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Roland Altinger, chief appraiser of the Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD), certified the 2019 appraisal roll.

The importance of certifying the appraisal roll listing the property values is that state law allows those jurisdictions in Harris County to move forward with the process of adopting the 2019 tax rates.      

“Certification is the final step in the 2019 appraisal process for most of our tax base,” Altinger said. “The appraisal roll provides taxing jurisdictions with the value of the properties completed to date.  We also give the taxing units estimates of the value and number of accounts not yet complete so they have as much information as possible when they start their rate adoption process.” 

After certification, the rolls with the values are provided to the county, cities, school districts and other taxing entities so the governing bodies of the taxing units can set their tax rates for the upcoming year.

The total taxable value for all property in Harris County has increased 8.3 percent to $483 billion, compared with $446 billion in 2018.   Taxable value is the value after exemptions have been deducted. 

Residential properties, which are single-family homes, made up 42 percent of the county’s tax base, apartments were about 9 percent and commercial properties other than apartments made up approximately 25 percent.  The total taxable value of residential properties increased 9 percent, compared with 2018, the taxable value of apartments increased 15 percent and commercial properties increased 8.5 percent.  These numbers include new construction and the reappraisal of existing property.

“Only 6.6 percent of the total appraised value in the district remained under protest when the Appraisal Review Board (ARB) handed over the appraisal records to me on August 2,” Altinger said.

As of that date, there had been approximately 50,800 more protests filed this year than in 2018.  The number of protests increased to 412,004 from last year’s 361,143.  Of the total protested accounts for this year, 243,810 had been resolved totaling $310.4 billion when the ARB turned over the appraisal records. 

As the remaining protests are resolved, the accounts will be added to the supplemental roll that is provided to the taxing units. 

About HCAD

The Harris County Appraisal District is a political subdivision of the State of Texas established in 1980 for the purpose of discovering and appraising property for ad valorem tax purposes for each taxing unit within the boundaries of the district.  The district has approximately 1.8 million parcels of property to assess each year with a total market value of approximately $633 billion.  The appraisal district in Harris County is the largest in Texas, serving approximately 500 taxing units, and one of the largest appraisal districts in the United States.  For further information, visit www.hcad.org.