281. But it’s still significantly below the figure from two years ago, which was $147,805,132. The big loss came when Texas voters approved an increase in the homestead exemption from $15,000 to $25,000 in 2015.
The Hedley school district has seen its tax base in Donley County increase just under $3.8 million with total values of $49,747,759.
Taxable values for the City of Howardwick are up $828,698 at $15,157,768; and the City of Hedley has seen its values increase $219,708 for a total tax base of $6,722,445.
Once an entity has its taxable value, it can generally figure its tax levy by dividing the number by $100 and multiplying the result by a tax rate ($1.17 in the case of Clarendon ISD, for example).
However, those numbers get complicated for Clarendon and Hedley schools, the cities of Clarendon and Hedley, Donley County, and the Clarendon College District where people over the age of 65 and those who are disabled have their taxes frozen at differing levels, requiring additional calculations.