Group wrongly understates county bond impact

Proponents of Travis County transportation and parks bond proposals on the November ballot made an enticing pitch to older homeowners in a mailer, telling them that their taxes are frozen and they won’t pay more if the bonds pass.

Travis Forward, a pro-bonds PAC, said in the mailer: “The Travis County propositions will not raise your taxes! If you are 65 or older, your property taxes are frozen.”

Readers asked us to check if the propo s itions won’t raise their taxes and whether property taxes are frozen for homeowners 65 or older. We put the mailer’s claim to the Texas TruthO-Meter.

The “freeze” claim is inaccurate, Travis County officials quickly said to our inquiries, and it’s inaccurate to say the propositions won’t cost taxpayers anything extra.

Travis County Judge Sarah Eck- hardt, who voted with colleagues to place the two bond propositions on the ballot before helping to kick off the privately funded Travis Forward campaign, speculated that consultants behind the mailer assumed the county, like the Austin school district, provides tax freezes to homesteading homeowners 65 or older.

“No doubt, this is inaccurate,” Eckhardt said told us. “To the extent I am responsible, I fall on my sword.”

Marya Crigler, chief appraiser of the Travis Central Appraisal District, noted that by state law, every Texas school district must set a ceiling on how much homeowners 65 or older pay. Counties and other governmental jurisdictions have the local option of setting such ceilings, Crigler advised.

Mykle Tomlinson, Travis Forward’s campaign manager, told us