Dallas County will stop collecting property taxes from some child care facilities.
Dallas County commissioners unanimously decided to give them 100% property tax exemptions from January 2024 through September 2026.
The commissioners agreed to allow the exemption, but only after candid discussion about how it affects the county’s bottom line and State Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) personal urging for the court’s support.
“The child care industry is in trouble, thanks to high costs as a result of inflation,” West said. “It costs more for a child care center to operate and to take care of our children than ever before. You know that as well as I do in each one of your districts. That's at a time when parents have less and less money to pay for high quality care due to inflation and high cost of living.”
The number of child care facilities in the state has fallen by about 30% since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Sen. West said.
West authored the bill that became Proposition 2, which Texas voters approved last fall. The new law allows cities and counties to let qualifying child care businesses operate without paying some or all property taxes.
Based on the current property tax rate, the total exemptions estimate is about $563,000. County Judge Clay Jenkins said Dallas County property owners will have to make up the difference for the child care tax exemption.
He said when voters approved the proposition, they accepted that shared burden.
"We should assume when they did that, that they understood f my neighbor doesn't pay taxes and we still have to have all the services that we have, it means that all the rest of us have to pay a fraction of a fraction of a penny more,” Jenkins said.
Child care facilities must meet the state requirements and definitions to qualify.
An owner or operator must participate in the Texas Rising Star Program and at least 20%of enrolled kids receive Texas Workforce Commission child care services subsidies.
Texas is the first state to offer child care centers a property tax break.
“Your action today will help provide child care centers the relief they need in order to continue to provide services to families in the Dallas County area,” Sen. West told the commissioners said.
The Dallas Mayor and City Council also voted to support the exemption. The city is estimated to forego $110,000.
