DALLAS — Many North Texans got sticker shock when their property tax appraisals arrived in the mail last month.
And more than ever, homeowners are doing something about it, or at least trying to.
As of Thursday, the Dallas Central Appraisal District had received 176,337 protests for residential and business properties.
The deadline to protest was May 15, or 30 days after an appraisal was received, but mail was still being processed and Dallas officials expect the number of protests to near 200,000.
Dallas Central Appraisal District spokesperson Cheryl Jordan said the most protests their office received was in 2020, when 178,358 people filed protests. Last year, there were 147,665 protests.
Collin County protests were up, too. As of Thursday, the Collin Central Appraisal District had received 92,265 protests, up 16% from last year.
The Collin County office is still receiving mail and anticipate the number of protests to be somewhere in the range of 96,000 to 100,000.
Protest numbers for Tarrant and Denton counties were not yet available.
It's no surprise to see protests up across North Texas, where property values have skyrocketed, leading to higher tax bills for homeowners.
Real estate experts and realtors have encouraged people to protest their property tax appraisals.
Realtor Chandler Crouch told WFAA in April that his agency helped about 22,000 people protest their appraisals in 2021; about 90% of them won their protest.
“Everyone should protest every single year, for a few reasons," Crouch said. "Number one, you just don’t have anything to lose.”
Crouch said people often hesitate to protest their property tax appraisal notices because they fear they'll be put on some sort of blacklist or that it will hurt their property value. He said there are laws in place to prevent that sort of thing and that local governments expect appeals.
Home values rose rapidly in North Texas, up 23.55% year-over-year, according to data from the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center's annual data.
“The Texas real estate market is growing as fast as we have ever seen it in the state’s history," said Alvin Lankford, president of the Texas Association of Appraisal Districts, which issued guidance in March to member appraisal districts. "We have all seen the countless stories about people moving to Texas from other states. This increase in population contributes to a shortage of homes available and to the increase in prices paid for homes.”