Liberty Property Taxes Cut in 42% of Informal Hearings

Liberty Central Appraisal District (CCAD) generates property taxes assessments using a process called "mass appraisal". It is the least reliable method to value property. Hence, their estimates of value are subject to protests on both market value and unequal appraisal. Liberty County property owners won 42% of the informal appeals, saving $60,112 in just 2021. Liberty owners who protest are likely to save, but you must protest to save. There are no voluntary reductions after initial guesstimates are sent. In a typical year, 40 to 70% of protests are successful in Liberty. If you don't want to protest annually yourself, we can do it for you. There is no flat fee. No upfront cost. No fee ever unless we reduce your property taxes that year. Enroll now in the Property Tax Protection Program(TM) to claim your savings. Three simple steps: 1) enroll, 2) relax and 3) save.

Resolved Informally Liberty 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	3.202	4.693	6.184	4.509	2.834	1.296	0.969	3.175	5.380	5.345	6.882
Single Family	0.214	0.859	1.505	1.202	0.899	0.476	0.360	1.150	1.940	2.514	1.562
Commercial / Other	2.988	3.834	4.679	3.307	1.935	0.820	0.609	2.025	3.440	2.831	5.320

Texas property owners should protest annually since Most appeals are resolved with a reduction at the informal level.

Liberty County Property Tax Protests Resolved Informally

Liberty County property owners who file a property tax protest have three primary options to resolve their protest. These include the: 1) informal hearing, 2) the formal hearing (or appraisal review board), and 3) judicial appeal or binding arbitration. Most property tax protests are resolved at the informal hearing.

Home owners accounted for 21% of property tax protests filed with Liberty Central Appraisal District in 2021.

Liberty CAD Informal Settlements

The Liberty Central Appraisal District cannot require an informal hearing. Most property owners attempt to settle during the informal hearing. In some cases, they agree to the initial value after seeing the appraisal district’s evidence.

This means that they stop their journey to protest right there. However, there is more that property owners can do. By settling at the informal hearing, a property owner is waiving their right to continue the property tax appeal. Property owners not satisfied with the offer at the informal hearing can continue to the appraisal review board hearing, and even to a district court lawsuit.

Resulted in Reduction Through Informal Process Liberty 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	2.267	2.003	1.739	1.131	0.522	0.230	0.251	2.211	4.170	3.301	4.985
Single Family	0.155	0.410	0.665	0.389	0.112	0.062	0.060	0.783	1.506	1.333	0.968
Commercial / Other	2.112	1.593	1.074	0.742	0.410	0.168	0.191	1.428	2.664	1.968	4.017

Texas property owners should protest annually since It is the world’s safest wager. No cost and a 60% chance of savings annually.

Liberty County Informal Hearing Reductions

The Liberty Central Appraisal District accounts that received a reduction at the informal hearing are illustrated below. Informal resolution rates vary sharply from county to county.

Liberty County home owners settled 244 of the total 2,075 protests for houses with the Liberty Central Appraisal District at the informal hearings level. 58(24%) of the informal settlements with Liberty CAD had a reduction.

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 Number	70.800%	42.680%	28.120%	25.080%	18.420%	17.750%	25.900%	69.640%	77.510%	61.760%	72.440%
Single Family	72.430%	47.730%	44.190%	32.360%	12.460%	13.030%	16.670%	68.090%	77.630%	53.020%	61.970%
Commercial / Other	70.680%	41.550%	22.950%	22.440%	21.190%	20.490%	31.360%	70.520%	77.440%	69.520%	75.510%

Texas property owners should protest annually since Errors in the appraisal districts records for your property often artificially inflate YOUR property taxes.

Liberty County % of Informal Hearings with Reduction

Liberty Central Appraisal District makes massive adjustments to the total values during the informal hearing process for both residential and commercial. Given the large reductions in tax assessments and property tax values, it is surprising more homeowners do not appeal.

A large portion of Liberty County property tax appeals for houses were settled at the informal hearing.Liberty homeowners accounted for 38% of the 2021 informal protest settlements while commercial / other accounted for 62%. Liberty Central Appraisal District settled 642 property tax protests informally in 2021. Success rates were 24% (had a reduction) for single family and 54% for commercial / other types of property.

$ Value Reduction From Informal ProcessSource: 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
$ Reduction Total	0.0951	0.0770	0.0183	0.0179	0.0219	0.0368	0.1302	0.1207	0.1111	0.2199	0.1064
$ Reduction Single Family	0.0021	0.0076	0.0038	0.0042	0.0044	0.0102	0.0225	0.0205	0.0186	0.0361	0.0193
$ Value Commercial / Other	0.0930	0.0694	0.0145	0.0137	0.0175	0.0266	0.1077	0.1001	0.0925	0.1838	0.0872

Texas property owners should protest annually since Property taxes are the only type that can be negotiated based on subjective factors and judgment.

Liberty Central Appraisal District $ Value Reduction From Informal Process

Property owners scored assessment reductions of $1.06 million for single-family and $1.15 million for commercial / other in informal settlements with Liberty CAD in 2021. These informal settlements generated estimated property tax savings of $28,858 for home owners and $31,254 for owners of commercial / other property in Liberty in 2021.