More than 100 park operators gathered at Yogi Bear’s North Texas Jellystone Park in Burleson last Wednesday to attend the Fall Meeting of the Texas Association of Campground Owners (TACO).
The daylong meeting included seminars on ways to reduce liability exposures with service dogs, strategies for increasing revenue with yield management, which some call “rate optimization,” as well as government affairs updates from Texas Rep. Jeff Leach, District 67, and Matt Krause, District 93, of the Texas House of Representatives, and Ron Hinkle, TACO’s longtime lobbyist. Meeting attendees also got to network over lunch catered by Babe’s, a guided tour of the North Texas Jellystone Park, and self-guided tours of award-winning parks nearby.
“It was a fabulous meeting and we were thrilled with the very high level of attendance,” said Brian Schaeffer, TACO’s executive director and CEO, who told Leach and Krause about how park operators have been hit with massive increases in property taxes in recent years.
Krause said Texas voters will have the opportunity to vote on 10 constitutionnel amendments in the November election, one of which would prohibit the imposition of an individual income tax in Texas while another would give the state Legislature the ability to temporarily exempt properties damaged by disasters from property taxes. But he said park operators would need to work with their local taxing agencies concerning property tax rates.
TACO has been encouraging its members to hire tax mitigation companies, such as Dallas-based P.E. Pennington & Co., to fight to reduce their property taxes.
“We are encouraging all of our members to protest (property tax increases),” Schaeffer said. “If you protest, whatever the outcome is, your taxes are frozen for two years. We think the protest is the way to go.”
Schaeffer added that the more businesses and residents contest their local property tax increases, the less likely local jurisdictions will fight, simply because of the logjam created by such protests.
While state legislation does not address local property tax issues, Leach said it’s important for park operators to vote, particularly for politicians who will keep taxes low. He added that Texas’s state representatives are getting a lot of work done.
The Fall Show was made possible with the support of several sponsors, including Armstrong Software, Rowley Insurance, Ulrich Cabins and Astra Campground Manager.
TACO’s Spring Meeting & Trade Show is scheduled for May 5-6, 2020, at the Lone Star Convention & Expo Center in Conroe, Texas. For more information, visit www.tacomembers.com.