Blog

Earlier this year, the Texas Legislature enacted several laws affecting property taxes and the valuation appeal process, and House Bill 1030 contained one of the biggest pro-taxpayer measures.  Section 42.29 previously granted property owners the right have their attorney fees reimbursed only for appeals of board orders under Sections 42.25 (market value) or 42.26 (equity).  Unfortunately, appeals of other types of board orders were not included.  House Bill 1030 adds appeals of board orders under Sections 25.25(c) and 25.25(d) to the list of appeals for which a property owner may be reimbursed reasonable attorney fees.  While appeals under 25.25(d) may have been reimbursable because such appeals are ultimately based on the market value of the property, the right to recover attorney fees for a 25.25(c) case is completely new.

Josh Estes

Among other proposals, the House Select Committee on Property Tax Relief and Appraisal Reform will recommend changes that make the Appraisal Review Board more independent from the appraisal district.  During the meetings held across the state this summer, the Committee recognized the biggest complaint to be the lack of independence of the Appraisal Review Board.  Quite simply, many taxpayers testified the Appraisal Review Board hearing is a kangaroo court that does not give proper consideration to protests.  One proposed change will be to remove the hearings from the same building as the appraisal district and make the Appraisal Review Board a distinct governmental entity whose administration is totally separate from the appraisal district.  Legislators would like to create a positive impression of the Appraisal Review Board because they believe property owners will file fewer appeals if those owners feel like the board gave fair consideration to the protest, regardless of the actual outcome.  Fewer appeals would make appraisal districts very happy as well.

Josh Estes

Several weeks remain before the release of the report prepared by the House Select Committee on Property Tax Relief and Appraisal Reform, but the early word is that it will recommend big changes to the current appraisal appeal system. After numerous meetings around the state, Chairman John Otto (R-Dayton) has identified one of the biggest perceived problems as lack of independence of the Appraisal Review Board. As one of several recommendations to address this, he (and the committee) will recommend the creation of a pilot program in which a board made up of MAI appraisers will hear protests of commercial property valuations over $1,000,000 from Harris, Dallas, Bexar, Travis, and Tarrant counties.  I asked Representative Otto whether this would replace the right to file an appeal for judicial review, and he confirmed for me that the order of this review board would be appealable using the same remedies currently available to appeal any Appraisal Review Board order. More to come...