New License Fees

I assume that the license plate fee schedule changed as of September 2016. I didn't have any renewals until this year. In the past, I could pay $1.00 and renew by mail. Now, there is a $4.75 "Processing & Handling Fee". I guess you pay that even if you walk in to the county Tax Assessors office. I only noticed as my farm plate trailers went up. I see it as another sneaky way of "Not Raising Taxes".
On a side note, last year I went in to protest an increase in my property taxes. As it turns out, Montgomery Co. is using Google Earth x 10 to check for changes on your property. It can zoom in on a gnats behind. I had two dog pens and a chicken coop that were listed as carports. My vehicles sit in the sun, my animals are in the shade! They changed the assessment, but only because I took the time to go to their office and ask questions. RH

True.
I heard it was to be close to 7$ for a walk in.
Maybe thats for a car and not a bike.
Always easier i think by mail unless needing to do paperwork of course.



***
March 2, 1836
Texas Independence Day

Remember the Alamo!!!

no more new plates every seven years, you want or need new plates they will sell them to you.

prhaussies said:

On a side note, last year I went in to protest an increase in my property taxes. As it turns out, Montgomery Co. is using Google Earth x 10 to check for changes on your property. It can zoom in on a gnats behind. I had two dog pens and a chicken coop that were listed as carports. My vehicles sit in the sun, my animals are in the shade! They changed the assessment, but only because I took the time to go to their office and ask questions. RH

Click to expand...

Sounds like you need to put up some ground camouflage.

Sky spies have been in use in Texas for raising property taxes since the early '00s, at least. I printed 100 shirts for a guy in exchange for 5 truck loads of road base. Spread the gravel with a shovel and wheelbarrow to make a turn-around at the end of the drive and off-lawn parking for a travel trailer. Then got carried away and built a 4x4x4 insulated shed vented and heated with thermostats for the water system pressure tank and a 6x8 shed for the lawnmower and motorbike from scraps left over from building a covered deck. From the photos it was determined that I paved the drive, the water tank shed was a 2-car garage, the camper trailer was a 24 x 50 shop, and the shed was a 24 x 24 barn, and I didn't even have a horse! Ended up tripling property value, according to Parker County. Cost of improvements to me? Under 200 for shirts, ink, electricity, line voltage thermostat, cheap space heater, and bimetal vents for the water tank shed. I never did figure out how Parker County found out I bought a thermostat so it could assume I was installing heat, which is why one misidentified structure (travel trailer) was considered an enclosed shop and not just a shed.

Lots of copperheads in the neighborhood and I had to push mow after dark, so I installed motion sensor lights on each wall switching standard fixtures at corners. Fun for catching wildlife in a state of confusion, too! Cheapest Home Depot had, about $6.99 each for sensor lights, $2.99 for the rest, cheap 40 watt bulbs, a roll of 14/2 UF, and a 15 amp circuit breaker. Less than $125 total investment. Parker County found out and valued the system at $3700. After sending a building inspector to verify the electrician was licensed since no permit was pulled. I am a licensed electrician, but no license or permit necessary on one's own property, and the install did meet NEC requirements.

One reason I left Texas was the propensity to tax when someone made any improvement at all. Seems to explain why so little home improvement is actually done--a valid financial reason for developing ghettos, barrios, and trailer parks.