April 29th, 2009 by Reed Allmand 
According to an article in the Dallas Morning News, property tax revenues are set to plummet for 2009 as home values tank.
The article said:
About 92 percent of all residential properties will either fall in value or remain the same, said Ken Nolan, the county’s chief appraiser.
Foreclosures, a decline in building permits and rising office vacancy rates have conspired to send property values and property taxes downward for the first time in about 20 years. Although this may be good news for individual homeowners (specifically those not in foreclosure), for the community, it could turn out to be a disaster. Property taxes are necessary to fund our police, schools, firemen and other public services. If revenues from property taxes continue to decrease we may face more budget cuts or even the discontinuation of some services. The key ingredient to this decline in property value is the huge number of foreclosures entering the housing market and driving down prices even in some of the most sought after areas. It’s foreclosures that have begun a devaluation process, that if allowed to continue can endanger the stability of communities by eradicating the tax base on which we all depend. This is why it is absolutely necessary that Congress move quickly to help homeowners avoid foreclosure and by extension save our communities from a rapidly disintegrating tax base. This is why we want Congress to change the bankruptcy laws and allow bankruptcy judges to modify these toxic mortgages that are root cause for so many foreclosures in our community. We must act now before it’s too late.
About Reed Allmand
Allmand's vision is rooted in his own financially precarious childhood in Abilene "My father always had difficulty holding a job and supporting our family, so after my parents divorced when I was 12, my sister and I got jobs to help make ends meet," he recalls. "I remember what it felt like as a child to worry that our car would be repossessed or home foreclosed on."
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