Williamson Judicial Appeals Save $944 MM / Year
Property taxes in Williamson County can be reduced further after the appraisal review board. There are three options: binding arbitration (122 cases in 2021), judicial appeals (288 cases filed in 2021) and State Office of Administrative Hearings aka SOAH (0 cases in 2021). Williamson property owners settled 102 lawsuits (aka judicial appeals) in 2021 gaining additional tax assessment reduction of $34 billion for property valued at $1 billion after the ARB. Additional tax savings from settling judicial appeals was $944 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 | 41 | 45 | 48 | 35 | 32 | 29 | 39 | 122 | 153 | 183 | 217 | |
Texas property owners should protest annually since Texas has one of the best systems for appeals for property owners.
Williamson County Appeals after ARB Hearing
Williamson 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.
Williamson County property owners won assessment reduction totaling $160 million at the ARB in 2021. These reductions are estimated to have reduced property taxes by $4.32 million. ARB hearings for houses accounted for $23.18 million of reduction while hearings for commercial / other generated $136 million in property tax assessment reduction.
WCAD 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 successful.
Number Appealed to Binding Arbitration
Williamson property owners filed 122 binding arbitration cases against the Williamson 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 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | |
WCAD State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) – after ARB
The SOAH (State Office of Administrative Hearings) has been an available option for over 10 years. However, there are very few judicial appeals. Williamson owners file 0 State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) cases against Williamson 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 | 40.00 | 67.00 | 102.00 | 108.00 | 123.00 | 144.00 | 255.00 | 288.00 | 446.00 | 636.00 | 684.00 | |
Williamson County Judicial Appeals – after ARB
Williamson 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’Connor at 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 Williamson Central Appraisal District (Williamson CAD) were 288 in 2021 versus 2 in 2014. In 2021, multifamily accounted for 103 lawsuits and commercial accounted for 161 lawsuits against Williamson CAD.