Jefferson Judicial Appeals Save $105 MM / Year
Property taxes in Jefferson County can be reduced further after the appraisal review board. There are three options: binding arbitration (62 cases in 2021), judicial appeals (185 cases filed in 2021) and State Office of Administrative Hearings aka SOAH (0 cases in 2021). Jefferson property owners settled 0 lawsuits (aka judicial appeals) in 2021 gaining additional tax assessment reduction of $429 million for property valued at $2.6 billion after the ARB. Additional tax savings from settling judicial appeals was $11 MM. Data is not available for savings from binding arbitration cases.
Number Appealed to Binding ArbitrationSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Appeals | ||||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||
| Number Determinations appealed | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 21 | 62 | 88 | 99 | 112 | |
Texas property owners should protest annually since Texas has one of the best systems for appeals for property owners.
Jefferson County Appeals after ARB Hearing
Jefferson County has two types of property tax appeals. Administrative appeals and Post administrative appeals. Administrative appeals – includes the informal and appraisal review board. Post administrative – includes judicial, binding arbitration and State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH). Post-administrative appeals are summarized by property type.
Jefferson County property owners won assessment reduction totaling $123 million at the ARB in 2021. These reductions are estimated to have reduced property taxes by $3 million. ARB hearings for houses accounted for $13 million of reduction while hearings for commercial / other generated $109 million in property tax assessment reduction.
JCAD Binding Arbitration Cases – after ARB
Binding arbitration is a great option for owners of property valued at less than $5 million (homesteads have no limit for binding arbitration), when there is a clear cut case on market value. The hearing officer is an attorney, appraiser, or CPA. In our experience, unequal appraisal is not usually considered in binding arbitration. The property owner must pay a deposit which is refunded if they prevail and lost if not.
Number Appealed to Binding Arbitration
Jefferson property owners filed 62 binding arbitration cases against the Jefferson Central Appraisal District in 2021, versus 10,058 statewide.
Appealed to State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH)Source: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Appeals | ||||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||
| Appealed to SOAH | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
JCAD State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) – after ARB
The SOAH (State Office of Administrative Hearings) has been an available option for over 10 years. Jefferson owners file 0 State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) cases against Jefferson Central Appraisal District in 2021 versus 47 statewide.
Judicial AppealsSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Appeals | ||||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||
| Judicial Appeals | 23.00 | 19.00 | 25.00 | 24.00 | 61.00 | 68.00 | 82.00 | 185.00 | 177.00 | 250.00 | 274.00 | |
Jefferson County Judicial Appeals – after ARB
Jefferson Central Appraisal District has a substantial number of judicial appeals in gross terms, but only a very small number relative to the total number of protests and accounts. Only about 1 in 500 accounts is protested through the judicial appeal level. (A judicial appeal is a lawsuit in state district court.)
Judicial appeals are lawsuits in district court filed to continue the property tax appeal after the appraisal review board. However, judicial appeals can be coordinated by O’Connorat no cost to you, except a portion of the savings. O’Connor pays the legal fees, expert witness fees and filing fees, and is only paid when successful.
Lawsuits against Jefferson Central Appraisal District (Jefferson CAD) were 185 in 2021 versus 23 in 2014. In 2021, multifamily accounted for 57 lawsuits and commercial accounted for 123 lawsuits against Jefferson CAD.