Bell Property Tax Protests - By Value by Property Type by Number
Bell property tax protests saved Bell County property owners over $197 million in 2021; informal hearings ($938 million) and appraisal review board hearings ($2 million). Bell County Tax Appraisal District, aka Bell County Tax Appraisal District, sets an initial value for property using a semi-reliable computer generated guesstimate. Most owners who protest ( 30 to 50%) are successful because the Bell CAD models are just not entirely reliable. If you don't protest, you are paying more than your fair share.
Total Parcels and Total Protests BellCADSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Thousands | ||||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||
| Total Parcels | 159.37 | 162.77 | 163.66 | 164.76 | 167.58 | 169.36 | 172.87 | 176.01 | 180.34 | 183.94 | 185.58 | |
| Total Protests Filed | 4.41 | 4.13 | 4.59 | 6.04 | 4.93 | 10.67 | 19.73 | 17.38 | 22.45 | 27.24 | 28.21 | |
Texas property owners should protest annually since Mass appraisal used by appraisal districts includes many errors based on limited resources. About 500 appraisers value all 20 million Texas tax parcels; about 40,000 per appraiser. Another 1,500 appraisers measure new construction.
Bell County Property Tax Protests
Here is the total number of parcels for the Tax Appraisal District Of Bell County (represented by the green bars). The actual number of parcels that are protested are shown by the red line. This means that of all the parcels in the district, only a small number of them are actually protesting to save money.
Each property tracked by the appraisal district is a parcel. Parcels can include real property, business personal property and minerals.
Total parcels in Tax Appraisal District Of Bell County
Bell County property owners filed 17,381 protests with the Bell County Tax Appraisal District in 2021, up 100% from 4,129 in 2015.
Total Protests Bell CountySource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Thousands | ||||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||
| Total Protests | 4.41 | 4.13 | 4.59 | 6.04 | 4.93 | 10.67 | 19.73 | 17.38 | 22.45 | 27.24 | 28.21 | |
| Single Family Home Protests | 0.60 | 0.82 | 0.96 | 1.89 | 1.37 | 4.17 | 6.97 | 5.90 | 8.54 | 11.26 | 11.04 | |
| Commercial / Other Protests | 3.80 | 3.31 | 3.64 | 4.16 | 3.56 | 6.51 | 12.76 | 11.48 | 13.91 | 15.98 | 17.18 | |
Texas property owners should protest annually since It is their right.
Total Protests
Bell County property tax protests by type are displayed. In most counties, the number of single family protests exceeds the number of commercial protests. However, the savings from commercial protests are greater than the reductions from single family appeals. Virtually all commercial property owners appeal their property taxes. In 2021, Bell County home owners accounted for 34% of tax protests while owners of commercial / other accounted for the remaining 66% of protests filed with Bell County Appraisal Review Board.
Homeowners pay more than their fair share of property taxes by not appealing. The vast majority of commercial value is appealed statewide, generally with substantial reductions.
Texas property owners filed a total of 2,195,780 property tax protests in 2021, including 1,284,530 (58%) by home owners.
% of Parcels Protested Bell CountySource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Percent | ||||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||
| Percent Protested | 2.76% | 2.54% | 2.81% | 3.67% | 2.94% | 6.3% | 11.41% | 9.87% | 12.45% | 14.81% | 15.2% | |
Texas property owners should protest annually since About 60% of appeals are successful.
BellCAD - % Parcels Protested
Following is an indication of the portion of all Tax Appraisal District Of Bell County parcels protested or appealed each year. Property owners handle about one-third of the appeals and hire property tax consultants for the other two-thirds.
Bell County property owners protested 9.9% of tax assessments by Bell County Tax Appraisal District in 2021, versus 2.5% protested in 2015.
Protests by Property Type Bell CountySource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Thousands | ||||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||
| Total Number | 4.41 | 4.13 | 4.59 | 6.04 | 4.93 | 10.67 | 19.73 | 17.38 | 22.45 | 27.24 | 28.21 | |
| Single Family | 0.60 | 0.82 | 0.96 | 1.89 | 1.37 | 4.17 | 6.97 | 5.90 | 8.54 | 11.26 | 11.04 | |
| Multi-Family Res | 0.19 | 0.20 | 0.24 | 0.34 | 0.30 | 1.07 | 1.99 | 2.21 | 2.43 | 3.24 | 3.35 | |
| Commercial | 0.78 | 0.57 | 0.83 | 1.04 | 1.10 | 1.89 | 4.63 | 2.64 | 2.55 | 3.30 | 3.56 | |
| All Other | 2.83 | 2.55 | 2.56 | 2.78 | 2.16 | 3.55 | 6.14 | 6.64 | 8.93 | 9.44 | 10.27 | |
Texas property owners should protest annually since Correcting an error in the appraisal district’s description of your property can reap savings in future years.
Bell County Protests by Property Type
The Tax Appraisal District Of Bell County protests on property taxes are illustrated below based on the type of property and number of protests. Homeowners typically account for over half the property tax protests. However, this is a small portion of all homeowners. Most commercial accounts are appealed annually. It is a critical factor in managing property taxes. This is often the largest operating expense for commercial property owners. They have teams compile information property by property to assist us in reducing their taxes.
Bell County property owners filed property tax protests for 17,381 accounts versus 4,129 in 2015, an increase of 100%.
Value of Property Protested by TypeSource: 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 | ||
| Value Protested Total | 3.07 | 4.26 | 4.70 | 5.15 | 5.10 | 5.04 | 7.31 | 8.50 | 8.97 | 12.43 | 13.13 | |
| Single Family | 0.08 | 0.12 | 0.20 | 0.28 | 0.50 | 0.72 | 1.34 | 1.22 | 2.14 | 3.44 | 3.39 | |
| Multi-Family Res | 0.31 | 0.35 | 0.40 | 0.45 | 0.67 | 0.88 | 1.40 | 1.51 | 1.93 | 2.67 | 2.71 | |
| Commercial | 0.76 | 0.69 | 0.87 | 1.05 | 1.38 | 1.70 | 2.72 | 2.31 | 2.59 | 3.75 | 4.04 | |
| All Other | 1.92 | 3.09 | 3.23 | 3.37 | 2.56 | 1.75 | 1.85 | 3.45 | 2.31 | 2.56 | 2.99 | |
Bell County Value of Property Protested by Type
Here are the Tax Appraisal District Of Bell County property tax protests based on the dollar volume and type of property are illustrated in this graph. While the number of residential appeals is typically larger, the market value of commercial accounts protested is larger than the value of all residential accounts protested.
The total value protested has increased every year since 2014. With 2021’s value being $8 billion.