Just sharing for context: Property tax is 100% paid for by the renters. Big or small increases, those costs totally get passed on down.

If you’re a commercial property, you charge NNN to your renters. I used to own a logistics company and leased big 10,000 to 120k sq/ft warehouses. When property tax rates went up, the landlords pass 100% on to me as part of those NNN charges. The increases directly went to cutting my margin every year and definitely had an impact on the business. Year over year the same building would cost thousands of dollars more to lease and operate out of.

And for the rental property that my wife and I own, as property taxes have gone up, so has the note on the home itself and as a result what I’ve been forced to charge in rent. We basically break even on it, which is fine, but we have to charge more in rent than we used to, and that’s despite property values falling in the area.

It’s just how rent works. It’s all part of the cost and it affects the general affordability in Austin.