Lubbock Property Tax Appeals Save $10+ Million Per Year
Lubbock property tax appeals saved Lubbock County property owners over $11 million in 2021. Lubbock Central Appraisal District establishes the initial value. Owners can protest market value and unequal appraisal. Tax protests generate large savings in Lubbock. Informal hearings saved owners $1 million in 2021, formal hearings (ARB) saved owners $9 million in 2021 and lawsuits saved owners $1 million. There is no cost to file an appeal. Most property tax appeals at Lubbock Central Appraisal District are successful (65 to 75% are successful).
Total Value Reduction, Informal HearingsSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Millions of $ | |||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
| $ Total Value Reduction | 57.97 | 33.62 | 67.25 | 53.03 | 74.01 | 64.45 | 173.36 | 282.27 | 512.58 | 536.15 | 663.72 |
| Single Family Residential Reduction | 21.79 | 9.56 | 19.11 | 33.13 | 26.17 | 41.70 | 60.09 | 78.47 | 149.66 | 267.47 | 270.58 |
| Commercial / Other | 36.18 | 24.07 | 48.13 | 19.90 | 47.84 | 22.75 | 113.28 | 203.80 | 362.91 | 268.68 | 393.14 |
Texas property owners should protest annually since The value cannot be raised during the protest, based on 2019 legislation.
Lubbock County Property Tax Savings from Administrative Appeals
The Lubbock Central Appraisal District and the Lubbock County Appraisal Review Board (ARB) work with property owners and property tax consultants to correct the errors in the initial property tax values. Informal hearings are between an appraisal district appraiser and a property owner or tax consultant (if you don’t want to do it yourself). A three-member ARB panel hears cases not resolved informally and some of the cases that go to the ARB end with a judicial appeal, binding arbitration or a SOAH (State Office of Administrative Hearing).
You can’t get a reduction unless you file an appeal. If you do not feel comfortable doing it yourself, you can turn to O’Connor and we will be glad to help.
Lubbock County property tax protests for home owners accounted for 24% of the tax assessment reductions in informal hearings while commercial / other properties accounted for 76% of the reductions in informal hearings.
Lubbock CAD Informal Hearings
The Lubbock Central Appraisal District property tax assessment reduction is shown in the following graph. Believe it or not, most people do not appeal their property tax assessment. However, most of those that protest, see reductions in their property taxes.
Total Value Reduction, Formal ARB HearingsSource: 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 | |
| $ Total Value Reduction | 0.035 | 0.032 | 0.032 | 0.032 | 0.062 | 0.092 | 0.351 | 0.352 | 0.682 | 1.048 | 1.121 |
| Single Family Residential Reduction | 0.011 | 0.008 | 0.013 | 0.017 | 0.036 | 0.056 | 0.014 | 0.026 | 0.069 | 0.088 | 0.068 |
| Commercial / Other | 0.024 | 0.024 | 0.019 | 0.015 | 0.026 | 0.037 | 0.337 | 0.326 | 0.612 | 0.960 | 1.052 |
Texas property owners should protest annually since You can’t evaluate the strength of your appeal until you obtain the hearing evidence file. You have to protest to obtain the hearing evidence file (available free upon request via U.S. mail).
Lubbock CAD Formal ARB Hearings
The graph you see shows the Property tax assessment reductions for the Lubbock County Appraisal Review Board hearings.
Formal ARB hearings from commercial / other properties reduced their property tax assesments by $23 MM in 2014 and $325 million in 2021.
Tax Savings, Informal HearingsSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Millions of $ | |||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
| $ Total Value Reduction | 1.22 | 0.71 | 1.41 | 1.11 | 1.55 | 1.35 | 3.64 | 5.93 | 10.76 | 11.26 | 13.94 |
| Single Family Residential Reduction | 0.46 | 0.20 | 0.40 | 0.70 | 0.55 | 0.88 | 1.26 | 1.65 | 3.14 | 5.62 | 5.68 |
| Commercial / Other | 0.76 | 0.51 | 1.01 | 0.42 | 1.00 | 0.48 | 2.38 | 4.28 | 7.62 | 5.64 | 8.26 |
Texas property owners should protest annually since Not appealing is used against property owners in the subsequent years since “you agreed to the value” (by not protesting).
Estimated Total Property Tax Informal Savings
Here you can see the Total Lubbock Central Appraisal District property tax savings for informal and formal hearings. This does not include property tax savings from judicial appeals, binding arbitration and State Office of Administrative hearings.
It is your right to manage taxation for the benefit of you and your family. Annual property tax appeals are effective. Property taxes are the most significant tax in Texas.
Lubbock County single family owners reduced their property taxes by $373,082 from informal hearings in 2021 versus $1 million in tax savings from informal hearings for commercial / other. Informal tax savings for all Lubbock property owners from informal tax protests totaled $1 million in 2021.
Tax Savings, Formal ARB HearingsSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Millions of $ | |||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
| $ Total Value Reduction | 0.73 | 0.67 | 0.67 | 0.66 | 1.30 | 1.94 | 7.36 | 7.38 | 14.31 | 22.01 | 23.53 |
| Single Family Residential Reduction | 0.23 | 0.17 | 0.26 | 0.35 | 0.76 | 1.17 | 0.29 | 0.54 | 1.45 | 1.85 | 1.44 |
| Commercial / Other | 0.50 | 0.50 | 0.40 | 0.31 | 0.54 | 0.77 | 7.07 | 6.85 | 12.86 | 20.16 | 22.09 |
Tax Savings, Formal ARB Hearings
Lubbock County property owners reduced their property taxes by $9 million in ARB hearings in 2021. This includes property tax savings of $692,066 for single family and $8 million for commercial property (see bottom table).
Total Tax Savings (Informal & Formal)Source: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Millions of $ | |||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
| $ Total Value Reduction | 1.95 | 1.38 | 2.08 | 1.77 | 2.85 | 3.29 | 11.00 | 13.31 | 25.07 | 33.27 | 37.47 |
| Single Family Residential Reduction | 0.69 | 0.37 | 0.66 | 1.05 | 1.31 | 2.05 | 1.55 | 2.19 | 4.59 | 7.47 | 7.12 |
| Commercial / Other | 1.26 | 1.01 | 1.41 | 0.73 | 1.54 | 1.25 | 9.45 | 11.13 | 20.48 | 25.80 | 30.35 |
Total Tax Savings (Informal & Formal)
Lubbock County property owners achieved substantial savings through the informal and formal hearings. Lubbock County property owners reduced their 2021 property taxes by $11 million by through protests to Lubbock Central Appraisal District / ARB. This total includes both informal and formal / ARB hearings, but does not include litigation. Tax savings were split $1 million for single family and $9 million for commercial / other.