Frequently Asked Questions – Bee County Appraisal District (2024)

Each Texas county is served by an appraisal district that determines the value of all of the county’s real and personal property. Generally, a local goverment that collects property taxes, such as a county, city and school district, is a member of the appraisal district.

Texas property taxes are ad valorem taxes, Latin for according to value. Appraisal districts are charged with estimating property market value for the purpose of taxation by the taxing entities. The taxes collected each year are use to provide local services such as schools, roads, hospitals fire and police protection.

Taxing entities are the local government entities such as cities, schools, municipal utility districts and Bee County. Taxing entities provide services to the taxpayers such as schools, roads, police and fire protection.

No, often organizations mistakenly believe they are entitled to a property tax exemption, becasue they received a federal income tax exemption under Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or an exemption for the State sales taxes. The Constitutional requirements for property tax exemptions are different that the provisions covering income and sales taxes. A non-profit organization may qualify for a total exemption from property taxes, but they must apply by April 30th. Refer to the Forms page for exemption applications and requirements.

Generally for residential property, the appraised value of your property is an estimate of market value issued by the appraisal district as of January 1st of the current year. We calculate the estimate of market value by analyzing current sales in your neighborhood, and comparing your home to those homes that sold with comparison to size, condition and age. The appraisal district utilizes three common methods to value property :market, cost and income approach.

Fair market value means the price at which a property would transfer for cash or its equivalent under prevailing market conditions if exposed for sale in the open market with a reasonable time for the seller to find a purchaser. Both the seller and the purchaser know all of the uses, purposes and restrictions of the property. Both the seller and the purchaser seek to maximize their gains and neither is in a position to take advantage of the other.

In real estate, there’s no better indication of market value than what someone is willing to pay for a property, assumining the buyer and seller were represented by real estate professionals, the property was listed and marketed out in the open market, and open to attract multiple offers, and neither the buyer or the seller is in a position to take advantage of the each other.

The Notice of Appraised Value contains a description of property, current value, and exemptions. A notice is generated if the value of the property was reappraised for the current or if the property is new to the appraisal role.

Value changes may occur for several reasons. Residential property is estimated with sales information that may indicate the current appraised value is lower/higher than fair market value. Additionally, corrections to appraisal records may affect the appraisal value, such as: change in square footage, addition of improvements or a correction of property characteristic. Commerical property value change can be a result of changing market conditions that influence rental rates, occupancy rates or typical market expense ratios and cap rates.

Generally, the deadline is May 31st each year, or 30 days after receiving a Notice of Appraised Value. The deadline date is printed on the notice for your reference.

An information hearing is scheduled prior to the formal hearing. Your participation is optional but here you will have the option to discuss the appraised value of your home solely with an appraiser from the Appraisal District. If you and the appraiser (appriasal district) can come to an agreement on your protest case, your case will be considered closed and you will not have to appear before the Appraisal Review Board for the formal hearing. This will be the final determination on the case. You do not have the option to take further action if you are unsatisfied with the outcome. If you cannot come to an agreement with the appraiser or you choose not to participate in the informal hearing, you will need to attend your scheduled formal hearing and present your case to the ARB who will make the final decision on the case. A formal hearing before the ARB is conducted very much like a court case. The ARB sets its own procedures with guidelines from the State Comptoller’s Office. Generally, ARB panels are three-member panels, but may be more. Typically, after formal introduction of the parties and the property involved, the ARB will hear evidence from the property owner and the Appraisal District and make a judgment based on the evidence presented. Each party, the property owner and the Appraisal District appraiser, will have approximately 3-5 minutes to present their case and evidence at the hearing. Most ARB hearings tax approximately 15 minutes and the property owner will know the ARB’s recommendation before they leave the hearing. After a recommendation is made by the ARB panel and subsequently approved by a quorum of the entire Board, a written Notice of Final Order is sent by certified mail to you or your agent. This decision is binding for the current tax year unless you file under binding arbitration, appeal to SOAH or appeal to District Court.

As stated in the Texas Property Tax Code, market value is the only value permitted to be protested with the appraisal district. Assessed value is a statutory calculation based on the previous year’s assessed value and cannot be protested.

No, the appraisal district determines market value and has no control over the tax rates or resulting tax bill.

The Appraisal Review Board is a group of private citizens authorized to resolve disputes betwwen taxpayers and the appraisal district. Although the ARB is funded by the Appraisal District, they are appointed by the Local Administrative District Judge. The ARB is a seperate authoritative body. No employees or officers of the Appraisal District or the taxing units it serves may sit on the ARB. To qualify for service on the ARB, an individual must be a resident of the Appraisal District for at least two years prior to taking office. Any person who is a former member of the governing body or officer or employee of a taxing unit, or is a former director, officer, or employee of the Appraisal District is ineligible to serve. Also the person’s close relatives cannot work as professional tax agents or tax appraisers within the Appraisal District. ARB members also must comply with special conflict or interest laws.

In preparation for your hearing you should gather any evidence that you feel will support your opinion of value of your home. This would include sales of comparable homes in your neighborhood, the purchase price of your home if obtained recently, photographs of your home that may reflect any negative conditions such as cracks, flood or structure damge. By law, a copy of all evidence submitted to the ARB must be retained for public record; therefore paper is preferred. It is also recommended that you create a copy for your records as well.

If you have not designated a tax agent to represent you at your formal protest hearing, you are entitled to one postponement, if requested prior to the day of your formal hearing. Your new hearing date will be no more than 30 days from the date of your original formal hearing date. To reschedule your formal hearing, contact us by email at beecad.org or by calling our office at 361-358-0193.

Your protest will be dismissed if you do not appear in person, through a valid Affidavit, by agent or by pre-scheduled telephone hearing. You may request that the ARB Chairperson reopen the hearing by sending a letter within 4 days of the dismissal citing the good cause reason for failure to appear. Request can be emailed to beecad.org or mailed to 401 N. Washington St. Beeville TX 78102.

In order to produce accurate appraisals on all property within Bee County, we verify property records to ensure that the data used in making the appraisal is still correct. For instance, the appraisal district could have received a copy of a building permit indicating that a room was being added and an appraiser may inspect the property to ensure the property chatacteristics are correct.

In appraisal, the term improvement is a building, structure, fixture, or fence erected on or affixed to land; or a transportable structure that is designed to be occupied for residential or business purposes, whether or not it is affixed to land, if the owner of the structure owns the land on which it is located, unless the structure is unoccupied and held for sale or nomally is located at a particular place only temporarily.

Yes, an appraiser has reviewed your property.

It will be added to the tax roll at the percentage of completion as of January 1st. If the home is finished by January 1st. of the following year, percentage will increase as will the value of the property.

Per Section 22.27 of the Texas Property Tax Code, the appraisal district is prohibited from disclosing sales information gathered from a private source. Taxpayers who have protested his or her property value are entitled to the sales used to value his or her property but no other sales information.

Zoning refers to municipal or local laws or regulations that dictate how real property can and cannot be used in certain geographic areas. These laws can be modified or suspended if construction of the property will serve to help the community advance economically. Please contact your local zoning department for more details as Bee County Appraisal District does not assign zoning areas.

Tax statements are mailed each October of the Tax year and are due on receipt. In order to be timely, payment of taxes must be postmarked before the specified date. Taxes are delinquent on February 1 of each year and subject to penalty and interest, and subject to possible lawsuit.

Failure to receive a tax statement does not affect the validity of the tax, penalty, interest, due date, the existence of a tax lien, or any procedure instituted to collect a tax.

State law automatically places a tax lien on property January 1 of each year to ensure that the taxes are paid. However, the lien is not enforced so long as the taxes are paid before the due date. Any applicable penalties and interest are applied if unpaid after the due date.

The person who owned the property on January 1 of the tax year is personally liable for the tax, even if he/she sold the property during the year. However, the tax lien follows the property.

If your property taxes are paid by a mortgage company and you receive a tax statement, contact your mortgage company to verify payment.