City agrees to reduce taxes for senior citizens, disabled

Residents over 65 years of age or disabled were given a tax break by the Kilgore City Commission Tuesday night when a local tax exemption was approved.

The unanimously approved ordinance grants those residents 65 years of age or older or persons with a qualifying disability a city ad valorem tax exemption on $15,000 of the appraised value of their residence. This is in addition to the 20 percent homestead exemption already in effect.

“This is above and beyond the homestead exemption,” said Assistant Director of Finance Lawanna Chrisman

Representatives of Kilgore’s senior community have appeared at several commission meetings, asking the city to freeze property taxes for senior and disabled citizens.

“I’m asking you to freeze property taxes for disabled people,” said Betty Alder on behalf of the group. “I’d also like you to add a local option exempting disabled property owners.”

Alder pointed out, “Other cities and school districts smaller than Kilgore have given tax relief to disabled property owners.”

After several weeks of looking into the matter, the commission acted on Alder’s request.

Chrisman said the $15,000 option and the 20 percent homestead exemption for those 65 and over will reduce city’s projected tax revenue by $20,925, and give those over 65 an average $19.68 annual savings.

If a disabled resident has applied for and received the 20 percent homestead exemption, that will result in about a $78.74 saving per household. The city’s revenue would be decreased about $7,244 if every eligible disabled person in town applies.

In total, the city’s revenue could decrease about $28,168.

Chrisman pointed out these figures were based on average home values for the two segments of the city’s population.

“The homestead exemption is not an automatic thing,” said City Manager Jeff Howell. “Residents must apply for it -it’s not a given thing.”

Chrisman based her figures for those over 65 on an average home value of $75,633. With the 20 percent homestead exemption and the $15,000 local option, that would bring the taxable value of the property to $45,506.40. At the current 53.493-cent tax rate, that would bring annual city taxes to an estimated $238.88

Figures for disabled persons with the homestead exemption were based on an average property value of $57,850. With the homestead exemption and the local option, that would bring the average taxable value of that property to $31,280 and the owner would pay an estimated $164.30 annually in city taxes.

Chrisman said reports indicate Kilgore has about 1,063 households with residents in the over-65 age bracket.

“We don’t know if all of them have applied for the homestead exemption,” Howell said. “If they haven’t, it would be a good move to make.”

Records indicated 93 disabled persons live in Kilgore.

Chrisman said her figures were based on information from the Gregg County Appraisal District.