Texas law allows bees and bee hives to qualify for reducing property taxes on plots ranging from 5 to 20 acres similar to livestock or raising hay. Property taxes on small acreages can now be lowered by keeping bees on the property. The bees do not have to be owned by the landowner, a Tuesday news release said.
Dennis Herbert drafted the original legislation for the current bee law that allows small acreage land owners to receive their agricultural valuation if they wish by raising bees on their property. He shepherded this bill through the legislature in 2011 and it became law on January 1, 2012. He has been a beekeeper in Bell County for 26 years.
Herbert will be at the 14th Annual Beginning Beekeeping School to be held March 2 in Brenham, Texas. He will host several sessions that will discuss this law and how you can use beekeeping to qualify for property tax savings. He will share the history of this law and answer questions from landowners, the release said.
Other aspects of beekeeping that will also be available at the one-day school include how to start keeping bees, how to harvest honey and how to raise queens. There will also be a session that allows you to put on a bee suit and gather around a hive of live bees while it is examined by a beekeeper.
The morning sessions will include lessons for beginning, intermediate and advanced beekeepers. The afternoon sessions will have over 45 time slots and more than 35 different topics from which to choose, the release said.
For more information and to register, go to: tinyurl.com/2024BeeSchool or call 979-277-0411.
