Hays Property Taxes Cut in 98% of Informal Hearings
Throughout Texas, informal hearings can be a crapshoot when it comes to getting a break on taxes. This was certainly not the case in Hays County, where 98.68% of all appeals ended with a value reduction in 2023. Over 99% of homes did the same, while businesses succeeded 96.61% of the time. In 2021 and 2022 these chances were at 100%. The taxes being levied by the Hays Central Appraisal District (Hays CAD) are so inaccurate that they can be undone by a taxpayer simply asking for a second look. Ensure that your property taxes are protested every year when you join O’Connor’s Property Tax Protection Program(TM) today. Relax in the knowledge that you will never pay an upfront cost or a hidden fee, only pay if you lower your taxes. Enroll, relax, and save.
Resolved Informally Hays CountySource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Thousands | ||||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||
| Total Number | 5.121 | 5.246 | 8.877 | 12.508 | 15.102 | 16.257 | 17.412 | 15.307 | 9.318 | 10.200 | 13.933 | |
| Single Family | 1.958 | 3.713 | 5.471 | 7.229 | 6.870 | 7.545 | 8.220 | 9.631 | 6.723 | 6.989 | 7.663 | |
| Commercial / Other | 3.163 | 1.533 | 3.406 | 5.279 | 8.232 | 8.712 | 9.192 | 5.676 | 2.595 | 3.211 | 6.270 | |
Texas property owners should protest annually since Most appeals are resolved with a reduction at the informal level.
Hays County Property Tax Protests Resolved Informally
Hays County residents protested over one-third of all property taxes in 2023, using a variety of methods. While formal hearings ended up being more impactful, informal appeals were both effective at lower taxes and acted as a gateway to more focused appeals. Join with O’Connor to get your best deal yet when it comes to your property tax protest. One of America’s largest property tax consulting firms, O’Connor has been getting Texans lower tax rates for 50 years.
Hays CAD Informal Settlements
Informal settlements are the most basic of all property tax protests. These requests of HCAD try to lower the value of property that has been erroneously valued too high. There is no risk to the taxpayer as it is free and the total can never be raised. Informal appeals can have a lot of variety between counties, with some being generous with settlements, while others will refuse to grant a cent without a mountain of evidence.
Homes are traditionally lowered the most in this phase, while businesses will typically wait to settle at the formal phase. 10,200 informal appeals were resolved in 2023, 6,989 of them were for family homes. The remaining 3,211 settlements were for a combination of industrial, commercial, and utility properties. Informal settlements have dropped in the last few years, implying that both homeowners and businesses are going for a bigger win at the formal stage.
Resulted in Reduction Through Informal Process Hays CountySource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Thousands | ||||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||
| Total Number | 2.556 | 3.791 | 6.746 | 9.700 | 12.052 | 10.822 | 9.591 | 15.307 | 9.318 | 10.065 | 11.193 | |
| Single Family | 1.483 | 2.671 | 4.109 | 5.547 | 6.089 | 6.735 | 7.380 | 9.631 | 6.723 | 6.963 | 7.254 | |
| Commercial / Other | 1.073 | 1.120 | 2.637 | 4.153 | 5.963 | 4.087 | 2.211 | 5.676 | 2.595 | 3.102 | 3.939 | |
Texas property owners should protest annually since It is the world’s safest wager. No cost and a 60% chance of savings annually.
Hays County Informal Hearing Reductions
While the number of informal appeals has fallen overall, they are still effective at getting reductions. 10,065 of 2023’s 10,200 informal settlements ended with a reduction, with 6,963 settlements. Business properties typically average much lower in this step of the process, but they were still able to net 3,102 reductions. These numbers mean that virtually every informal appeal was able to get some kind of reduction for a protestor.
Percent That Resulted in A ReductionSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Percent | ||||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||
| Total Number | 49.910% | 72.260% | 75.990% | 77.550% | 79.800% | 66.570% | 55.080% | 100.000% | 100.000% | 98.680% | 80.330% | |
| Single Family | 75.740% | 71.940% | 75.110% | 76.730% | 88.630% | 89.260% | 89.780% | 100.000% | 100.000% | 99.630% | 94.660% | |
| Commercial / Other | 33.920% | 73.060% | 77.420% | 78.670% | 72.440% | 46.910% | 24.050% | 100.000% | 100.000% | 96.610% | 62.820% | |
Texas property owners should protest annually since Errors in the appraisal districts records for your property often artificially inflate YOUR property taxes.
Hays County Percent of Informal Hearings with Reduction
98.68% of all informal settlements in 2023 saved taxpayers value. This type of success for informal hearings is basically unheard of. The Texas average for informal appeals reduction is at 73.66%. Bexar County is the only major area that has numbers similar to Hays County, with 99.1% of all informal settlements ending in a reduction. The percentage of informal appeals with a reduction in 2023 is actually down from 2021 and 2022. In those years, 100% of settlements ended with a reduction.
Single family homes did even better than the average in 2023, with 99.63% of them seeing a reduction. The usual outcome of informal appeals is that single family homes hit at a far higher rate than businesses. This is not the case in Hays County, where 96.61% of business settlements ended with a reduction. These success rates far outstrip the Texas average, an indication that Hays County taxes are so overvalued that a cursory look will reveal their flaws.
$ Value Reduction From Informal ProcessSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Billions of $ | ||||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||
| $ Reduction Total | 0.4719 | 0.3065 | 0.2443 | 0.4570 | 0.4574 | 0.4725 | 0.5644 | 0.8009 | 0.7989 | 0.7602 | 0.6159 | |
| $ Reduction Single Family | 0.0956 | 0.0410 | 0.0640 | 0.1338 | 0.0829 | 0.1066 | 0.1405 | 0.1006 | 0.2557 | 0.2882 | 0.1583 | |
| $ Value Commercial / Other | 0.3762 | 0.2655 | 0.1803 | 0.3232 | 0.3745 | 0.3659 | 0.4240 | 0.7003 | 0.5432 | 0.4719 | 0.4576 | |
Texas property owners should protest annually since Property taxes are the only type that can be negotiated based on subjective factors and judgment.
Hays Central Appraisal District Value of Reduction from Informal Process
In 2023, informal appeals were able to reduce taxable value by $760.20 million. Thanks to their typical high cost and the 96.61% chance to gain a value reduction, commercial and business properties led the pack as far as reductions went, tallying $471.90 million. Single family homes still made a big contribution with $288.20 million in reductions. This was the highest reduction seen for informal appeals for residential property in the history of Hays County.