Tarrant Appraisal District names chief appraiser following months of turmoil
The Tarrant Appraisal District board has hired the McLennan County chief appraiser to fill the agency’s top job.
The board voted unanimously Thursday morning to hire Joe Don Bobbitt, who has worked for the McLennan Central Appraisal District for 12 years, three of those as chief appraiser. He served in the Army for five years before that. He will leave his post Feb 1.
Bobbitt, 41, assumes the role of chief appraiser after months of turmoil at the Tarrant Appraisal District, which resulted in the resignation of his predecessor, Jeff Law.
The Tarrant County commissioners took a vote of no confidence in Law in August, and at least three mayors called for his ouster after the Star-Telegram reported that a senior manager suggested TAD lie to the public about festering problems with its website.
“We have to earn that trust back, we can’t just demand it. Just because I’m here doesn’t mean that we’re automatically going to be trusted,” Bobbitt told reporters. “A lot of it is listening to their concerns, addressing those concerns and just showing that we’re trying to do everything correctly, by law, how we’re supposed to.”
In April, the revamped TAD website failed to load pages and timed out on property owners after value notices were sent. For weeks, the site lacked an option for property owners to protest their value.
William Durham has been serving as interim chief appraiser since Law’s resignation in September. He will remain chief appraiser until Feb. 1 and will receive $10,000 for his time filling the chief appraiser role.
The agency values property for tax purposes.
Board members individually thanked Durham for his service before announcing the hiring of Bobbitt.
Board chairman Tony Pompa said he was most impressed by Bobbitt’s “executive leadership presence.” during the interview process.
“We recognize that there are issues especially with IT department, and Joe Don knows that very well. He’s got a very good background in IT. So I think that’s going to be very helpful with that,” Pompa said.
Chandler Crouch, a local Realtor and tax consultant who has been a vocal critic of the appraisal district, said he feels optimistic about the future of the entity.
“We have a lot of new people. If you ever thought the appraisal district needs to clean house, because there are a lot of people that need to go. I think that’s happened. House has been cleaned,” Crouch said. “We got a new chief appraiser, we’re going to have three new board members, the heads of several departments are changing. And so I think that that’s the most important thing.”
Crouch helps Tarrant County residents protest their appraisals for free.
Crouch had a brief exchange with Bobbitt after the new chief appraiser finished speaking to reporters. They agreed to work together and meet after Bobbitt’s term starts.
“Everybody has positive things to say about him. All I can do is hope that he is successful. And I’ll do what I can to help and cooperate with him work together to make sure the taxpayers get a fair shake,” Crouch said.
This story was originally published December 21, 2023 at 11:00 AM.
