Tax bills pending

Tax Assessor-Collector offices in Jefferson and Hardin counties are sending out tax statements as if the proposition to be voted on in November has already passed.

“We are sending out tax statements as usual, which is mid to late October,” Chief Deputy Terry Wuenschel of the Jefferson County Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office said.

Hardin County Tax Assessor-Collector Shirley Cook noted that her office is not waiting for the results of the pending vote and was instructed to mail out the county landowners’ tax statements as if the $100,000 constitutional homestead exemption has passed. She added that the state’s tax assessor-collectors have received several legal opinions as how best to proceed.

The Hardin County tax statements are scheduled to be in the mail on Oct. 12.

The constitutional proposition is resulting in a delay in tax statements in Orange County, which will not issue tax bills until after the vote takes place. Orange County Tax Assessor-Collector Karen Fisher reported that the 2023 tax information statements will not be available until after the Nov. 7 election results are certified by the Commissioners Court.