DeWitt County sees 20% increase in preliminary taxable values

DeWitt County is looking at a 20% increase in its preliminary value estimate of appraised taxable property, county leaders discussed Monday.

The increase part of a report delivered to the DeWitt County commissioners court on May 8. It amounts to a more than $1.6 billion valuation for the county’s total taxable property.

“This appears to be greater than a 20% increase in real property— that’s an incredible increase and this did not come from new improvements. It came from re-appraisals,” DeWitt County Judge Daryl Fowler said.

“The estimate of real property this year in the county (includes) home sites, improvements to home sites, personal property and improvements on agricultural land,” he said.

The preliminary value estimate never includes minimal value, as it takes a significant amount of time to get appraisal data and the court will have those values when they receive final appraised value in July

“It doesn’t appear that minerals will change very much this year because the price of oil and gas has stayed relatively stable through 2022 and drilling was continuous through 2022,” Fowler said.

As part of review of county financial matters Monday, the court also noted that it had recently received $8 million in grants from the Community Development Block Grant Mitigation Program administered through the Golden Crescent Regional Planning Commission.