By Bill Aleshire

In helping a client with a tax issue involving Travis and Hays counties, I was surprised to learn how much higher property taxes are in Hays County for the same value home. Some may think it’s because of skyrocketing tax appraisals, but that is not true. Hays County homeowners’ taxes are higher than necessary (and higher than those in Travis County) because your Hays officials, especially the commissioners court and school boards have not adopted the 20% homestead exe...