By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Del Rio City Council members received the city’s certified 2026 appraised values during a special meeting Tuesday, one of the first steps in setting the city’s property tax rate.
Val Verde County Appraisal District Chief Appraiser Jackie Casanova attended the special meeting Tuesday and presented the certified appraisal roll to the council.
Casanova was also present to answer questions about the 2027 adopted budget for the appraisal district, but Interim City Manager Manuel Chavez asked the council to postpone a decision on it until the Aug. 11 council meeting.
The council accepted Chavez’s recommendation and voted unanimously to postpone its vote on the appraisal district’s budget.
Casanova then submitted the 2026 certified property tax appraisal roll for the city.
Interim City Finance Director Roxy Soto introduced Casanova and said the chief appraiser would answer any questions city council members had about the certified appraisal roll.
Casanova told the council, “I’m here tonight to present your 2026 certified totals,” and directed council members’ attention to an 11-page report on the totals included as part of the council members’ informational packet.
Casanova said, “The total market value for the city of Del Rio is $2,975,579,096, and the total taxable value is $1,933,108,869.”
She said there were a total of 6,822 homestead properties in the city, with an average taxable value of $172,822.
Casanova then reviewed some of the property values by classification.
“The city of Del Rio had $27,855,032 in new market value for the year, $14,680,905 in single-family residential properties, $3,488,408 in multi-family residential, $9,646,259 in commercial properties, $20,815 in mobile homes and $18,645 in rural land not qualified for open-space land,” Casanova said.
She told the council, “New this year, the city’s value reduction stems from House Bill 9. It is new Texas House Bill that increased the business personal property tax exemption. It increased from $2,500 to $125,000, and therefore this resulted in an approximate value loss of $44 million under business/personal property.
“However, with the city’s new value and the difference between HB 9, the value loss is $24,192,722, with about 1 percent over last year’s taxable value,” Casanova added.
Mayor Al Arreola asked if there were any questions about the report once Casanova finished.
None of the council members present had any questions.
City Secretary Mari Acosta said a vote was needed to accept the certified value roll, and Mayor Pro-tem Randy Quinones made the motion.
Councilman J.P. Sanchez gave the second, and the five council members present voted unanimously to approve Quinones’ motion to accept the value roll.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
