New home building in SW Arlington...

3 new locations for new housing being built in SW Arlington.
1) Big Spring at Pine Valley
2) Little Road at Moore's Landing
3) Kelly Elliott at Green Oaks

For all the details see: Double Eagle Real Estate

Buy Sell Invest with Hart at DavidHartHomes.com for all things home related. Your knowledgeable REALTOR® in the DFW area.

Property Taxes update from Texas Sen Kelly Hancock...signed by Gov Abbott...

Dear Friends,

The 86th Legislative Session wrapped up last week after 140 jam-packed days tackling a wide range of issues. Since a few key topics grabbed most of the headlines, we'd like to give you a more in-depth look at the results of the session.

Today's email is the first in a summer series highlighting legislation we were honored to work on. I hope you'll find there's a common thread... putting the interests of the people of Texas above any level of government's interest. Between property appraisal reforms, electric grid security, landmark drug price transparency, eliminating surprise medical billing - and a few fun bills like the Fido-friendly Outdoor Dining Act - our office managed to pass more than 60 pieces of legislation this session designed to do just that.

As the saying goes, "Keep the first things first." So we'll start by covering the clear No. 1 priority of Texas taxpayers: property tax reform.

SB 2 - Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019

As a joint author of SB 2 and member of the newly-formed Senate Property Tax Committee, I had the privilege of chairing the conference committee on this bill to work out differences between the House and Senate versions near the end of the session. For the first time in 40 years, the Texas Legislature delivered an extremely strong property tax reform measure that will fundamentally transform the rate-setting and appraisal processes in the Lone Star State.

KEY PROVISIONS

If a general taxing unit increases its revenue (i.e. your community's taxes) more than 3.5% year-to-year, voters now have the protection of an automatic referendum election on the November uniform election date, when voter turnout is at its highest.

The Legislative Budget Board projects that as long as voters don't allow their taxing units to bust the 3.5% cap, Texas taxpayers will save more than $2.6 billion over the next five years!

With pages and pages of appraisal reforms, just some of the highlights include:

Prohibiting appraisal review boards (ARBs) from raising a property owner's appraised value during protest proceedings;

Requiring Chief Appraisers to maintain a list of qualified individuals offering free property tax assistance;

Requiring appraisal districts to notify a property owner if they're not taking advantage of a homestead exemption to which they may be entitled;

Giving property owners aged 65 and over, military service members, veterans, and their spouses priority scheduling for protest hearings;

Allowing property owners to submit a survey related to their experience after completing a tax protest or motion (those should be interesting reads!);

Prohibiting anyone who is related to an ARB member by blood or marriage from serving as a fellow ARB member, and prohibiting elected officers or employees of a taxing unit from being simultaneously employed by an appraisal district;

Preventing taxing units from filing suit to collect delinquent taxes if the disputed tax is the subject of an appeal; and

Creating a "real-time tax notice" on appraisal district websites. This online portal will allow property owners to type in their address and see a customized notice of appraised value, including the amount of taxes that would be due under each taxing unit's no-new-revenue rate, voter-approval rate, and proposed tax rate. Contact information for each taxing unit will be prominently featured for property owners to express their support or opposition to the proposed tax rate, adding yet another layer of transparency and accountability to the system.

Thank you for taking the time to read through this update! Please don't hesitate to share it with any friends, family, and neighbors who may be interested.

Sincerely,

Kelly Hancock
State Senator, District 9
Chair, Business & Commerce
Vice Chair, Transportation

Buy Sell Invest with Hart at DavidHartHomes.com for all things home related. Your knowledgeable REALTOR® in the DFW area.

Property Taxes... Senate Bill 2 passes house...

Senate Bill 2 has passed the Texas House! This legislation -- our signature property tax reform bill -- prohibits local governments from raising taxes by more than 3.5% without voter approval.

facebook link

It is a start in stopping the automatic 10% increase each year that homeowners have gotten for the last 4 years! Good Job Tony Tinderholt!

Buy Sell Invest with Hart at DavidHartHomes.com for all things home related. Your knowledgeable REALTOR® in the DFW area.

Arlington City Town Hall Meeting...

Hosted by Council Member Sheri Capehart, representing our District 2.

WHEN: Monday, March 25, 2019

TIME: 6:30 pm TO 8:00 pm

WHERE: Mary Moore Elementary Cafeteria
                5500 Park Springs Blvd
                 Arlington, TX 76017

TOPIC: Gas Well Ordinance Amendment Item. Discussion on the waiver process associated with the specific use permit that establishes drill zones and gas well setbacks.

For more information please call the Arlington City Council Member's Office at 817-459-6143.

Buy Sell Invest with Hart at DavidHartHomes.com for all things home related. Your knowledgeable REALTOR® in the DFW area.


Brief summary of meeting: 
After the presentation of the 5 new amendments;
1) Concurrent process. 
2) Notification Area, now neighbors within a 1/4 mile of site will be notified ahead of time, not 600'. 
3) Noise, reduced to 4 decibels, a decrease of 3.
4) Trucks on street prohibited.
5) Dust restrictions required. 

Sheri requested a show of hands either for or against, A proposal to have the city council require a Super Majority Vote to reduce the 600 feet gas well setback to 300 feet. The majority present voted in favor of the City Council requiring a Super Majority vote. What this means is that 7 out of the 9 council member votes must vote in favor to have a set back less than 600 feet, regardless of waivers. With this, it will be extremely unlikely that any gas well will have a set back less than 600 feet. A good thing.               

SW Arlington Neighbors - Sublett Creek Drainage Improvements...

SW Arlington Neighbors,

UPDATE: Here is a copy of the PDF Presentation
by Sidney Kelly, PE City of Arlington:                                 Presentation
(for those who missed the meeting).


Please join us from 6 pm to 7 pm on Monday, January 7, 2019 at the SW Library Community Room for an informal informational meeting regrading planned drainage improvements in the Sublett Creek Neighborhood.

The library is located at 3311 SW Green Oaks Blvd, Arlington, TX

Info Flyer with map

Questions related to the meeting or this project can be directed to project manager at:
Sidney.Kelly@arlingtontx.gov   or 817-459-6590.


Buy Sell Invest with Hart at DavidHartHomes.com for all things home related. Your knowledgeable REALTOR® in the DFW area.