AUSTIN, Texas — It's taken all year, but Texas lawmakers finally agreed on Monday morning to a plan that will cut property taxes.
"I said on the podium that I invited the [House] Speaker [Dade Phelan] to sit down and meet face-to-face because I thought we could get it done in about 30-minutes if we did," Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said on a special episode of the Y’all-itics political podcast on Monday. "He accepted the invitation. We met last week. He came in and we did have about a 30-minute meeting, and we pretty much agreed in principle on the big things in this bill."
The Senate got what it wanted and increased the homestead exemption from $40,000 to $100,000.
The House got what it wanted and "compressed" school property taxes by essentially giving school districts $12 billion in order to reduce the burden on Texas homeowners.
"It will cut school taxes for homeowners by about 41 percent, and people who have business properties about 23 percent," Patrick explained while breaking the compromise down.
On average, Patrick said the new compromise will see Texas homeowners paying $1,200 to $1,450 less in property taxes than they did previously -- beginning this year.
But the agreement also includes two new elements.
First, non-homesteaded properties like investment properties, parcels of land or vacation homes that are valued at $5 million and under -- including residential and commercial properties -- cannot have their appraised values rise by more than 20 percent. This provision, Patrick said, is a three-year pilot project.
Second, legislation will also include savings on the franchise tax for small businesses and create newly elected positions on local appraisal boards.
A one-time bonus for Texas public school teachers that the Senate recently passed did not make this final agreement.
Patrick told WFAA that teachers will get a pay raise -- but he said that lawmakers wanted to handle that topic separately from the property tax one.
Patrick additionally acknowledged that renters will not see any savings in this property tax cut agreement -- not directly, anyway.
The House and Senate are expected to vote on it this week and Governor Abbott has promised to sign it. Texas voters will still have to approve this on the November ballot.