Harris County property appraisals dip a little

This is what counts as good news these days.

The appraised value of property countywide has declined slightly, according to numbers released Thursday, but not nearly on the scale of last year’s 3 percent plunge that translated into tens of millions of dollars in budget cuts at the area’s largest local government agencies.

The Harris County Appraisal District certified the value of the county’s appraisal rolls at $271 billion, three-tenths of a percent lower than in 2010.

“It’s not good news, but it’s not bad news either,” said Jim Robinson, chief appraiser for HCAD.

The value is close enough to 2010’s level that local school boards and city councils can send out the same tax bills as last year without raising property tax rates and without facing the kinds of choices they did in passing budgets this year – choices like how many teachers to lay off, how many pools to close and how many mentally ill people won’t get counseling.

The decline in value within the boundaries of Houston Independent School District was three-tenths of 1 percent. It was a tenth of 1 percent in the Harris County portion of the city of Houston.

The reason why this is good news is that Houston had made its initial budget projections based on a 1.5% decline in appraised values. The actual decline, which is listed as 0.04% later in the article, is much less than that, so whatever budget shortfall the city may have been planning for is now less than they originally thought it would be. We’re not out of the hole yet, but we’re getting there.

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