Residential recovery bolsters values
By SARAH MOORE
Beaumont Enterprise
As Jefferson County property values rebound from Hurricane Rita’s effects, county officials learned that legislation promising tax cuts to energy industries won’t take effect until next year. The Jefferson County tax base continued to rise for the second year in a row, boosted this time by substantial increases in residential property values as residents finish renovating their storm-damaged homes, county auditor Patrick Swain said.
The certified tax roll released Monday by the Jefferson County Appraisal District quoted net taxable property values of $18.6 billion, roughly a 12 percent increase from last year’s $16.5 billion. The final figure had dropped only about 4 percent from preliminary appraised values of $19.4 billion after protest hearings.
County officials continue to monitor the possible effects of an energy bill originally crafted to foster the development of clean electricity sources. House Bill 3732 began to raise alarms in Jefferson County when language in the bill appeared to include refineries among the entities eligible for tax abatements under the legislation. The Texas Commission on Environmental Qualilty was charged with regulating the permiting process for equipment eligible for tax relief, and some fear that agency will overstep the bill’s intentions. Certain provisions of the law wouldn’t come into effect until Jan. 1, 2008, and if it is interpreted as its authors intended, it should have little effect on Southeast Texas, said Jeff Branick, an attorney in Jefferson County Judge Ron Walker’s office. “We’re still going to continue to monitor this very closely to make sure there aren’t any unintended effects,” Branick said. “We think the way the TCEQ is interpreting the bill is not the way the author intended. The county judge is very, very interested in this and officials from other groups are becoming involved: school districts, cities, etc.”
Rep. Allan Ritter, D-Nederland, is working with the Texas Conference of Urban Counties, the TCEQ and bill author Rick Hardcastle, R-Vernon, to try to resolve any disagreements, Branick said. The group will look at recommendations during a planning meeting in mid-August. A public hearing could be held later on any decisions that are made. Swain said the tax office still was working on the effective tax-rate calculation - that is, the rate that would generate the same income as this year. The calculation was awaiting additional information from the appraisal district. After that, the county would begin looking at what rate it could adopt without a rollback election. Commissioners have said they hope to decrease the tax rate.