Bell Property Tax Protest ARB Tax Savings over $2 MM in 2021
Bell County Tax Appraisal District property tax protests not settled informally are heard by the county appraisal review board. Bell owners saved a total of $197 million in 2021 in tax protests, including savings $938 million in protests settled informally and $2 million in ARB protests. In a typical year, about 30 to 50% of protests are successful. The only way to lose is to not file a protest. They can't raise your value due to a protest; it can only be reduced. Claim your fair share of property tax savings by enrolling in the Property Tax Protection Program (TM). No flat fees. Pay only if you save that year. No upfront costs. Simple 3 step program: 1) enroll, 2) relax and 3) save.
Protests with Written ARB DeterminationSource: 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 | 0.122 | 0.300 | 0.342 | 0.383 | 0.337 | 1.691 | 2.585 | 2.646 | 3.548 | 4.516 | 8.259 | |
| Protests single family residential | 0.021 | 0.049 | 0.053 | 0.057 | 0.050 | 0.599 | 0.807 | 1.048 | 1.729 | 2.500 | 4.789 | |
| Protests with all other | 0.101 | 0.251 | 0.289 | 0.326 | 0.287 | 1.092 | 1.778 | 1.598 | 1.819 | 2.016 | 3.470 | |
Texas property owners should protest annually since Hearing results depend on the appraiser assigned or the ARB; results vary widely. You do not know the appraiser or ARB panel prior to appealing.
Bell County Protests with Written ARB Determination
Bell County property owners have the right to appeal their property taxes to the Bell County Appraisal Review Board annually. It does not matter if the value increased, was unchanged or was reduced. You can protest based on market value and unequal appraisal. There is no cost to file a property tax protest and the ARB cannot raise your value at the hearing.
The graphs illustrate both residential and commercial (other) volumes.
Bell County property owners had appraisal review board hearings for 2,646 property tax protests, out of a total of 17,381 tax protests. Hence, 100% of Bell County protests proceeded to an ARB hearings. Home owners accounted for 1,048 of the ARB hearings.
BellCAD Protests by Property Type
Tax Appraisal District Of Bell County is typical in that it has more residential than commercial ARB hearings. This is because such a large portion of the parcels are homes. While the Bell County ARB hearings are about two-thirds residential, about two-thirds of the savings are commercial.
In other words, though there are more residential protests, commercial property protests generate larger property tax savings. There are two reasons for this: 1) commercial properties tend to have a higher value and 2) the percentage reduction for commercial is higher since valuation of commercial properties is more subjective than valuation of homes.
Bell County ARB Decisions with a ReductionSource: 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 | 0.022 | 0.092 | 0.071 | 0.050 | 0.075 | 0.851 | 1.858 | 1.767 | 2.526 | 3.714 | 6.852 | |
| Single Family Residential | 0.005 | 0.019 | 0.022 | 0.025 | 0.037 | 0.426 | 0.687 | 0.831 | 1.554 | 2.304 | 4.516 | |
| Commercial / All Other | 0.017 | 0.073 | 0.049 | 0.025 | 0.038 | 0.425 | 1.171 | 0.936 | 0.972 | 1.410 | 2.336 | |
Texas property owners should protest annually since An annual appeal is an insurance policy to avoid major increases.
Bell County ARB Decisions with a Reduction
Bell County has more successful ARB hearings for residential than for commercial. This is because of the prevalence of residential accounts. About half of ARB appeals are successful, depending on the county.
Home owners accounted for 1,048 of the ARB hearings, accounting for 40% of the total 2021 Bell County ARB protest hearings.
Percent That Resulted in A ReductionSource: 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 | ||
| Total Reduction | 18% | 31% | 21% | 13% | 22% | 50% | 72% | 67% | 71% | 82% | 83% | |
| Single Family Residential | 24% | 39% | 42% | 44% | 74% | 71% | 85% | 79% | 90% | 92% | 94% | |
| Commercial / All Other | 17% | 29% | 17% | 8% | 13% | 39% | 66% | 59% | 53% | 70% | 67% | |
Texas property owners should protest annually since To ensure their property taxes are at the lowest possible level.
Percent That Resulted in A Reduction
Here is a graph of the Bell County ARB decisions for residential and commercial showing what percent resulted in a reduction.
In Bell in 2021, there were 1,598 ARB hearings for home owners and 1,767 for commercial property owners. Home owners won a reduction in 79% of the Bell ARB hearings while commercial / other property owners won a reduction in 59% of their hearings.
Value Reduction From Written ARB DeterminationsSource: 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 | 0.010 | 0.012 | 0.016 | 0.021 | 0.013 | 0.091 | 0.117 | 0.080 | 0.185 | 0.594 | 0.512 | |
| Single Family Residential | 0.001 | 0 | 0.001 | 0.001 | 0.001 | 0.008 | 0.022 | 0.025 | 0.075 | 0.164 | 0.164 | |
| Commercial / All Other | 0.009 | 0.011 | 0.015 | 0.019 | 0.013 | 0.083 | 0.095 | 0.055 | 0.110 | 0.430 | 0.347 | |
Texas property owners should protest annually since Unequal appraisal allows protests based on neighbors having a better tax assessment.
BellCAD Dollar Value Reduction from ARB Hearings
Bell County property owners challenged the value set by Bell County Tax Appraisal District at the ARB in 2,646 cases. The ARB agreed reduction was appropriate in 1,767, or 67% of the hearings.