DeWitt County Appraisal District Chief Appraiser Denise Moore presented a report on her office’s calculation of 2026 taxable values to the Commissioners Court May 11.
The Texas Property Tax Code requires the Chief Appraiser to provide an estimate of the current taxable values by April 30 of each year. Moore provided the court with 25-pages of calculations.
Public records show DeWitt County’s total taxable value in 2025 was $9.5 billion.
“Please note that values will continue to be changed, and properties will continue to be added and removed from the appraisal records until the certification date of July 25, 2026,” Moore said in a letter to the court.
Moore added that the calculations as of April 30 for 2026 total taxable values are “extremely unreliable” due to several factors. Only estimates of real and personal property are currently finalized.
Moore said the factors leading to the delay in arriving at the true total were because of businesses not reporting values until May 15 due to mandatory 30-day extensions to the deadline and mineral and industrial values, which make up the bulk of the taxable value, not being finalized.
Moore noted that the appraisal consulting firm of Pritchard & Abbott Inc. is projecting that some mineral and industrial properties will be flat, and others will be down 10 to 30% from last year.
The projections of total taxable values will be used by county officials to prepare a budget for the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
Notices of appraised values for real and personal property, which totaled about $2.4 billion, were set for mailing to taxpayers May 1, and the Appraisal Review Board is expected to certify appraisal records about July 20, Moore said.
