Voters to elect three members of property tax board in May
Most Houston-area property owners likely are unaware that the amount of taxes they owe is decided, in part, by a group of local appraisers overseen by a little-known board of directors. But for the first time, voters are being asked to elect three of those board members May 4.
Texans who voted for a ballot proposition last November to lower property taxes may have noticed that, at the bottom of the measure, they also voted to add three seats to their local appraisal district’s board of directors that would be elected positions, rather than appointed. Five months later, candidates now are running for those board seats, though some are not quite certain why the positions are up for election in the first place.
Even some members of the Texas Legislature are unaware that these races are underway, state Rep. Christina Morales, a Houston Democrat, said Tuesday.
“In one of the group texts, I said, ‘You realize there’s an election on May 4? ‘ And two in the group said ‘I had no clue,’” Morales said. “These are my colleagues who voted on this piece of legislation.”
The proposition was put on the November ballot after the Texas Legislature passed a bill creating the newly elected positions pending voter approval.
Additionally, Morales argued the election date was set for May, rather than November, to ensure very little attention or participation in a contest that she says shouldn’t even be held at all.
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea to bring politics into the taxation process,” Morales said. “Having another election that’s just after the primary and before the runoff means that we will have a low voter turnout. It feels as though that’s intentional.”
Morales was one of just four House members who voted against the bill, which included both the property tax cut and the authorization to elect appraisal board members in counties with a population of 75,000 or more. Three elected members must now be added to the existing seven-member board of directors for Harris Central Appraisal District.
The legislation was authored by state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican whose tax consulting company helps clients fight their tax appraisal values.
Bettencourt on Tuesday defended the timing of the election, saying it was necessary to hold it in May.
“The reason why it’s May is because you have to get them elected so they can actually do the interviews of (appraisal review board) members in the fall,” Bettencourt said.
He argued the purpose of the new elected positions is clear. The legislation was prompted by complaints from constituents across the state about their local appraisal districts, he said.
“The common complaint everywhere … was that the appraisal review board members weren’t listening to taxpayers anymore,” Bettencourt said, adding that it was deemed more practical to elect appraisal board of directors members than to elect the much larger number of appointed review board members who are directly involved when property owners protest their appraisals.
HCAD board members have the power to hire and fire the chief appraiser, a position held by Roland Altinger since 2016.
The new appraisal district seats are nonpartisan, with no party listed for the candidates on the ballot. While Bettencourt has not yet endorsed candidates in the three HCAD races, Morales said at a news conference Tuesday that she’s supporting a slate of candidates for the HCAD board endorsed by the Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation — Kathy Blueford-Daniels, Melissa Noriega and Pelumi Adeleke.
Blueford-Daniels, a candidate for the Place 1 position running against Ramsey Isa Ankar and Bill R. Frazer, said one of her priorities would be increasing public awareness of exemptions to reach taxpayers who don’t realize they’re able to lower their bill. Blueford-Daniels is a former HCAD board member who also previously served as a Houston ISD trustee.
Noriega, a former Houston City Council member, stressed that taxes are necessary in order to fund services from ambulances to police departments to school districts. Noriega — who is running for the Place 2 position on the HCAD board against Janice W. Hines, Kyle Scott, Jevon German and Austin Pooley — said she’s also questioning the purpose of the election.
“The appraisal district isn’t broken,” Noriega said. “As Rep. Morales said, we’re not absolutely sure this needed to be put into law, but it’s here, and you need folks that are fair, transparent, that have some sense of what’s at stake and do a good job.”
Adeleke, a first-time candidate who works in global business development at Amazon Web Services, said her goal is to ensure a more transparent process. She’s running for the Place 3 position against J. Bill, Amy Lacy, Mark V. Goloby and Ericka McCrutcheon.
Early voting in the May 4 election runs from April 22 to April 30.