COUNTY TAX OFFICE IMMINENT DEADLINES & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Electronic Tax Statements – Common Sense and Saves Cents! The deadline to sign up to receive 2019 property tax statement via electronic mail (email) is September 16th. Visit the GCTO website at www.galcotax. com and click the large red button to search for your account(s). At the account homepage, scroll to the bottom and click on Register to Receive Electronic Tax Statements. This feature is especially beneficial for anyone who recently purchased a property or refinanced. Many lenders request tax statements midsummer so the wrong mortgage company could be sent the statement. GCTO began sending statements to both the property owner and mortgage company to prevent chances for error and HB 1885 (G. Bonnen) will take effect January 1, 2020, which will provide the option for governments to forgive penalty and interest in the event of such an error. Truth in Taxation Notices Released Truth-in-taxation is embodied in the Texas Constitution and requires local governments to make property owners aware of tax rate proposals and provide an opportunity to attend public hearings and voice their opinion about government spending. The first step in this process is creation of a budget, approval and then adoption of a tax rate necessary to generate the revenue to fund the budget. Different governments have different notice and advertising requirements. School districts are limited to a four (4%) percent increase (2.5% beginning in 2020) in revenue each year with an automatic election trigger. All other governments are limited to eight (8%) percent and voters must petition to rollback if that is exceeded (most will be limited to 3.5% in 2020 with an automatic election being required). Historically, Galveston County governments adopt slightly below or within pennies of the effective tax rate – the rate that is needed to generate the same revenue as the prior year on the same properties. Added to this is the value of new improvements and voter approved debt to establish the rollback rate. The Legislative requires counties to publish a summary of all government rates on its website each year but that is after assessment is over and bills are in the mail – far too late for you to speak up or out. Thus, for the second year, GCTO is releasing all public notices online at www. galcotax.com under the Property Tax Information link then Entity Partners (or find a short schedule at the bottom of the homepage). Dates, times and locations of all government meetings are included with the notices in the event you miss them in the newspaper.