This report examines the laws underlying the City’s historic landmark property tax exemption program and how the program could be improved to advance the City’s equity goals.
The City of Austin’s property tax exemption program for historic properties has been criticized for being unfair and inequitable, by primarily benefitting affluent property owners and neighborhoods in Austin. In response to these concerns, the City of Austin has revisited the exemption program on several occasions and is in the process of doing so again, with the launching of an equity-based preservation planning process in 2021 and a 2023 City Council resolution directing the City Manager to conduct an equity assessment of the program.
To help community leaders participate in these efforts, in addition to examining the City’s current program, this report examines how the program compares to Austin’s other peer cities and provides a “suite” of potential policy reforms for injecting more equity into the program, with further exploration needed to weigh the scope of these reforms’ impacts on advancing equity, historic preservation, and other community goals.