President Stacie called the membership to order just a few minutes past noon and asked Dr. Dave to offer the invocation. The gift of rain was one of the many blessings Dr Dave offered up in thanks to our creator and Cara followed that blessing through with two verses of “Singing in the Rain” after she had led us in the pledge to the stars and stripes.
The only guest this week was Shirley Craft’s better half, Kenn Hill. And the only birthday to be celebrated was John Deason’s who we’ll recognize when he returns.
For the Sunshine Report several members raised up others for us to keep in our thoughts and prayers until they return to us. It was good to hear that John Deason was home and now recuperating. We hope he’ll be joining us again soon. Others who were remembered were Steve Priester who was having knee surgery the very day of our meeting and Stacie asked for prayers for her sister who is having surgery on November 6th. Judy Koetter asked us to remember her grandson and his classmates from Windthorst as they dealt with the tragic loss of one of their classmates and she also asked for prayers for her cousin who lives in Haifa, Israel.
For announcements, Shirley reminded everyone we are just two weeks away from our Veteran’s Day program on November 9th and not many members have indicated they are bringing guests that day. Please let Tina know if you plan to bring a guest for this program.
Andy made an announcement concerning flags for Veterans Day. With Veteran’s Day falling on a Saturday this year, flags will be put out on Friday, 10 Nov and picked up on Saturday, the 11th.
Carol Murray had a lot of braggers this week making donations to the brag bucket. Pam Leonardi, Shirley, Alan and Tommy all made brags and donations. President-elect John Mayfield offered a brag for his “boss”, Debbie Mayfield who won the Women’s Tennis Single title for the city. It was Debbie’s 12th straight year winning the women’s single title – Congratulations!!
Stacie then called on Larry Tegtmeyer to induct new member, Brady Woolsey into the club and present him with his red membership badge. Andy then made an offer to all red badge holders that he was going to attend a make-up Rotary Meeting on Friday, November 3 at the Northwest Club and this would be an opportunity for red badge holders to attend a meeting at another Rotary Club.
After the member induction, Stacie stayed at the podium and introduced our very own Lisa Stephens-Musick to present the program for the day. Lisa is the Chief Appraiser for the Wichita Appraisal District and she educated us on Texas Proposition 4 -- Property Tax Relief which will be on the ballot in Texas as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on Nov 7, 2023.
Lisa began her presentation by discussing how Prop 4 came to be. After the Texas state legislature did not pass a property tax amendment during the 2023 regular legislative session Gov. Abbott called for a special session to address property taxes. Nine amendments were proposed but none were passed. Gov. Abbot then called for a second special legislative session where Proposition 4 was introduced. After the resolution passed the House and Senate Gov. Abbott said, "The Texas House and Senate fulfilled our promise with an agreement that delivers a comprehensive, long-lasting solution to increasingly burdensome property tax bills.
Lisa then explained Senate Bill 2 included the language on the property tax cuts that goes before voters this year. The five-part package and the implications with each are:
(1). A 20% circuit breaker on appraised values for non-homestead real properties valued at $5 million or less
This would become effective January 1, 2024 and would be a 3-year pilot program. It allows the market value to increase to what the market indicates but the assessed value can only increase 20%.
(2.) Increased the residence homestead exemption from $40K to $100K
This would be effective for 2023 taxes. Appraisal Districts are required to provide values for the $40K and the $100K exemption and tax statements will be marked as “provisional” reflecting the $100K exemption with caveat.
(3.) Recalculation of tax ceilings for property owners who qualified for over-65 disables exemption for 2022/2023
This allows tax ceilings for these property owners to be recalculated utilizing the $40K and $100K exemption effective for the 2023 tax year
(4.) Added over $12 billion in state funding to reduce school property taxes
This allows the use of the state’s budget surplus to pay for the property tax relief
(5.) Created 3 county-wide elected positions on local appraisal district boards
In May 2024 an election would be held for 3 members who would take office in July 2024. This would increase the size of the Board of Directors to 9 members.
What actually goes before the voters this year will be a constitutional amendment to authorize the legislature to enact the cuts in the bill.
Clearly this will be landmark legislation for taxpayers in the state and as Lisa pointed out, with every piece of legislation that goes before the voters there are pros and cons. It is incumbent on each voter to educate themselves on the issues to make an informed decision and remember – Your VOTE counts.
As time was short following Lisa’s presentation, President Stacie thanked her for educating us on this important topic and closed the meeting a few minutes past 1 with the Four-Way Test.