We have been paying property taxes and live outside the city limits! (Alamo: mortgage, loan)

[MyFoxG]

We have been living in our home for about 3 years now and our property taxes are paid through escrow with our mortgage. I noticed recently though that one of the selling points for this area is that there are No City Taxes! So how is it that we have been required to pay city taxes all this time? We get no city trash pick up, no city of san antonio police or fire protection. I don't know how we got into this or how to correct the situation. I did a quick online check with the Tax office and it doesn't seem that our property is even listed as paying taxes! Our mortgage statement does indicate that they are paying our taxes and what that amount is. What information can be used to help us understand more about this tax issue, correct it and if necessary help us get a refund?

Thanks in advance for any help and Happy Independence Day to All!

[ged_782]

Even though you are outside city limits, you still pay property taxes to the county, schools, etc. In your case, none of the taxes would be going to a city. For properties in Bexar County, you can check your address at the following link to see what entities you are paying taxes to, and how much. Bexar CAD - Property Search

You can check the status of the taxes paid on your property at the County Tax Assesor-Colletcor's website. They are the ones that collect property taxes for all entities in Bexar County. https://actweb.acttax.com/act_webdev/bexar/index.jsp

[majormadmax]

Yep, living outside of the city limits doesn't mean you don't pay property taxes; you just pay LESS property taxes!

Cheers! M2

[ShaneSA]

You can also look at the year end mortgage statement to see which taxing entities the mortgage comapny pays on your behalf. It will also have details of how much is paid to each entity. You pay county taxes and school taxes and also whatever city taxes you are living in.

[majormadmax]

Outside of the city limits we pay these property taxes and rates:

BEXAR CO RD & FLOOD (0.030679)
SA RIVER AUTH (0.015951)
ALAMO COM COLLEGE (0.135855)
UNIV HEALTH SYSTEM (0.266235)
BEXAR COUNTY (0.296187)
NORTHSIDE ISD (1.337500)
BEXAR CO EMERG DIST #7 (0.100000)

Our total tax rate is 2.182407

Hope that helps!

Cheers! M2

[ged_782]

Originally Posted by ShaneSA

You can also look at the year end mortgage statement to see which taxing entities the mortgage comapny pays on your behalf. It will also have details of how much is paid to each entity.

One of the companies that took over the servicing of my mortgage several years back didn't do this. They just sent a year-end statement that showed how much total property tax was paid during the year. Didn't say to whom, or when during the year they paid it. No kind of breakdown at all. Drove me nuts, but it was an FHA loan, so I didn't have the option of paying the taxes myself.

[TexasRedneck]

GED - the taxing authority can provide you with a breakdown of the taxes - in fact, you SHOULD be getting a copy from them! Otherwise, how in the world do you know what they're appraising your property for, and evaluate it for fairness?!??

[smitty12]

Originally Posted by ged_782

One of the companies that took over the servicing of my mortgage several years back didn't do this. They just sent a year-end statement that showed how much total property tax was paid during the year. Didn't say to whom, or when during the year they paid it. No kind of breakdown at all. Drove me nuts, but it was an FHA loan, so I didn't have the option of paying the taxes myself.

All the property taxes are paid at one time to the Bexar County Appraisal district. They then split up the funds and send them on to the taxing entity. (City, County, School Districts, Hospital Districts, etc...)

It is doubful that your Mortgage company cares or has the breakdown, they just care about the total amount they need to send to the Appraisal District.

[ged_782]

Originally Posted by smitty12

All the property taxes are paid at one time to the Bexar County Appraisal district. They then split up the funds and send them on to the taxing entity. (City, County, School Districts, Hospital Districts, etc...)

It is doubful that your Mortgage company cares or has the breakdown, they just care about the total amount they need to send to the Appraisal District.

That wasn't always the case. The City and the School districts used to collect their own taxes. I think the County collected the rest. The due dates weren't the same either. So the property owner or lender had to disburse three separate payments at different intervals every year for each property. It was during this period that my mortgage service company was sending annual statements that showed only the total amount of taxes they paid on the property for the year.

I'm thinking it was the mid 1990s when the County Tax Assessor-Collector began collecting property taxes for all entities.

[BillyH]

Developers love to promote "NO City Taxes" it's the school districts that are by far the most costly regardless if you reside in an incorporated city or not. Using the homestead exemption helps some.