Mayor George Fuller said an exemption is a “more surgical approach” that provides a more equitable result compared with freezing the current valuation.
For those who qualify, $80,000 is taken off the value of their home set by the appraisal district, and they are taxed at that lower amount. It’s targeted to a certain group and changeable each year. “It seems to me that we ought to try to do something to benefit the average to below-average senior citizen who owns their home, but we can’t do it without benefiting everybody,” he said.If the council decides to freeze the property values of those 65 and over or disabled, the value exempted for fiscal year 2024 would be about $469 million, which would calculate to about $2.1 million in tax revenues each year.
Fuller added that while increasing the current exemption amount would increase the burden on other property owners and senior citizens with fixed incomes who are living modestly, he too does not want to shift the burden on to single mothers or single parents with a freeze.