Bells City Council approves 42% property tax rate increase

KXII
By Kayla Holt
Published: Oct. 5, 2023 at 7:46 PM GMT-7

BELLS, Texas (KXII) - Bells residents are upset after council voted to raise the property tax rate by 42%.

“That’s so that’s harsh but very harsh all at once when wages are not going up,” expressed Bells resident, Alicia Wilson.

Wilson has lived in Bells her entire life and is voicing her concerns over the council’s decision.

“Half of our community is elderly people that can’t afford their bills as it is,” she continued.

The hike will raise the tax rate from $0.48 per $100 to $0.69 per $100 of appraised value.

“I believe that it’s like a long-stemmed problem of bad spending, bad budgets. We’ve asked for budget reports from the city. we’ve asked for a lot of things, and they can’t produce it,” Wilson stated.

Bells Mayor, Joe Smith said the decision was made to cover the cost of additional debt that was accrued prior to his time as an elected official.

“It’s time to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and start asking questions and demanding answers and audits,” Wilson replied.

In a statement to News 12, Smith explained,

“This is decision was something that we had to do to keep the city running and pay the debts. As the mayor, I always want to provide the public and the media with accurate and factual answers,” Smith wrote.

The mayor and city administrator said they are willing to set aside some time to meet and answer questions from any concerned Bells citizens.