State-led property tax reform threatens county services

Key Takeaways

Counties in states enamored with property tax reform and reduction are guarding against both fast and slow removal of their prime revenue source.

While the latter might seem more manageable, state association leaders say it would end up being just as difficult to fight. 

“My hypothesis is that this ‘death by a thousand cuts’ relief effort that the Legislature is doing is actually going to cause long-term damage,” said Cheryl Subler, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Ohio, during a Feb. 22 panel at the 2026 Legislative Conference. “In about 10 years, we are going to have to come right back and look at property tax reform again.”

But “relief” means cuts to county funding, and proposals rarely come with a revenue replacement. The cuts take the form of a variety of homestead exemptions for different groups, slowly shifting the tax burden away from some property owners and onto others, building dissatisfaction with the current system.

“We have a grassroots initiative in Ohio where petitions are being circulated to put on the ballot,” Subler said. “The question of “AxOHTax,” no property tax in Ohio. So that has everybody scared to death.”

Association of Indiana Counties Executive Director David Bottorff said the sudden increase in home prices earlier in the decade after years of stability threw homeowners and assessors alike.

“We were seeing housing values go up 20%, and assessed values shot up way faster than the system was designed to handle,” he said. “It’s hard to convince people who are emotional about the issue that property taxes are a business.”

Between 2020-2025, 115 legislative actions passed in 34 states, all of which combined to reduce revenues by $12 billion annually.

Because they don’t pay into state coffers, “there’s no skin in the game for state and federal policymakers,” said Jonathan Harris, NACo associate research director, noting that it makes property taxes legislative targets. 

“A lot of these factors in rising property tax bills are outside of the control of county governments,” when property values and inflation have driven the 150% increase in property taxes over 13 years, while housing prices increased 35%, adjusted for inflation.

Harris noted that although the public generally has a more favorable view of local government, it’s hard to untangle the various taxes they pay and where they go.

“In Florida, the people who are screaming right now… are first-time home buyers and other new homebuyers,” said Ginger Delegal, executive director of the Florida Association of Counties. “And then to a lesser degree, because of politics, is the business community, because it shifts to them. We’ve created this problem ourselves with a lot of the exemptions and reform measures that we started doing 30 years ago. It’s an economic reality and the map and the economy catch up to you.”

Almost half of Florida’s 67 counties are fiscally constrained, setting a frightening prospect if a revenue replacement isn’t part of negotiations to eliminate property tax. 

“It would wipe them off the map,” Delegal said. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has supported property tax cuts and may add the topic to a special session in April after the subject didn’t move during the regular legislative session.

Consultant Tim Boncosky, who served in two county assessors’ offices, saw popular sentiment hit a boiling point in 2024, when Jackson County, Mo. voted overwhelmingly to recall a popular county executive and then change its assessor’s office in three weeks, following an outcry over reassessments.

“My message here today to the county supervisors and commissioners —  love your assessors, stick together, because they’re not the enemy, OK? Values go up, tax rates change,” he said. “The real issue is trying to educate the legislatures and the assemblies”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has proposed limiting property tax increases to 3% and requiring a two-thirds vote for increases. 

“There really is no other source of revenue to replace this revenue — our counties are losing,” said Texas Association of Counties Executive Director Susan Redford. The state collects $84 billion in property taxes annually, with counties receiving $15 billion compared to school districts, cities and special districts.

“We are such a small piece of that pie, but we don’t have the other sources of revenue that they do, which really puts us in a bind,” Redford said.

Kevin Leonard, executive director of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, pointed out that reductions in property tax constrain counties’ ability to perform their statutorily mandated duties.

“The exemptions and exclusions legislation that’s been introduced, that’s truly the warning signs,” he said. “If you’re sitting in the audience and this hasn’t come to you yet, but your legislature has introduced what I call an avalanche of exclusions and exemption bills…that’s the warning sign that you really need to pay attention to.”

The association executives agreed that taking an assertive approach to articulating the local benefits of property taxes and describing the vice that state-led reform was placing on counties’ ability to deliver services was necessary to fight the erosion of that funding.

“You all have a bully pulpit,” Delegal said. “You have cameras at your meetings. Tell your story now, because the one thing that is slowing it down —  I’d love to tell you it’s the state association, but it’s not — it is our members who have taken up the baton and the mantle to take the time to tell their story.”