• David Tewes •
• Originally published May 23, 2008 at 8:57 a.m., updated May 23, 2008 at 8:57 a.m.

Victoria’s taxpayers might feel less discomfort sitting in an IRS office answering tax-return questions than reviewing their recent property tax appraisal notices.

Appraisals for homes rose an average of 6 percent this year. They jumped an average of 20 percent for commercial property.

But that just tells part of the story.

Appraisals, which are used to figure property taxes, have risen an average of 82 percent for homes and 63 percent for commercial property over the past decade.

A house appraised at $100,000 10 years ago would be worth just more than $182,000 today. Commercial property worth $100,000 a decade ago would be worth more than $163,000 today.

Those numbers are based on figures provided at the Advocate’s request by Chief Appraiser John Haliburton with the Victoria Central Appraisal District.

Haliburton makes no excuses for the increases.

“It is what it is,” he said. “The numbers really speak for themselves.”

Louise Hull Patillo with Cornerstone Properties compared the appraisal district numbers with actual sales in Victoria over 10 years.

“Year to year, I didn’t come up with anything similar,” she said. She would have expected to see the average increase about 58 percent for residential property over that period, she said.

She didn’t believe there was enough information available to come up with an accurate comparison for commercial property.

Lee Swearingen with Coldwell Banker The Ron Brown Company also questioned whether the increases reflect actual market prices.

“Neither the average nor the median for the whole market has accelerated that amount,” he said. In 1998, the median sales price was about $80,000, but that increased to about $114,000 in 2007, he said.

That’s about a 43-percent increase.

Swearingen’s comments are based on information from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University in College Station.

The center's staff conducts research on financial, socioeconomic, public policy, trade, legal, land use and local market analysis issues related to real estate.

Researcher Beth Thomas with the Real Estate Center said there could be logical explanations for the difference between the appraisal district numbers and those listed by her agency.

“Appraisals are going to be behind the curve at least six months,” she said. “They try to reflect what has happened today and the past six months, but they cannot estimate any economic fallout that’s coming or economic boon that’s coming.”

Appraisal districts may also use slightly different factors in coming up with their estimates, she said. For instance, the Real Estate Center’s numbers are based on current sales, but the appraisal district’s numbers are as of Jan. 1 of each year.

Haliburton said he hasn’t talked with neighboring appraisal districts to see how their increases compare.

“Generally, they’re in a different market and they may have different things going on,” he said.

David Tewes is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6515 or dtewes@vicad.com, or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.

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