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Texas Tax Code - Section 6.06. Appraisal District Budget And Financing

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§ 6.06. APPRAISAL DISTRICT BUDGET AND FINANCING.  (a) 
Each year the chief appraiser shall prepare a proposed budget for 
the operations of the district for the following tax year and shall 
submit copies to each taxing unit participating in the district and 
to the district board of directors before June 15.  He shall include 
in the budget a list showing each proposed position, the proposed 
salary for the position, all benefits proposed for the position, 
each proposed capital expenditure, and an estimate of the amount of 
the budget that will be allocated to each taxing unit.  Each taxing 
unit entitled to vote on the appointment of board members shall 
maintain a copy of the proposed budget for public inspection at its 
principal administrative office.
	(b)  The board of directors shall hold a public hearing to 
consider the budget.  The secretary of the board shall deliver to 
the presiding officer of the governing body of each taxing unit 
participating in the district not later than the 10th day before the 
date of the hearing a written notice of the date, time, and place 
fixed for the hearing.  The board shall complete its hearings, make 
any amendments to the proposed budget it desires, and finally 
approve a budget before September 15.  If governing bodies of a 
majority of the taxing units entitled to vote on the appointment of 
board members adopt resolutions disapproving a budget and file them 
with the secretary of the board within 30 days after its adoption, 
the budget does not take effect, and the board shall adopt a new 
budget within 30 days of the disapproval.
	(c)  The board may amend the approved budget at any time, but 
the secretary of the board must deliver a written copy of a proposed 
amendment to the presiding officer of the governing body of each 
taxing unit participating in the district not later than the 30th 
day before the date the board acts on it.
	(d)  Each taxing unit participating in the district is 
allocated a portion of the amount of the budget equal to the 
proportion that the total dollar amount of property taxes imposed 
in the district by the unit for the tax year in which the budget 
proposal is prepared bears to the sum of the total dollar amount of 
property taxes imposed in the district by each participating unit 
for that year.  If a taxing unit participates in two or more 
districts, only the taxes imposed in a district are used to 
calculate the unit's cost allocations in that district.  If the 
number of real property parcels in a taxing unit is less than 5 
percent of the total number of real property parcels in the district 
and the taxing unit imposes in excess of 25 percent of the total 
amount of the property taxes imposed in the district by all of the 
participating taxing units for a year, the unit's allocation may 
not exceed a percentage of the appraisal district's budget equal to 
three times the unit's percentage of the total number of real 
property parcels appraised by the district.
	(e)  Unless the governing body of a unit and the chief 
appraiser agree to a different method of payment, each taxing unit 
shall pay its allocation in four equal payments to be made at the 
end of each calendar quarter, and the first payment shall be made 
before January 1 of the year in which the budget takes effect.  A 
payment is delinquent if not paid on the date it is due.  A 
delinquent payment incurs a penalty of 5 percent of the amount of 
the payment and accrues interest at an annual rate of 10 percent.  
If the budget is amended, any change in the amount of a unit's 
allocation is apportioned among the payments remaining.
	(f)  Payments shall be made to a depository designated by the 
district board of directors.  The district's funds may be disbursed 
only by a written check, draft, or order signed by the chairman and 
secretary of the board or, if authorized by resolution of the board, 
by the chief appraiser.
	(g)  If a taxing unit decides not to impose taxes for any tax 
year, the unit is not liable for any of the costs of operating the 
district in that year, and those costs are allocated among the other 
taxing units as if that unit had not imposed taxes in the year used 
to calculate allocations.  However, if that unit has made any 
payments, it is not entitled to a refund.
	(h)  If a newly formed taxing unit or a taxing unit that did 
not impose taxes in the preceding year imposes taxes in any tax 
year, that unit is allocated a portion of the amount budgeted to 
operate the district as if it had imposed taxes in the preceding 
year, except that the amount of taxes the unit imposes in the 
current year is used to calculate its allocation.  Before the amount 
of taxes to be imposed for the current year is known, the allocation 
may be based on an estimate to which the district board of directors 
and the governing body of the unit agree, and the payments made 
after that amount is known shall be adjusted to reflect the amount 
imposed.  The payments of a newly formed taxing unit that has no 
source of funds are postponed until the unit has received adequate 
tax or other revenues.
	(i)  The fiscal year of an appraisal district is the calendar 
year unless the governing bodies of three-fourths of the taxing 
units entitled to vote on the appointment of board members adopt 
resolutions proposing a different fiscal year and file them with 
the secretary of the board not more than 12 and not less than eight 
months before the first day of the fiscal year proposed by the 
resolutions.  If the fiscal year of an appraisal district is changed 
under this subsection, the chief appraiser shall prepare a proposed 
budget for the fiscal year as provided by Subsection (a) of this 
section before the 15th day of the seventh month preceding the first 
day of the fiscal year established by the change, and the board of 
directors shall adopt a budget for the fiscal year as provided by 
Subsection (b) of this section before the 15th day of the fourth 
month preceding the first day of the fiscal year established by the 
change.  Unless the appraisal district adopts a different method of 
allocation under Section 6.061 of this code, the allocation of the 
budget to each taxing unit shall be calculated as provided by 
Subsection (d) of this section using the amount of property taxes 
imposed by each participating taxing unit in the most recent tax 
year preceding the fiscal year established by the change for which 
the necessary information is available.  Each taxing unit shall pay 
its allocation as provided by Subsection (e) of this section, 
except that the first payment shall be made before the first day of 
the fiscal year established by the change and subsequent payments 
shall be made quarterly.  In the year in which a change in the fiscal 
year occurs, the budget that takes effect on January 1 of that year 
may be amended as necessary as provided by Subsection (c) of this 
section in order to accomplish the change in fiscal years.
	(j)  If the total amount of the payments made or due to be 
made by the taxing units participating in an appraisal district 
exceeds the amount actually spent or obligated to be spent during 
the fiscal year for which the payments were made, the chief 
appraiser shall credit the excess amount against each taxing unit's 
allocated payments for the following year in proportion to the 
amount of each unit's budget allocation for the fiscal year for 
which the payments were made.  If a taxing unit that paid its 
allocated amount is not allocated a portion of the district's 
budget for the following fiscal year, the chief appraiser shall 
refund to the taxing unit its proportionate share of the excess 
funds not later than the 150th day after the end of the fiscal year 
for which the payments were made.

Acts 1979, 66th Leg., p. 2226, ch. 841, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1981.  
Amended by Acts 1981, 67th Leg., 1st C.S., p. 122, ch. 13, § 17, 
18, eff. Aug. 14, 1981;  Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 311, § 1, eff. 
Aug. 26, 1985;  Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 796, § 9, eff. Sept. 1, 
1989;  Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 20, § 16, eff. Aug. 26, 1991;  
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 347, § 4.07, eff. May 31, 1993.

Last modified: August 10, 2007