Protest Ector Property Tax - Reduction from Lawsuits $2 MM / Year
Ector County property tax reduction from lawsuits total over $2 MM per year. Just in 2021, property owners filed 48 lawsuits appealing the ARB value and settled 34 lawsuits. The total value Ector County of accounts settled in 2021 was $664 billion and the settlements reduced property tax assessments by $109 billion. Tax savings by category are as follows: single family - $0 million; multifamily - $1 million; commercial / BPP - $1 million; industrial - $0 million, utilities - $0, oil & gas - $0 and "other categories" - $0 million. The cases settled in 2021 had a reduction in 88% of the cases.
How the Judicial Appeals Were ResolvedSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Judicial Appeals | |||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
| Number of Judicial Appeals Resolved | 2.00 | 6.00 | 8.00 | 12.00 | 15.00 | 17.00 | 26.00 | 34.00 | 58.00 | 81.00 | 95.00 |
| By Agreed Judgment | 0 | 3.00 | 5.00 | 10.00 | 14.00 | 15.00 | 23.00 | 30.00 | 52.00 | 74.00 | 57.00 |
| By Court Judgment or Other | 2.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 2.00 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 4.00 | 6.00 | 7.00 | 38.00 |
Texas property owners should protest annually since An annual appeal is an insurance policy to avoid major increases.
Ector County Judicial Appeal Resolutions
Ector County Appraisal District judicial appeals are mostly resolved by settlement. The amount of market value subject to judicial appeals and the assessment reduction from judicial appeals are in the second and third graphs. The fourth graph shows actual tax savings by year by property type.
Judicial appeals settled with Ector County Appraisal District totaled 2 in 2014 versus 34 in 2021.
Ector CAD Judicial Appeal Resolution Summary
Ector County Appraisal district judicial appeals are almost always resolved. Less than 1 in 100 go to trial. 88% of the settlements were by agreed judgment, indicating an informal settlement with a reduction. 3 cases were resolved by nonsuit, of the property owner dismissing the cases, accounting for 9% of 2021 judicial appeal resolutions. The odds favor the property owner.Of the appeals from Ector County, 88% of Ector County property tax judicial appeals are settled by agreement.
Appraised Value (ARB) of Resolved Judicial AppealsSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Billions of $ | |||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
| Appraised Value (ARB) | 0.01 | 0.13 | 0.08 | 0.17 | 0.26 | 0.28 | 0.29 | 0.66 | 0.87 | 0.63 | 0.39 |
Texas property owners should protest annually since To maintain their rights to appeal to or through the judicial appeal process. Owners must exhaust administrative options to pursue binding arbitration or a judicial appeal
Appraised Value (ARB) of Resolved Judicial Appeals
Ector County Appraisal District has substantial market value subject to a judicial appeal. For most counties, the amount of accounts with judicial appeals is in the hundreds of million or tens of billions. While the number of cases is small, the total dollars at stake is large. This graph shows the value of accounts resolved by year in judicial appeals by Ector County Appraisal District.
Ector CAD settled judicial appeals with an ARB value of $664 million in 2021 versus cases with an ARB value of $5.65 million in 2014, a 100% increase. The assessed value reduction achieved through judicial appeals was $109 million, reducing their property taxes by an estimated $2.95 million.
Value Reduction from Judicial AppealsSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Billions of $ | |||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
| Total Reduction from Judicial Appeals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.04 | 0.07 | 0.06 | 0.05 | 0.11 | 0.07 | 0.03 | 0.02 |
| Single Family | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Multi-Family | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.01 |
| Commercial | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.01 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.07 | 0.04 | 0.01 | 0.01 |
| All Other | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.02 | 0.05 | 0.03 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Texas property owners should protest annually since It is a responsibility of ownership. Large commercial owners generally appeal annually and obtain a reduction. Why should homeowners be excluded?
Ector County Taxpayer Value Reduction
from Judicial Appeals
Ector County property owners are often able to further reduce the ARB value by about 10% with a judicial appeal. The total amount Ector County and other property owners are able to reduce taxable values is large.
Judicial appeal settlements with Ector County Appraisal District generated total assessment reductions of $109 million, allocated: 1) $0 to home owners, 2) $42.22 million to apartment owners and 3) $67.2 million to commercial / BPP owners.
Tax Savings From Judicial AppealsSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Millions of $ | |||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
| Total Tax Reduction | 0 | 0.03 | 0.09 | 0.79 | 1.49 | 1.27 | 1.06 | 2.30 | 1.42 | 0.55 | 0.33 |
| Single Family | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.01 | 0 |
| Multi-Family | 0 | 0 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0 | 0.18 | 0.37 | 0.89 | 0.66 | 0.43 | 0.13 |
| Commercial | 0 | 0.03 | 0.07 | 0.31 | 0.54 | 0.47 | 0.39 | 1.41 | 0.76 | 0.11 | 0.20 |
| All Other | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.47 | 0.95 | 0.62 | 0.30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Texas property owners should protest annually since The appraisal district uses inaccurate data, factors and an inaccurate model to estimate values. Half are too high and half too low; very few are just right. Even if you are under-valued on market value, you can appeal on unequal appraisal.
Ector CAD Property Tax Reduction from Judicial Appeals
Ector County property owners generated property tax savings totaling $2.95 million in 2021 as a result of judicial appeals with Ector CAD. Property tax savings included $0 for home owners, $1.14 million for apartment owners and $1.81 million for commercial property owners.