NATIONAL
Where Do Property Taxes Bite (and Where Do They Nibble)?
New York Times
Buying a home in an area where property taxes are high can add a substantial amount to your monthly outlay. Unfortunately, taxes aren't going away, but remember, they're often the largest source of funding for schools, roads and infrastructure, garbage collection, law enforcement and other services we expect.
Mountain West lawmakers seek property tax relief as home values soar
Boise State Public Radio
State officials around the Mountain West are looking to provide property tax relief to residents as they struggle with the increasing costs of living in the region. Property tax formulas depend on where you live, but the amount is generally based on the value of your home. In the Mountain West, those yearly bills are getting larger as demand to live in the region keeps rising and real estate prices keep breaking records.
Nonprofit Hospitals' Tax Exemptions Exceeded Charity Care Costs in 2020
RevCycle Intelligence
Tax exemptions exceeded charity care costs for nonprofit hospitals in 2020, raising concerns about whether these facilities provide enough community benefits to justify their exemption status. Nonprofit hospitals are exempt from paying federal, state, and local property taxes as long as they invest their profits in charity care and community initiatives.
US home building surged in February
CNN Business
US home building jumped higher in February, turning around after five consecutive months of falling. Housing starts, a measure of new home construction, rose by 9.8% in February from January. But that's still down 18.4% from a year ago, according to data released Thursday by the Census Bureau. Starts in January rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.450 million, up from the revised January estimate of 1.321 million.
INDIANA
Lawmakers clarify how severed property interests are affected by tax sales
NWI
Legislation headed to the desk of Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb seeks to clarify a tax sale issue that left unchanged potentially has massive implications for property and business owners in the Hoosier State.
IOWA
Proposal to tax forest reserves
Sierra Club
Currently the Iowa Code gives a property tax exemption for woodlands (called forest reservations in the law) that are at least two acres and have not less than 200 trees per acre. There is also an exemption for fruit tree reservations.
NEW YORK
Bills would allow Ogdensburg to tax state-owned land
7News
A pair of bills in the state legislature would allow Ogdensburg to tax the significant amount of state-owned land in the city. Bills in both the state Assembly and Senate share the same goal: to have New York state pay tax money on property it owns in the city of Ogdensburg. The state owns 30% of the land in Ogdensburg. City councillors have been pushing for state lawmakers to introduce this legislation.
McKinley Mall up for April auction
wgrz.com
2 On Your Side has learned exclusively from Hamburg town supervisor Randy Hoak that the McKinley Mall will be up on the real estate auction block come April. The auction websites list the starting bid at $3 million. It was seemingly a normal weekday at McKinley Mall with some cars and lots of empty spaces in the parking lot.
TEXAS
Voters line up to test Tarrant County's election system. Mistakes were encouraged
Fort Worth Report
Tarrant County residents lined up Tuesday to cast fake votes during a public election test. It's Katherine Hagood's first time to participate in such a venture. She won't be at the elections administration building when the final results come back, but Hagood said she has concerns about election integrity, and wanted to make sure she did her part by participating in a test of the county's system.
Dallas Ranks No. 7 Among Nation's Largest Metros For New Housing Permits
CandysDirt.com
Nearly 1 million apartments are under construction across the U.S., and Dallas ranks No. 7 among the 50 largest metro areas in new-construction housing permits, according to a report released Tuesday. Dallas is No. 3 in Texas, according to the report, behind Austin and Houston.
Former Montgomery County tax assessor collector J.R. Moore Jr. mourned
Your Conroe News
A man his successor called a legend in his field, not only in Montgomery County but across the state, is being mourned. J.R. Moore Jr., 74, was the Montgomery County tax assessor collector for 27 years from 1987 until his retirement in 2014. He died on March 8 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.
Leadership shakeups at Tarrant Appraisal continue with high-ranking official's retirement
News Break
Another Tarrant Appraisal District official is leaving the agency. TAD's Director of Residential Appraisal Randy Armstrong is retiring, effective April 14, Chief Appraiser Jeff Law confirmed Thursday. Armstrong has worked at the agency for 42 years. News of his retirement comes seven months after Armstrong was suspended for filing unauthorized complaints that invoked his position at TAD.