How To Protest Your Property (Tax) Valuation Increase Updated 01/14/2005 By: Ron West

As part of my continuing education on property taxation, I felt the need to attend the one day training seminar for Appraisal Review Board Members that is put on by the Texas State Comptrollers Office. These are held at various locations across the state to "train" the people who will be hearing your protest if you think your appraisal is wrong. The meeting I went to was presented by a very professional Dennis Hart of the State Comptrollers staff. He truly seems to know both the law and the intent of the legislature regarding the currently existing legislation. The meeting started at 9:00 AM and was over at about 2:45 PM with an hour and a half, break for lunch.

The presentation was interesting and moved along quite well. During the first part of the session that was little input from the fledgling appraisal review board members. I should also note that there were several Chief Appraisers from other counties in attendance. This all changed in the afternoon when a case study was used to illustrate the morning’s presentation. I guess it all came home to me when one of the members of the audience suggested a "fair" value for a man’s property that was in the case study. She did get a second to her valuation and received quite a few votes in support. Then when asked for the "nays" she got hooted down. Without presenting all of the facts, the following will give you a flavor of the case.

A man bought a house for $145,000, found it had a cracked foundation that existed on January 1 valuation date, and which would cost $6,000 to correct. He protested the Appraisal District’s appraisal value of $147,500 stating he thought that it should be $135,000. The prior years valuation was $125,000 and with a 10% cap, he thought the maximum it could have been was $137,500. Nay, nay! The valuation submitted with a second was for $139,000. This was hooted down with the bulk of the review board members in favor of a much higher number! There was little demonstrated concern for this taxpayer.

Which brings me to the base credo of everyone I have come into contact with at the various tax appraisal districts. Their job is to value your property as close as possible to their definition of 100% of current market value on January 1, of each year. This credo is also subscribed to by the members of the Appraisal Review Board. While this is not a court setting, it is the only remedy available to property owners without the retention of an attorney.

Many appeals to the review board do result in a lowering of the valuations. For this to occur, you had better be prepared to do your homework or to retain a property tax professional to assist you. If you file a protest, you will receive a "Taxpayers Bill of Rights". This is a fine print document but a very important one. I would advise you to read it several times very carefully before going to a Review Board Hearing.

What I learned that may help you follows:

1. Do request a copy of all evidence that the Appraiser will use in your hearing prior to the hearing. If nothing else this limits them to the specific information they give you for their use in the hearing. It is illegal for the Appraiser to submit new information during the hearing that you have not previously received if you request it prior to the hearing. If you do not make this request, the Appraiser can bring up any information conceivable during the hearing to try to blindside you.
2. You do not have to tell the Review Board in advance of your evidence but you must be prepared to hand a copy to the board when the hearing starts.
3. Bring your Video Camera. Each review board session is audio recorded but you have a legal right to videotape the session as long as the equipment you utilize is simply a video camera on perhaps a tripod. They will not allow an elaborate set up but cannot deny such taping. You can also buy a copy of the audio taping if you desire. The reason for the video taping is that it shows the body language along with the tone of the board and appraiser. This can be quite meaningful in keeping the hearing cordial and out of a subsequent court challenge.
4. Visit some of the Appraisal Review Board hearings – with the ones that will hear your case – a day or two before your hearing. This will help prepare you to deal with them and reduce some nervousness. All such hearings are posted 72 hours in advance. You can check with your local tax appraisal district to see where the postings are for your county.
5. Remember that the law allows the appraisal district to raise your valuation by 10% per year for every year since the last "reevaluation". This means they can legally raise your valuation 50% if it hasn’t been changed in the last five years. If you happed to live in an area like Austin where values are going up by 16% or more every year, you will come to appreciate the 10% increase occurring every year until your property valuation catches up to the real market.
6. One last tip. Review board members are human. It is better to schedule your hearing first thing in the morning than late in the afternoon. Their receptiveness is better before they hear from 10 to 30 angry property owners. By late afternoon, I believe they can ignore any facts and simply stick it to you without any recourse on your part.

The appraisal review board members are paid from $75 to $200 per day for their services with their employer being the appraisal district. Take this to mean that they are not there for altruistic reasons and are employed by the folks who are actually raising your values. Since there is no review of their activity outside of district court you should also surmise that you may be up a creek with a paddle. I should note that if you live in an outlying county, your experience with a review board is likely to be much better than if you live in Tarrant or Dallas Counties.

I am not impressed with the Review Board process. The review board members are appointed to the review board by the Chief Appraiser and they are paid by the Appraisal District. I do not see how anyone could find this system to be either fair or impartial. It is the current law and if it is to be continued, the law needs to specify other people to select and appoint the board. This would have to be carefully done since our elected officials are as tax hungry as the appraisal district.

Bottom line is to be as prepared as possible if you decide to protest that new property value increase that is surely headed your way very soon.

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