ECTOR COUNTY, Texas —
The Ector County Appraisal District started sending out property tax appraisal notices a couple of weeks ago. If you haven't received yours yet, it could soon be arriving in your mail. According to the Ector County Chief Appraiser Layne Young, it's a little too early to tell what the average property appraisals will be valued at, but ECAD expects the average homestead value to be $229,000.
"We have probably experienced an average of about a 6% increase for the property values for residentials," Young said. "I think the commercial property values have increased a little more than that based on what we've analyzed from surveys, but we have different types of properties that have increased in different amounts."
Properties are valued based on what they are selling for in the county, and are appraised as of Jan. 1 of each year.
"We have confidential sources that get the home values that have sold in prior years by doing surveys and other things to determine what they're selling for," Young said. "If our appraisals are low, then we have to make adjustments to the values of the appraisals that we have for Ector County. Basically, it's a ratio study, which we do, and we have to do that every year. So it's an increase every year that way."
Under Texas law, Young and his team are only required to appraise properties every three years. However, Ector County does it every year so property owners see smaller increases instead of a single large increase every three years.
Young said if you own a property, you are eligible to protest. Here are some of the protest procedures provided by the Ector County Appraisal District. The procedures include understanding the deadline to protest property values or denials of exemptions is May 15, or 30 days from the appraisal notice date.
The ECAD encourages property owners to review property appraisals with an appraisal staff member prior to filing a formal protest. This can be done by contacting the office to request an appointment.
According to ECAD, after informally reviewing the property appraisal, the appraiser will take one of the following actions: change the appraised value based on the information you provided, re-inspect the property or make no change to the original appraisal.
According to Young, informal requests can also be emailed to ECAD.
Filing a formal protest with the Appraisal Review Board (ARB) must be written. They can also be mailed to 1301 E. 8th Street, Odessa, Texas 79761 or filed at the Ector County Appraisal District.
To learn more about local property taxes, ECAD provides further information here.