Based on an analysis of the most recent data, Denton County property owners will save more than $443 million in property taxes for the 2023 tax year.
Despite how much the values have grown or decreased that year, the Denton Central Appraisal District sends out the market values of both real estate and personal property for every account. Every year, property owners are given the opportunity to contest their figures. O’Connor collected this information for the earliest and most recent property tax information provided via the Denton Central Appraisal District.
Before the final tax values were established in 2023, O’Connor estimated that Denton County property tax protests would ultimately save about $236 million in property taxes. Analysis of data available on the Denton County Property Tax Trends report provides support for this assessment using 2021 values which are the most current values available. After careful review of 2023 values, it is already obvious that property tax owner savings resulting from appeals are far exceeding the original projections.
Homeowners will save $63 million in property taxes in 2023, according to an updated estimate. The Denton Central Appraisal District’s official statistics show that a total of 44,629 houses have had their values decreased as a result of 2023 tax disputes. With a tax rate of 2.7%, the average assessment reduction presently stands at $52,530. Homes will see an average reduction in property taxes of $1,418. Homestead exemptions are not accounted for in this analysis.
According to past assessments, apartments would be the most cost-effective commercial real estate as of September 2023 in terms of real estate taxes and tax protests. In contrast to their initial value of $19.6 billion, the final tax objections for 2023 were settled for $13.7 billion, which equals to a $5.8 billion decrease in tax assessments. Apartment owners are spared paying $157 million in property taxes this year thanks to the reductions applied due to their protests based on a tax rate of 2.7%. Taxes for apartment complexes in Denton County were 29.7% lower in 2023 because of these owner appeals. The average property tax savings for each apartment complex appeal was $156,350. There were 1,005 hearings for apartments for the 2023 property tax year that concluded with a savings.
Using the finalized valuations for 2023, 11,201 accounts for land and other commercial properties have been resolved. There is presently a $1.84 billion notice value, which is $2.1 billion less than the $3.99 billion starting value. At a tax rate of 2.7% for this property tax year, owners of land and other assets can anticipate tax savings of $58 million. This equals $5,184 per tax parcel based on the tax values after hearings. With a 53.9% decrease in property tax, land, and other properties had the highest percentage of commercial property tax savings in Denton County.
Using the most accurate projections for 2023, the assessed values for the hotels that made protests have dropped from $863 million to $678 million. Utilizing a 2.7% tax rate, this results in tax savings of $4.9 million and a reduction of $184 million in total tax assessments. This research covers 81 hotels, which results in an average property tax reduction of $61,560 per resolved hotel property in 2023. The final percentage reduction for hotel property taxes as of September 2023 is 21.4% for objections that lead to a reduction.
Given that many office building objections were successful as of September 2023, the assessment reduction for office buildings is 23.2%. The final valuations for office buildings in Denton County during the same period yielded significant savings of $25.3 million across a total of 1,312 office properties. This led to a downgrade in the ultimate valuation from $4 billion to $3 billion, resulting in a substantial tax reduction of $937 million. With a tax rate of 2.7%, the finalized property tax amount for 2023 is $19,286.
The initial assessed value of $67.3 billion decreased to $50.9 billion, resulting in an average reduction of 24.35%. As of September 2023, the total tax savings for objected-to properties, including residential and commercial properties, amounted to $7,254. The successful property tax protests in Denton County led to a reduction in property taxes for 61,076 owners.
Updates have been made to the following apartments to reflect those with greatest reductions in their 2023 property tax assessments:
- The Mansions at Oak Point apartments can be found at 571 Lloyds Road in Little Elm, Texas. It is expected that they will receive tax reductions amounting to $1.7 million for the 2023 tax year. Initially, the property tax assessment for this establishment, which was constructed in 2021, was set at $124 million. However, it was significantly reduced to $61.1 million, resulting in a significant difference of $63.1 million. Consequently, the property taxes for this business facility were reduced by 50%.
- Reatta Ranch Apartment Homes, located at 810 Tally Boulevard in Justin, Texas, have had a considerable decrease in their property tax assessment as of the year 2023. The assessment has decreased by $60.2 million, or 51% since it was first calculated. The property’s value has decreased from $117 million to $56.8 million. The property taxes have decreased by $1.62 million as a result of this reduction, which was computed using a tax rate of 2.7%.
- The amended original property tax assessment for the apartments at 1519 Scripture St. in Denton, Texas, was $94.8 million in 2023; this assessment was subsequently reduced by $55 million, putting the current total value for their 2023 property tax assessment to $39.8 million. A 179-unit apartment complex called Park Place Denton was built in 2022.
Examples from previous cases serve as a reminder of the potential savings in property taxes that might be achieved through the property tax protest procedure. The finalized 2023 property tax assessment reductions were calculated by comparing the initial values supplied by the Denton Central Appraisal District to the most current tax assessments for the year. More than 77 people are employed by the Denton Central Appraisal District, which evaluates all of the properties in Denton County. The average drop is increased because properties that have been objected to but not decreased are not included in this data.
The success rate for Denton County property tax protests ranges from 65 to 90% on average per year. Property owners have a better chance of getting tax reductions if they contest their assessments each year.
