2021 TNT Postcard Information
Blanco County Property Owners should be receiving their Truth-in-Taxation (TNT) Postcard Notice for 2021.
Pursuant to new Texas Property Tax Code “Truth-in-taxation” requirements added by Senate Bill 2 in 2019, The Blanco County Appraisal District (BCAD) has mailed out a postcard to all property owners in Blanco County.
The postcard guides property owners to the official website https://blanco.truthintaxation.com/ which serves as the local property tax database site, on which property owners can easily access information regarding property taxes, including information regarding the amount of taxes that each entity that taxes your property will impose if the entity adopts its proposed tax rate.
Taxing units will regularly update this local tax database during August and September as local elected officials propose and adopt the property tax rates that will determine how much you pay in property taxes. Local taxing units must publish detailed information online to assist residents with understanding proposed budgets and tax rates. Property owners can use this information to gain knowledge about and provide feedback on tax rate proposals.
Truth-in-taxation is a concept embodied in the Texas Constitution that requires local taxing units to make taxpayers aware of tax rate proposals and to afford taxpayers the opportunity to roll back or limit tax increases.
The website allows property owners to provide feedback on the tax rate process and provides the following property-specific information for each taxing unit authorized to levy a tax on the property including:
- Property values,
- Proposed tax rates,
- An estimate of property taxes that would be imposed under the proposed rates,
- Dates and locations of public hearings on the tax rates, and
- Other useful information on taxing unit budgets, revenue and rate calculations.
UPDATE REGARDING BLANCO COUNTY TRUTH IN TAXATION POSTCARDS (8/12/2021)
The Blanco County Appraisal District (BCAD) utilized a third-party vendor to complete the mailing of the Truth in Taxation postcards, and this vendor had committed to BCAD to have the postcards mailed on August 6th, 2021 in order to be compliant with Tax Code 26.04(e-2), which requires the Chief Appraiser to deliver such notice by “By August 7 or as soon thereafter as practicable”. Our Appraisal District’s Chief Appraiser discovered on August 10th that the vendor did NOT fulfill their commitment and had not yet mailed the postcards.
While this failure of the vendor being utilized by the Appraisal District was beyond the control of BCESD2 and BCAD, it still presented a problem for Blanco County ESD 2, as we had already scheduled our Tax Rate Public Hearing for August 12th at 12:00pm, and had already published notice of this hearing on our website and the Blanco County News, as required by law. Tax Code 26.05(d-1) prevents us from holding a Public Hearing until the 5th day after the Chief Appraiser has complied with the requirement outlined above to mail out the postcards. While Blanco County ESD 2 and the Blanco County Appraisal District made a good faith effort to comply with the law, we could not legally hold our public hearing on August 12th, as the vendor did not actually mail the postcards until August 12th.
In order to comply with all of the requirements set out by the Texas Tax Code, Blanco County ESD 2 is taking the following steps:
- Scheduling a Second Public Hearing for Monday, August 23rd, 2021 at 3:00pm.
- Publishing Notice of this Public Hearing on our website (bcesd2.com) immediately.
- Publishing Notice of this Public Hearing in the Blanco County News in the August 18th edition.
- We will hold the Public Hearing on Monday, August 23rd, 2021 at 3:00pm, and then the Board of Blanco County ESD 2 will hold its regular meeting immediately following this Public Hearing. Blanco County ESD 2 will adopt a tax rate during its regular meeting on Monday, August 23rd immediately following the Public Hearing.
If you have any questions regarding regarding Truth in Taxation, please contact the tax assessor for Blanco County ESD No. 2 at 830 868-4013, or candice.fry@blancocad.com, or visit www.blancocad.com for more information.