Y’all know exactly where this was going to go.
In last November’s Constitutional amendments election, Texas voters approved lower property taxes. As part of that amendment, unbeknownst to most of us, we also approved changing the makeup of the County Appraisal District Board for the 50 largest counties.
Beginning in May, there will be four-year terms for members of the boards for appraisal districts with populations over 75,000 and each will have eight members. Three of those will be elected.
That Tribune article that I’ve quoted above is a LONG one, and has all the details if you want to try and wade into it. I tried, then I ran out of brain cells.
I don’t know exactly how things are going in other counties, but here in Travis County, the motivation of one set of candidates couldn’t be more obvious.
First, the election is being held May 4. Not long ago, Austin voted to move our City Council elections to November, when everyone pays attention to voting. So the vast majority of the nearly 900,000 voters in Travis County don’t know about the race. And if they do, they will be showing up to vote for three offices that they have likely never heard of after having just voted in a primary on March 5, (and then will need to vote AGAIN in a primary runoff May 28.)
Second, and most importantly, here are Travis County’s “non-partisan” candidates:
Place 1:
Jett Hanna, retired attorney who was board certified in commercial real estate law, served on the Appraisal Board from 1988 to 1990.
Don Zimmerman, a thorn in Austin’s side for decades, but in this arena, founded the Travis County Taxpayers Union, an organization that opposes local tax increases
Place 2:
Shenghao "Daniel" Wang, local Austinite, Harvard Law grad, now practices electricity regulation and focuses on building a more sustainable, resilient grid.
Matt Mackowiak, Travis County Republican Chair
Jonathan Patschke, Treasurer, Travis County Libertarian Party
Place 3:
Dick Lavine, Harvard educated lawyer and chartered financial analyst. His work to improve Texas’ state/local tax system is highly respected throughout the Texas Capitol.
Bill May, Republican
At this point, I’ll just quote the Travis County Democratic Party:
The Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD) sets fair & accurate property values. The appraisal district does NOT set tax rates — it only measures the value of your property. Tax rates are set by local governments such as school boards, city councils, and county commissioners.
This is a non-partisan position — but local Republican extremists are looking to take it over. Their candidates will work to:
- threaten fair valuations for low-income taxpayers
- create chaos for local governments
- jeopardize funding for public services
Despite its low profile, an Appraisal District holds a lot of power. And if they do their job poorly — such as engaging in highly partisan activity — their influence can be very damaging.
Funding for services from public safety to public schools is under threat.
I’m really glad some very good Democratic candidates have stepped up. And I know there are a lot of folks working to notify Travis County voters about this annoying election.
Donations would help a lot in their efforts to get the word out about it.
But I wonder how things are going on the other 49 counties. I would not be surprised to find there are similar efforts to undermine the whole stable bureaucratic government funding process going on. Here’s hoping they also have good candidates and an equally strong effort to keep things on an even keel.