By Anton Riecher
Medina County Emergency Services District No. 4 board commissioner Jerry Beck urged fellow board members to consider granting a homestead exemption to MCESD4 residents over age 65 during the board’s Dec. 11 regular meeting.
“In all reality it’s not really that big a deal,” Beck said. “It’s a gesture.”
Homestead exemptions reduce a home’s appraised value and, as a result, reduce property taxes. In Texas, any taxing entity may offer a local optional exemption of at least $3,000 for taxpayers either disabled or over age 65.
Beck, who joined the ESD4 board in October, compared it to the action taken by the Medina County Commissioners Court to freeze property tax appraisals for residents over 65. Beck formerly served as the Precinct 4 county commissioners.
The exemption can be granted directly by the governing body or approved by a vote of the taxpayers, Beck said. Given the cost of conducting an election and the near certainty that such a proposition would pass, the more economical route would be action by the board.
MCESD4 consists of 4,567 homesteads over which 1,936 belong to people age 65…
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