What a difference a year — and nine tax appraisers — makes.

This time in 2009, Travis Central Appraisal District was straining under the load of 94,000 property tax protests — 30,000 more than the office had ever processed – and released its certified tax values late to the dismay of taxing entities attempting to set their budgets.

This year the county added nine new appraisers primarily to handle protests, and the new staff members have been busy. They’re handling about 71,000 protests, which is the second highest amount in its history, but it released the rolls four days before its July 26 deadline.

Chief Appraiser Patrick Brown told the county’s taxing entities that he anticipated Aug. 2 or 3 would be the release date, so their response was much more positive than it was last year.

“Most were quite pleased to have it two weeks earlier than that,” Brown said.

Lakeway mirth likely stops there as it faces a multimilliondollar hit to its certified tax rolls. Lakeway’s taxable value fell from $2.46 billion in 2009 to $2.35 billion this year, more than a $100 million drop. If the city were to maintain

its property tax rate of 19.29 cents per $100 of appraised valuation, it would suffer an estimated $200,000 loss.

“Even with new property added to the tax roll, we would lose revenue,” Lakeway City Manager Steve Jones said. “That’s a lot of money. That’s a couple of police officers.”

Despite upping the property tax rate by 1.02 cents last year to support an $8.09 million budget, Lakeway has little wiggle room.

“We’ve cut our budget the last two years. We’ve taken about all we can take out of it,” Jones said. “This is going to be a tough budget. We are probably going to have to do some things that might be less palatable than what we have had to do in recent years.”

Lake Travis ISD, the largest taxing entity in the area, saw a negative 3.85 percent change to its property tax rolls as its rolls dropped from $5.74 billion in 2009 to $5.51 billion this year. District officials, however, said it would have no impact on LTISD’s budget.

“It doesn’t affect our budget, because the state is making up that difference in state aid,” said Johnny Hill, assistant super¬intendent for business, financial and auxiliary services.

Any fluctuation in property values impacts the district’s debt rate, so Hill cautioned that the drop could lead to a short¬fall.

“We hope to make up that dif¬ference with prior years’ excess collections. We are hoping our board will want to keep our I&S (Instruction and Services) and M&O (Maintenance and Operations) rates at $1.32 per $100,” he said.

The upside to lower appraisal values for taxpayers, Hill said, is that they will be paying less school taxes next year.

A taxpayer living in a $384,000 house, which is the district’s average home value, would see a decrease of $150 on his or her school tax bill.

“A little bit less is a lot better than a little bit more,” Hill said.

Bee Cave’s taxable values dropped from $824.3 million in 2009 to $766.5 million this year.

City Council members have not set the city’s property tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year, but if they maintain it at 2 cents per $100 of appraised property valuation the city will collect about $9,700 less than its staff had projected.

Eighty-five percent of Bee Cave’s revenues come from sales tax collection but City Administrator Frank Salvato said every little bit counts.

“In the bigger picture, it’s not a huge hit, but it all adds up,” Salvato said. “We are pretty much sales tax driven.”

Overall, Travis County experi¬enced a 3.8 percent decrease in its certified rolls.

Brown cited Bee Cave’s num¬ber of commercial properties for its 6.13 percent decrease, and The Village of the Hills higher-priced homes for its 6.87 drop in taxable property val¬ues.

“Primarily, the areas that seem to be having problems are commercial,” he said. “Apartments are not doing bad, but industrial, office and retail spaces are experiencing a glut of inventory relative to demand and lower rental rates, but they have constant expenses.”

These properties have less operating income, which dimin¬ishes investors’ interest.

Brown said that single-family home values went down in the starter and higher-end mar¬kets, especially in rural markets including the Lake Travis area.

The chief appraiser’s forecast for the coming months didn’t hold much hope for a rebound with new housing communities serving as the only chance to offset the drops.

He predicts a 2.75 percent drop in the county’s certified property tax rolls for the 2011-12 fiscal year and a .5 increase the following year.

“We probably are going to continue to work our way out of the depressed economy for the next 18 months or so,” Brown said.