State lawmakers have made a number of changes to property-tax laws this year, but one local commercial property owner tells 3NEWS he doesn't think that it's exactly fair to all of his tenants, because some will actually see property tax relief and others won't.
None of the mom-and-pop businesses in Hamlin Center, located at the corner of Staples Street and Weber Road, will have their property taxes capped at 20 percent because the strip center is valued at more than $5 million.
Here's why that's important to know.
"We were getting 50 percent increases yearly for a couple of years, so the tax cap from the state for some of them is welcomed,” said Landlord Resources owner David Loeb, who owns the shopping center. “It's only on commercial property under $5 million evaluation. They can only go up 20 percent a year."
Loeb owns seven commercial shopping or business centers around town. Two of those sit side-by-side.
Hamlin Center is right next to a business complex, which is not valued at more than $5 million, so State lawmakers have capped the property taxes for these business at 20 percent for at least 3 years.
"After 3 years they'll decide if it's going to continue or not it depends on what it's going to do to the revenues for the entities as well," said Nueces County’s Chief Appraiser Ronnie Canales.
Loeb said it's a bit unfair that the property-tax caps are only helping some small businesses based solely on where they choose to be located.
Canales said business owners can already start challenging this year's property-tax appraisals, though it would be better to do that in April when they will have a better idea of those preliminary numbers.