Board members criticize Tomball ISD over reappraisals
The decision by the Tomball Independent School District to not reappraise homes damaged by Hurricane Harvey has left some officials in The Woodlands Township upset.
During the Feb. 22 meeting of The Woodlands Township board of directors, several board members — led by John McMullan — voiced their concern for residents whose homes flooded homes in the Village of Creekside Park, Timarron and Timarron Lakes.
During Hurricane Harvey’s multi-day deluge in late August last year, flood waters ranging from several inches to more than 6 feet flooded the neighborhoods in the Village of Creekside Park. Many of the residents still have not been able to move back into their homes.
On Feb. 13, the Tomball board rejected a request by Timarron Lakes resident Elias Abraham to reappraise damaged homes, which may help offset an estimated
TISD property tax bill ranging from $2,500 to $5,000 per home. The resolution was defeated in an unusual 3-3-1 vote, with three board members voting in favor, three voting against and one abstention — by TISD Trustee Michael Pratt. Because there were not four ‘yes’ votes, the resolution failed.
McMullan said he was baffled by the decision to not allow a reappraisal of the homes, all of which are in Harris County and within the Tomball ISD boundaries.
“(Tomball ISD) certainly can afford to do this,” McMullan said. “This is not a resource-starved school district. I think one of the concerns raised, one of the (trustees) said the cost was going to four or five hundred thousand - maybe seven hundred thousanddollars. It’s great we requested their financial analysis. I’d like to come to our own view as to how much money this would have cost Tomball ISD.”
Because the homes in question are in Harris County, the only reappraisals homeowners are eligible for are from The Woodlands Township, Harris-Montgomery Counties Municipal Utility District 386, Harris County and Tomball ISD. Only The Woodlands Township and MUD 386 have approved reappraisals.
Board Chairman Gordy Bunch said since both the township and MUD 386 had already paid for the reappraisals to be done, maybe the information could be shared with Tomball ISD, lessening the financial burden of re-appraising more than 330 homes.
“The way I look at it, is if we’ve paid and if the MUD (386) has already paid to have the reappraisals done, why couldn’t the Tomball district piggy-back off our data,” Bunch asked. “To be fair, we didn’t do floodmitigated appraisal reductions in 2015 and 2016. We had not previously done that at all, but we did this time because of the extent of the damage and the near proximity of recent flooding. These folks have been impaired substantially in subsequent years- it was the right thing to do - I’m baffled that nobody else can see that clearly, especially given the balance reserves we can see on (TISD) financials.”
McMullan said TISD is a “very good school district” and reiterated the district is not lacking for revenue or money.
“They certainly could have afforded to do this, the matter is do they choose to do it,” McMullan added. “Three (trustees) chose not to.”
Board Member John Anthony Brown said he had pondered the issue and after removing his emotions from the situation, had developed a statement that he read, expressing his frustration with Tomball ISD officials.
“I’m deeply disappointed with the decision from some of the leadership of Tomball ISD,” Brown said, citing many other Montgomery County taxing entities that authorized reappraisals across the region. “Trustees John McStravick, Mark Lewandowski and Matt Schiel voted against (reappraisal). I commend the leadership of Trustees Kathy Handler, Lee McLeod and Sam Gregson for the understanding the affect this had on people’s lives and did not merely treat them like a piggy bank. I am saddened that because there were-here is part of their justification-only 15 percent of the homes flooded in their district that it didn’t qualify for relief. For a school district that will have an estimated, at the time, $31 million operational fund balance at the end of the year, I don’t agree it will cost too much. As these are all elected officials, I would remind everyone in Tomball ISD, remember that when it is time to vote.”
McMullan asked township staff to gather more financial data from Tomball ISD but said he wasn’t sure what action The Woodlands Township board could take to help with the situation.
“I’d like to get the (financial) information,” McMullan said. “I’d like staff to try to come up with an estimate of what the cost to Tomball ISD is. This board has made itself pretty clear that we’d like Tomball ISD to reappraise.”
At the Feb. 13 TISD meeting, McStravick said he was sympathetic to the residents in Creekside Park, but added that he had a fiduciary responsibility to the district, which is why he couldn’t support reappraisals.
“We’ve had other situations like this in the past,” McStavrick said during the Feb. 13 meeting, referring to homes damaged in past floods. “We have not utilized this mechanism in the past.”