Who Values Your Property for Taxes

At 2109 Avenue Q sits the office that decides what your house is worth on paper. The Lubbock Central Appraisal District puts a dollar figure on every home, lot, and business in the county once a year. Across town, the Lubbock County Tax Office takes the money once that number is locked in. Two separate buildings, two separate jobs, and folks mix them up constantly.

Knock on the wrong door and you've burned an afternoon. If you think your value came in too high, or you want to claim an exemption, that's the appraisal district — they own the number. If you're just ready to settle the bill, that's the tax office. The protest and exemption deadlines drift around a bit from one year to the next, so the date that actually binds you is the one printed on the notice the CAD mails out every spring. That slip of paper, not last year's memory, is the one to put on the fridge.