Friendswood ISD property tax pressure?
Last week Lone Star Times reported on an astounding memo and related documents it obtained through an open records request, that seemingly showed two Friendswood ISD officials "manipulating the appraisal process, issuing legal threats, and deploying unprecedented pressure on the Galveston County Appraisal District."
KHOU-11 also reported on this story:
In the Friendswood School District, property values have historically risen 7 to 11 percent per year.
But last year, the school district got the word that the hike would amount to about 6 percent.
When Friendswood school district officials learned their property valuations weren't rising nearly as quickly as they had in the past, they got concerned. And so, the superintendent and a number of school board members held a face-to-face meeting with Galveston County's chief appraiser.
After that meeting, the appraiser sent the superintendent a letter saying in part, "I am disappointed that we could not meet your expectation with regard to value increases, but assure you ... that we are making every effort to maintain an equitable and uniform appraisal roll."
The appraiser then reviewed home valuations in a half-dozen subdivisions and raised them an average of 6.5 percent.
When Dan Patrick (KSEV-700) first discussed this story last week, I was floored. At the very least this is highly questionable behavior on the part of the Friendswood ISD officials. LST believes that Attorney General Greg Abbott is reviewing the matter. I would certainly hope so!
How often does this go on, in our local governments? I'm almost afraid to ask, but I'm glad it's being looked into.
Unfortunately, this story hasn't received much play in local media outlets, other than LST and KHOU. I suppose it's not a very sexy story (not everyone appreciates "property tax" radio like I do), but it should raise huge red flags for homeowners, when property tax appraisals in Texas often increase ten percent every year.
According to LST, Galveston County Chief Appraiser Ken Wright will be on air with Patrick today at 4 p.m. to discuss what happened.
UPDATE: Ken Wright, to his credit, was on with Dan Patrick for most of the two hour show, and I am really amazed at how out of whack the Texas property tax appraisal system is. I don't quite grasp how appraisals are determined, but what I do understand is how punitive the process is, in that the homeowner has to go out of his or her way to fight the appraisal. The onus is on the homeowner to gather data to prove that the appraisal is unjust, the homeowner must take time off to protest it and there is very little recourse if the Appraisal Review Board says no. One caller said she was humiliated before the ARB. Really! She said two of the board members humiliated her for protesting her appraisal. This system seems to be completely backwards. Frankly, I don't understand why the onus isn't on the government to make ITS case that the appraisal increases it is sending out, are justified.
Something is very, very wrong.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/04/05 02:34 PM | Print |
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