Montgomery Property Tax Appeals Save $64+ Million Per Year

Montgomery County residents are practicing their right to protest unfair taxes like never before and are getting back solid returns from the aggressive Montgomery Central Appraisal District (MCAD). Administrative appeals combined for a solid $58.49 million in tax savings in 2024, including a record $30.80 million for homes. Montgomery County is quickly becoming the next hot suburban county, and even more taxpayers must protest their taxes to counter rising costs. Do just that when you join O’Connor’s Property Tax Protection Program™ and future-proof your property from mammoth tax hikes. You will never pay a dime unless you lower your taxes, and you will never be ambushed by upfront costs or hidden fees.

Total Value Reduction, Informal HearingsSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.

	Millions of $
	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
$ Total Value Reduction	678.34	950.34	1,245.73	1,396.81	1,547.89	1,876.90	2,205.90	2,508.49	2,008.37	1,508.25	1,118.44
Single Family Residential Reduction	150.17	238.16	214.11	209.74	205.36	254.34	303.32	338.94	293.21	247.48	313.88
Commercial / Other	528.17	712.18	1,031.62	1,187.08	1,342.53	1,622.56	1,902.59	2,169.55	1,715.16	1,260.77	804.56

Texas property owners should protest annually since The value cannot be raised during the protest, based on 2019 legislation.

Montgomery County Property Tax Savings from Administrative Appeals

The Montgomery Central Appraisal District (MCAD) has been handing out overinflated property tax bills for years. With a growing county and a thriving property market to deal with, MCAD does not have the personnel to accurately gauge what the value of a property is. Instead, taxpayers are stuck with taxes that are estimates based on historical information or on future models. The best way for Montgomery taxpayers to fight back is with administrative appeals, which can be informal or formal.

No matter what administrative appeal you wish to target, there is no better ally to have by your side than O’Connor. For over 50 years, O’Connor has been a champion for the Texas taxpayer. From huge commercial buildings to humble family homes, no property is too small or large. O’Connor is based in Houston and is one of the largest property tax consulting firms in America, so they have the local knowledge and power to get you the best appeal possible.

MCAD Informal Settlements

To start the property tax process, a taxpayer first files an informal appeal with MCAD. This is often enough to get a savings settlement and is a free appeal that anyone can pursue. If this appeal is rejected or the settlement found wanting, then a formal appeal in front of the Appraisal Review Board (ARB) is in order. Informal appeals granted Montgomery taxpayers $1.12 billion in value deductions in 2024. Homes got $313.88 million back, while businesses got $804.56 million in cuts.

Total Value Reduction, Formal ARB HearingsSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.

	Billions of $
	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
$ Total Value Reduction	0.215	0.287	0.423	0.494	0.565	0.681	0.797	1.152	1.102	1.052	1.667
Single Family Residential Reduction	0.090	0.117	0.174	0.165	0.156	0.327	0.499	0.464	0.670	0.876	1.153
Commercial / Other	0.125	0.169	0.249	0.329	0.409	0.354	0.298	0.688	0.432	0.176	0.514

Texas property owners should protest annually since You can’t evaluate the strength of your appeal until you obtain the hearing evidence file. You have to protest to obtain the hearing evidence file (available free upon request via U.S. mail).

MCAD Formal ARB Hearings

If MCAD is tight with the purse strings, or will not settle at all, then the next step is to go to formal appeals. Also known as ARB hearings, these appeals appear before an impartial group that rules between a taxpayer and MCAD. Montgomery County homeowners have been settling for informal appeals less in the past few years, pushing for ARB hearings instead.

In 2024, formal appeals resulted in homeowners reducing taxable value by $1.15 billion. The owners of single family residences received more than three times as much value from formal appeals as they did from informal ones, putting homes above businesses for total formal valuation cuts. Montgomery County properties were able to reduce value by $1.67 billion in total.

Tax Savings, Informal HearingsSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.

	Millions of $
	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
$ Total Value Reduction	14.25	19.96	26.16	29.33	32.51	39.41	46.32	52.68	42.18	31.67	23.49
Single Family Residential Reduction	3.15	5.00	4.50	4.40	4.31	5.34	6.37	7.12	6.16	5.20	6.59
Commercial / Other	11.09	14.96	21.66	24.93	28.19	34.07	39.95	45.56	36.02	26.48	16.90

Texas property owners should protest annually since Not appealing is used against property owners in the subsequent years since “you agreed to the value” (by not protesting).

Estimated Total Property Tax Informal Savings

Informal appeals were effective in bringing home hard cash for Montgomery taxpayers in 2024, with $23.49 million in total taxes being cut. Commercial properties got the largest share of the pie at $16.90 million, while single family homes took back $6.59 million. Informal appeals were less effective than in recent years, despite more protests than ever before. $54.23 million was saved via informal appeals in 2022, while a record high of $67.73 million was achieved in 2021. The overall decline is thanks to falling business cuts, as home scored their second-highest total in history in 2024.

Tax Savings, Formal ARB HearingsSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.

	Millions of $
	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
$ Total Value Reduction	4.51	6.02	8.89	10.38	11.87	14.30	16.73	24.19	23.14	22.09	35.00
Single Family Residential Reduction	1.88	2.46	3.66	3.46	3.27	6.88	10.48	9.74	14.07	18.40	24.21
Commercial / Other	2.63	3.56	5.23	6.91	8.60	7.42	6.25	14.45	9.07	3.69	10.80

Tax Savings, Formal ARB Hearings

In contrast to informal appeals, ARB hearings experience history highs when it came to tax savings. This means that initial settlements were not adequate or were rejected, forcing taxpayers to go to more organized proceedings. Inverted from the informal appeals, ARB hearings were a big gain for homeowners. $24.21 million in total tax savings were reaped by single family homes, the most in Montgomery County history. Businesses got a big rebound in 2024, reaching their second-highest result in the past decade. Businesses of various types managed to claw back $10.80 million.

Total Tax Savings (Informal & Formal)Source: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.

	Millions of $
	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
$ Total Value Reduction	18.76	25.98	35.05	39.71	44.38	53.71	63.05	76.87	65.32	53.76	58.49
Single Family Residential Reduction	5.03	7.46	8.16	7.86	7.58	12.22	16.85	16.86	20.23	23.60	30.80
Commercial / Other	13.72	18.52	26.89	31.84	36.79	41.49	46.20	60.01	45.09	30.17	27.70

Total Tax Savings (Informal & Formal)

The tale of administrative appeals in Montgomery County is an interesting one, which has some possible portents for the future. Homes doing poorly in informal appeals but swelling in ARB hearings is typically indicative of high-dollar residential counties, such as Collin or Denton. This seems to imply that Montgomery is going the way of those chic Dallas suburbs and could become the next hot housing market. Of the $58.49 million in returned funds, $30.80 million was for single family homes. Houses surpassed businesses for the first time when it comes to tax savings in 2024. This was possible both because of the rise of homes and the fall of businesses.