Harris County cites Harvey in appraisal delays Around 175,000 private properties that accomplished Hurricane Harvey, are yet enduring to discover if their property estimations went up or as the year progressed. May 15 Tuesday will be the deadline to file a protest with the Harris County Appraisal District. Home owners in Harris County remain in midpoint of property tax. Home owners who flooded in Hurricane Harvey have not received their notices in 2018, where their properties are still listed on the district website as ‘pending’. HCAD, the third-largest appraisal district in the country, focuses a finger at the Texas Legislature. In 1997, a provision was added to the Texas state tax code that cripples the ability of appraisal districts to hold the true market value of high-end commercial property. The Texas Legislature moved the challenge due date to May 15 during the last legislative session. Chief Appraiser Roland Aligner encouraged property owners to use HCAD's online iFile system to submit their protest. For which you need a unique iFile number, which are printed on the 2018 value notices. Owners who do not have their value notices can utilize a HCAD's iPhone application to recover their iFile number by examining in their Texas driver's permit. The amount of tax due is determined by the tax rate set in the fall by each diverse jurisdiction, including the county, city, school district or municipal utility district. Determining values for damaged properties has been compounded and time consuming, it depends upon the houses sold for and what people are willing to pay. The improved properties would immediately go to that new market value, if the owner added onto the house, increasing its square footage, or if the exterior. It considers a growing number of variables. Appraisers have had to make multiple visits to flooded neighborhoods to try to get a clear picture of property values. The district estimates that about half of the properties expecting valuations are in areas that had flooded during Harvey. HCAD, the largest district in the state, has more than 1.8 million letters of property to assess each year with a total market value of approximately $575 billion. Of those letters, 1.2 million are residential and incorporate single-family homes, condominiums, mobile homes and even vacant lots. Texas law requires that property be appraised according to its condition and market value on Jan 1.
These delays are causing frustrations and had a lot of concern from people who haven’t received their value notice and don’t know what to do.