I have been an advocate for property tax relief since I first joined city council. Beginning in early 2018, I actively advocated for an increase in the residential homestead exemption from the current 8% to 20%, the maximum level allowed under state law. In June 2019, I successfully obtained the first increase in our homestead exemptions in over 15 years, increasing the residential homestead exemption from 8% to 14%. During my first term as mayor, I successfully led our city council to approve increasing the homestead exemption to the maximum level.
In recent years our city council has also doubled the over 65 exemption and increased the disabled exemption from $20,000 to $200,000.
Thanks to the substantial increase in these exemptions, the average single family homeowner in Jersey Village today pays less in property taxes to the city than they did in 2017. These tax cuts have not come at the expense of making essential investments in our infrastructure, parks or emergency services. Thanks to our economic development efforts and the resulting substantial increase in sales tax revenues, we have successfully maintained the high level of services our citizens have come to rightfully expect.
As mayor I will continue to fight to keep property taxes as low as possible while ensuring that our city remains one of the best places in Texas to live!