Posted on Fri, May. 09, 2008

Officials seek input about rising appraisals, tax bills

By ADRIENNE NETTLES

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

SOUTHLAKE -- State and local officials met Thursday in Town Hall at Southlake Town Square to tackle the issue of rising property taxes and appraisals.

In January, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst joined fellow Republicans Gov. Rick Perry and House Speaker Tom Craddick in calling for at least the study of whether the state should require local governments to seek voter approval before property appraisals could rise by more than a certain percent each year.

Rising property appraisals also became one of the leading issues in recent legislative elections. Some candidates favored lowering the state cap on appraisal increases, which is now 10 percent a year.

Officials from counties, cities and school districts statewide have consistently fought such initiatives by the Legislature. Higher appraisals have allowed them to collect more in taxes without raising tax rates.

On Thursday, about 20 residents and area business owners attended the officials' discussion, which was organized by state Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller.

She is gathering input on the topic to assist her and other legislators during the 2009 session. Additional discussions are expected before the session begins in January, Truitt said.

"It's an issue that's not going away," she said Thursday.

Here's a sampling of comments from the round-table discussion:

Are property taxes too high?

"Do we need to work on it? Yes. People don't understand property taxes. Are our property taxes high? Yes. Texas historically has had low property values. There're just a lot of misconceptions about it."

-- Betsy Price, Tarrant County tax assessor-collector

"None of us likes paying taxes. But as much as we don't like it, we're the fifth-lowest state in all the country per capita when you take all the taxes -- sales, gas, property -- that we pay, and we get some pretty good services."

-- Glen Whitley, Tarrant County judge

Are property appraisals fair?

"I want to do something to fix the system. Of all complaints I hear from people, it's about how they were treated by appraisal review boards. They feel like it was a done deal when they walked in the door. I'm not trying to change the system, but change the rate of growth on the appraisal side."

-- John Otto, chairman of the House Select Committee on Property Tax Relief and Appraisal Reform

"Of the people who show up for a reduction in their appraised value, 65 percent of people see or get a reduction. There is a perception that the appraisal process isn't fair. The appraisal process could be more transparent and fair.

"Exemptions are very valuable to everybody, but every time we pass a cap or new exemption, we're just shifting the burden to someone else."

-- John Marshall, Tarrant County chief appraiser

What needs to be done?

"We have a huge tax load problem in this state, and that's a source of the problem. There are 16.7 million taxable parcels in the state, and a staff of 1,729 appraisers are taking on this load. It's a big load ... even if some appraisals are done every three years.

"Education can also be improved for appraisers through better training and better educating the public on how the system works. There are perception problems."

-- Tim Wooten, area manager, property tax division office of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts

TO APPEAL YOUR APPRAISAL

The Tarrant Appraisal District began sending out this year's residential appraisal notices April 30, chief appraiser John Marshall said. He said he expects four or five mailings to go out over the next few weeks, with the last going out by the end of May.

Here are the steps to follow:

An appeal form is printed on the back of the appraisal notice.

Specify the reason for the appeal, complete the form and mail it back.

You can also go to the Web site www.tad.org and call up your property; you must enter the PIN included on your notice. You must have received a notice to file a protest online, Marshall said.

Appeals must be filed by June 2, or no later than 30 days after receiving the notice of appraised value, whichever is later.

If you did not receive a notice, you can file by writing your name, address or other property identification, the reason for the protest, and a contact address and phone number and mailing it to Appraisal Review Board, P.O. Box 185519, Fort Worth, TX 76181-0519.