HAYS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT
During last week’s Hays County Commissioners Court meeting Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra and Hays County Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe raised concerns about nonlocal housing finance corporations acquiring multifamily properties in Hays County and attempting to remove them from the local tax rolls through tax-exempt status claims. The court unanimously approved the submission of a letter to the Hays County Central Appraisal District asking that it delay any determination of tax exempt status until the Texas Attorney General returns an opinion on the constitutionality of the matter.
According to a press release issued by Becerra, Pecos Housing Finance Corporation and Pleasanton Housing Finance Corporation — both based outside of Hays County — recently acquired five large residential complexes in San Marcos and two in Kyle. A letter from the Hays County Central Appraisal District to Hays County warned of the significant revenue that would be lost due to the acquisition of the Lodge at Southwest and Castlerock at San Marcos — which would impact the tax roll for the county, city of San Marcos and San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District — and Vista at Plum Creek, Plum Creek Apartments and The Chloe Apartments — which would impact the tax roll for the county, city of Kyle and Hays CISD. The press release stated that, if approved, their requests for tax exemption could remove over $227 million in taxable value from the county’s tax base. That would translate to an estimated annual revenue loss of more than $500,000 to Hays County alone, not including additional impacts to local school districts and municipalities.
“This could result in significant revenue loss for us, which would affect our ability to fund vital services,” Ingalsbe said. “There is proposed legislation being considered, and there is also ongoing litigation in Williamson County v Cameron County HFC (Housing Finance Corporation), so it isn’t happening solely in Hays County. … There has also been a request for an opinion from the Texas Attorney General’s Office, so with this in mind, I’d like to submit the letter that’s in backup to Laura Raven, our chief appraiser, to request that her office delay any determination of tax exempt status for these properties until formal legal clarification is provided and given to us in time to evaluate the constitutionality of these two actions.”
In the press release Becerra also pointed to the “hundreds of millions of dollars” in property tax that would be removed from the tax roll, therefore depleting the county’s ability to pay for essential services such as public safety and health.
“These organizations are operating without our input, our support or our authorization,” Becerra said.
Becerra wanted to be clear that the county supports affordable housing, but that is not applicable with these particular properties that have been marketed as “luxury living,” which he said “raises questions about the validity of their tax-exempt claims.
