01/12/05  DISD Budget Deficit

Open letter to DISD Trustees:

In listening to the news this week, I understand you all will be looking at ways to fill a deficit of $15 million. 

Rather than take away our homestead exemption, I suggest you look at the current appraisals at Dallas County Appraisal District on appraised of apartments. 

I live in Northwest Dallas and have checked the per square footage appraised assessed values of apartments in my neighborhood.  They range from $4.50 - $28 per square foot.  Our homes are being assessed $75 per square foot.  We are paying as much as 16 times more tax on our per square footage assessed value.  This is way out of line. 

Most of the school children at Burnett Elementary come from the over-populated apartments near my neighborhood.  Very few of our 430 single family homes have any children attending a DISD school. 

If the apartment owners paid their fair share of taxes, we might not have this shortfall.  If you would like to verify this information, you can go to DCAD and type in Valley Meadow as the street address and see for yourself the $4.50 per square foot assessed value apartments. 

Park Place Apartments located at 3155 Park Lane directly in back of my home has an assessed value of $18 per square foot.  Our homes in the 9900 block of Dale Crest have an assessed value of $75 per square foot.  This kind of inequity is unacceptable to us few homeowners in the City of Dallas.  Tax breaks cannot continue to be given to large corporations and the burden continually passed on to homeowners who have no children attending DISD.