Appraisal District Operations
Comptroller's Report Electronic Communications Survey Finds More Properties, More Taxing Units
For the past 23 years, CADs have completed the Appraisal District Operations Survey. Since Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn has held statewide office, one of the points she has underscored is the need for state and local government to work hand in hand to build the state and meet the needs of Texans. Neither level of government can undertake the task alone. She and the state and local governments are equal partners, and should work together as partners. The operations survey is an example of that working partnership.
The Appraisal District Operations Report–2003 and 2004 is based on information provided by Texas’ county appraisal districts. Comptroller Strayhorn wants to personally thank the districts for devoting their valuable time and expertise to this report each year and working with the Property Tax Division to create this exceptional report.
Please know that she welcomes your good advice at any time. And, she thanks you for all that you do for Texas.Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn reports on appraisal district operations in the agency’s Appraisal District Operations Report–2003 and 2004. The Comptroller’s Property Tax Division (PTD) surveyed the 253 appraisal offices to obtain data about final 2003 operations and projected 2004 budgets and plans.
Texas’ 253 county appraisal district (CAD) offices appraised more than 16 million pieces of property for 3,743 taxing units in tax year 2003. That meant working about 389,000 additional properties and 25 more taxing units than tax year 2002. The CADs did their job with final operating expenses of about $272 million, a 6 percent increase over 2002. The result was a total reported $1.4 trillion of appraised market value for all Texas properties.
While Texas has 254 counties, the Potter and Randall CADs form a single appraisal office in Amarillo, with one budget and staff.
Property accounts
Of the 388,678 new property accounts, the largest increase occurred in real property accounts. CADs added 236,755 accounts to total 11,545,622 real property accounts.
Mineral property accounts increased by 148,030 to total more than 3 million accounts.
Business personal property accounts added 11,071 accounts for a total of 1,167,664.
Taxable non-business personal property decreased by 7,178 accounts, or about 4 percent, to reduce that group of properties to 173,157 accounts. That decrease resulted from the repeal of the school tax on personal travel trailers in 2003.
Almost half of Texas’ taxable property accounts are concentrated in 22 of the 253 CADs. These 22 CADs appraise more than150,000 accounts.
Six of these 22 CADs handled more than 27 percent of all taxable property accounts, up from 21 percent in the preceding year’s survey. These six districts each have more than 300,000 accounts and include Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, El Paso and Travis CADs.
Taxing units
The CADs appraised property for 3,743 taxing units in 2003, up from 3,718 in tax year 2002.
For tax year 2004, CADs have reported a net increase of 42 taxing units to reach 3,785 units. That net increase added for new taxing units and subtracted for taxing units that have dissolved or will no longer levy a property tax.
For 2004, 55 new taxing units will levy a property tax for the first time or did not levy a 2003 tax. More than one CAD may report some of these units if a unit’s boundaries are located in more than one CAD. New units included 25 municipal utility districts, nine emergency service districts, seven cities, six water districts, two water control and improvement districts and one each of the following types of special districts: drainage, improvement, navigation, road, underground water conservation and water supply.
No 2004 property tax will be levied by 17 taxing units that dissolved, no longer exist or will no longer levy a property tax. Three taxing units consolidated their operations with other established taxing units.
CAD budgets
Final 2003 CAD operating expenses totaled $272 million, or an average of $17.00 per property account. With 6 percent more in expenses than in 2002, the average 2003 CAD operating budget exceeded $1 million. The previous year’s average cost per account was 33 cents less at $16.67 per account.
The 2003 expenditures varied by CAD size. The lowest cost per property account was Panola CAD at $2.28 per property account. At the other end, Kenedy CAD reported the highest cost at $56.15 per account. Crockett CAD did not report an operating budget; the Crockett County Tax Office operates the appraisal office.
By grouping CADs by their number of accounts, 37 mid-sized CADs with 35,000 to 49,999 accounts averaged the lowest cost per account at $12.12, about 9 percent more than in 2002. The six largest CADs listed earlier averaged the highest cost per account at $24.29. See the 2003 CAD Spending by Size table below.
Adopted 2004 CAD budgets added more than 2 percent to the 2003 expenses and totaled almost $279 million. If taxable property accounts remained the same as tax year 2003, that would increase the average cost per account to $17.40. See the Appraisal District Spending, 1982-2004 table below. The 2005 survey will report on the number of 2004 accounts.
Since local taxing units fund CAD budgets, the taxing units may veto the CAD budget adopted by the CAD’s board of directors. Taxing units in two CADs—Childress and Lee CADs—vetoed their 2004 budget, as allowed by Tax Code Section 6.06.
Local taxing units pay the CAD based on the property taxes levied by each taxing unit in comparison to the total taxes of all units within the CAD. CADs reported that the total tax levy used to allocate their budgets increased from $25.5 billion in 2002 to almost $28 billion in 2003. Less than 1 percent of property taxes levied goes to pay CAD operating expenses.
2003 CAD Spending by Size While the average 2003 cost per account statewide was $17.00, grouping the CADs by account sizes shows the cost per account varies, with the largest group of districts exceeding the state average. Number of Accounts Number of Districts Average 2003 Expenses Average Cost Per Account/Parcel Below 5,000 5 $62,192 $15.49 5,000 to 9,999 22 $123,023 $15.40 10,000 to 14,999 30 $156,703 $13.13 15,000 to 19,999 24 $220,187 $12.56 20,000 to 24,999 16 $312,480 $14.15 25,000 to 34,999 47 $466,868 $15.28 35,000 to 49,999 37 $510,442 $12.12 50,000 to 74,999 28 $784,400 $12.87 75,000 to 149,999 22 $1,661,797 $15.13 150,000 to 300,000 16 $3,142,482 $15.43 Over 300,000 6 $17,425,299 $24.29 Source: Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Property Tax Division.
Appraisal District Spending, 1982-2004 While CAD budgets have risen on an average cost per account in the past 22 years, the CADs received a smaller percentage of the taxes levied by taxing units. Year Average Cost
Per AccountTotal Spent Percent Change Spending as Percent
of Taxes Levied1982 $10.25 $110.8 million — 1.69% 1983 $10.47 $122.9 million + 10.92% 1.70% 1984 $10.69 $130.5 million + 6.18% 1.61% 1985 $10.92 $137.2 million + 5.13% 1.53% 1986 $10.91 $139.7 million + 1.82% 1.45% 1987 $10.96 $140.1 million + 0.29% 1.41% 1988 $11.44 $148.1 million + 5.71% 1.41% 1989 $11.52 $152.4 million + 2.90% 1.37% 1990 $12.00 $157.7 million + 3.48% 1.32% 1991 $12.25 $165.6 million + 5.00% 1.10% 1992 $12.80 $170.5 million + 2.96% 1.23% 1993 $12.89 $179.0 million + 2.40% 1.19% 1994 $13.10 $179.8 million + 2.98% 1.17% 1995 $13.11 $184.7 million + 2.73% 1.18% 1996 $13.16 $188.2 million + 1.89% 1.13% 1997 $13.42 $196.2 million + 4.24% 1.14% 1998 $13.66 $203.5 million + 3.72% 1.12% 1999 $14.74 $217.5 million + 6.88% 1.10% 2000 $15.14 $227.5 million + 4.60% 1.04% 2001 $16.09 $241.7 million + 6.24% 1.01% 2002 $16.67 $256.5 million +6.12% 1.01% 2003 $17.00 $272.2 million +6.12% 0.97% 2004* $17.40 $278.6 million +2.35% n/a * * 2004 reflects adopted budgets; 2004 final expenditures, accounts and taxes will not be available until the 2005 survey.
Source: Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Property Tax Division.Office space
CAD directors may purchase, lease or build office space. The survey found that 143 CADs built their own buildings, 34 CADs lease their buildings from private companies, 52 CADs lease from taxing units and 24 CADs get free office space in taxing unit buildings.
Of the 143 CADs that have built offices as provided by Tax Code Section 6.051, 110 districts have completed all payments for those buildings. Nine CADs operate branch offices.
CAD directors
A board of directors governs CAD operations and establishes goals and policies. Texas has a total of 1,561 CAD directors, with an average of six members on each CAD board. Boards in 70 CADs have established staggered two-year terms.
Almost 42 percent, or 650 directors, are taxing unit officials—that is, they are county tax assessor-collectors, school board members, county judges, county commissioners, city council members or other elected officials, such as elected board members for water districts, hospital districts and other special taxing units. County tax assessor-collectors in 126 counties serve as non-voting board members.
State law requires that if a taxing unit does not appoint the county tax assessor-collector to the CAD board, then the county assessor-collector serves as a non-voting CAD director. County tax assessor-collectors, however, are ineligible to serve on the CAD board if they are chief appraisers or if the county commissioners’ court contracted for county taxes to be collected by another taxing unit or the CAD.
CAD boards in 214 districts have legal counsel on retainer. CADs reported that 195 boards purchased liability insurance with an average coverage per board of more than $1 million.
Appraisal review boards
CAD directors appoint appraisal review board (ARB) members to handle taxpayer protests and taxing unit challenges with the appraisal office.
Effective January 1, 2004, Tax Code Section 6.411 provided that a CAD’s board of directors determined the number of ARB members to appoint, with a minimum of three members. In previous years, the county’s population determined the maximum number of members.
For tax year 2004, there are 1,492 ARB members, up from 1,466 in 2003. About 23 percent, or 351 of the members, are newly appointed. That compares to 270 new ARB members in 2003. Most ARBs average six members on the board.
ARBs retained legal counsel in 96 CADs; that is seven more than in 2002. ARBs in 174 CADs obtained liability insurance at more than $1 million per ARB.
ARB members in 246 districts receive a per diem for their ARB service.
Ag advisory boards
Tax Code Section 6.12 requires the chief appraiser, with the advice and consent of the CAD’s board of directors, to appoint three or more members to an agricultural advisory board. The advisory board advises the chief appraiser on the appraisal and use of land designated for agricultural, open space or timberland appraisal.
Some 180 CADs have active agricultural advisory boards, with a state membership totaling 695 members.
CAD staff
Statewide, CADs added only 8 new full-time positions from 2003 to 2004. Full-time CAD employees numbered 4,107 in 2004, compared to 4,099 in 2003. Of these employees, 1,544 are appraisers.
The number of part-time employees decreased from 200 in 2003 to 187 in 2004. Some 19 districts employ only part-time appraisers. In some CADs, chief appraisers perform all appraisal work or have contracts with private appraisal firms.
A staff appraiser’s 2004 average salary ranged from a low of $24,501 to an average high of $36,700, about 6 percent more than 2003.
Employees in 183 CADs receive mileage allowances, and 224 districts provided staff with employment benefits, including insurance and/or retirement programs.
Almost 91 percent of the CADs budget training funds for staff to meet or retain state certification standards. CADs reported 2,051 employees are registered with the Board of Tax Professional Examiners.
Of these state-registered employees, 1,300 employees have attained the registered professional appraiser designation, 234 are registered Texas assessors, 121 are registered Texas collectors and 64 individuals have all three designations.
A CAD board may contract with a taxing unit for a taxing unit’s tax office to be the appraisal office. Only 18 CADs, three less than in 2003, contract with a taxing unit for that service. CADs that contract with a taxing unit have no employees.
Salaries of 234 chief appraisers averaged $53,488 for the 2004 budget, about a 3 percent increase from the 2003 average salary of $52,088. Chief appraisers in these 234 CADs receive employment benefits, such as expense accounts, mileage, medical insurance and/or retirement programs.
About 175 CADs have liability insurance for the chief appraiser, with an average coverage of more than $1 million.
Appraisal work
State law requires CADs to reappraise property in their districts at least once every three years. Numerous CADs reappraise property every year. For the 2003 tax year, 179 CADs, about 70 percent, completed reappraisals, while 147 CADs planned to reappraise for the 2004 tax year.
In their last reappraisal, 210 CADs used both in-house staff and an outside appraisal firm for their reappraisal. In the remaining districts, 30 CADs used staff only, and 12 CADs used appraisal firms alone for the reappraisal. By contract, Stephens CAD appraises all property for Haskell CAD.
More CADs conducted in-house ratio studies to check their work. For tax year 2003, 233 districts conducted an in-house study, compared to 228 districts in 2002.
Effective January 1, 2004, Tax Code Section 6.025 required chief appraisers to agree to one appraised value for any property located in overlapping appraisal district boundaries. If the appraisers don’t agree by May 1, then each chief appraiser sets the value at the lowest appraised value determined. Chief appraisers in 200 CADs had taxing units with boundaries in other counties and, thus, property located in overlapping CAD boundaries. CADs in 178 counties contractually agreed to work together on setting one value on these properties.
CADs in 209 counties reported that property owners filed 531,352 renditions, down from 538,930 in 2002. Of those renditions filed, 148 CADs reported that 343,639 were renditions for business personal property totaling almost $119 billion in taxable value.
New penalties for not rendering property began in tax year 2004. The Comptroller’s next survey will find out what happened with property renditions with the new penalty provisions.
Taxpayer protests
CADs mailed more than 9 million 2003 appraisal notices, of which almost all contained estimated taxes on the proposed taxable values. Only about 7,500 notices were a “shorter” version with no estimated taxes, allowed by Tax Code Section 25.19(i).
CADs send property owners appraisal notices if the owners’ property values are higher than the previous year, higher than the owners’ rendered value or new to the appraisal roll. CADs send the “shorter” version to all properties during a reappraisal year, for ownership changes or upon requests from property owners or their agents.
About 85 percent of the CADs mailed their reappraisal notices in May or earlier.
Property owners filed almost 22 percent more written protests for 2003 property values than in the previous year on 2002 values. Statewide, CADs reported 751,290 protests in 242 CADs, compared to 734,941 protests in 247 CADs in 2002.
More than half of the protests were settled through an informal process. Some 435,276 of the protesting taxpayers met with CAD staff in informal hearings to attempt a settlement without continuing to a formal ARB hearing.
ARBs scheduled 359,743 formal hearings for these filed protests, a decrease of almost 20,000 hearings or about 6 percent fewer hearings than in 2002. One-third of the taxpayers, almost 175,000, were “no shows” for their scheduled hearing. In 2002, about 36 percent were “no shows.”
Tax Code Section 41.71 requires ARBs to offer hearing times in the evening or on a Saturday or Sunday. ARBs in 60 counties set up protest hearings during all three times—Saturday, Sunday and evenings. About 108 ARBs offered protest hearing times during evening hours; another 63 ARBs offered hearings on Saturday and evening hours. Nine ARBs offered hearings on a Saturday, while two offered hearings on Saturday and Sunday. Ten ARBs did not offer an alternate time.
Taxing units also may file written challenges to the ARB if they disagree with CAD decisions. In 2003, four taxing units—compared to eight in 2002—filed challenges.
The Appraisal District Workload table highlights the history of the appraisal district workload with notices, challenges and scheduled ARB hearings since appraisal districts began in 1982.
Appraisal District Workload In 2003, CADs mailed more appraisal notices and schedule fewer ARB hearings than in 2002. Year Taxable Parcels Appraisal Notices Sent Taxing Unit Challenges ARB Hearings Scheduled 1982 10,811,817 6,509,076 235 52,707 1983 11,736,724 2,978,839 88 33,875 1984 12,206,774 4,629,682 270 151,144 1985 12,568,931 4,731,365 66 91,665 1986 12,803,055 4,428,225 106 125,246 1987 12,786,518 5,054,336 184 163,085 1988 12,937,341 3,977,007 39 170,711 1989 13,225,514 4,160,375 156 157,947 1990 13,139,219 7,191,615 32 178,124 1991 13,518,442 7,199,515 193 209,889 1992 13,320,845 7,465,478 36 196,503 1993 13,546,649 8,383,541 154 166,056 1994 13,723,699 7,810,313 10 218,538 1995 14,099,466 8,241,057 5 195,097 1996 14,304,085 7,654,301 19 189,769 1997 14,617,741 7,586,079 4 149,771 1998 14,847,469 8,160,120 3 189,622 1999 14,756,523 8,743,293 8 248,526 2000 15,022,588 8,420,244 18 234,691 2001 15,385,913 9,364,893 2 306,836 2002 15,618,958 9,068,428 8 379,325 2003 16,007,636 9,088,784 4 359,743 Source: Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Property Tax Division. Records approval
CADs and ARBs continue to complete their work timely. In 2003, ARBs in 179 districts approved the appraisal records on or before July 20, the mandatory deadline for ARB approval.
Sixty-seven ARBs approved the records before hearing all the protests as allowed by the Tax Code Section 41.12.
ARBs approved appraisal records listing more than $1.4 trillion in 2003 appraised market value, a 6-percent increase in total appraised value from 2002. Chief appraisers in 235 districts certified those records as appraisal rolls to taxing units by July 25, the Tax Code’s mandatory certification date.
Late changes
After an ARB approves the appraisal records, it may change the records for specific reasons set out in Tax Code Sections 25.25 and 41.411.
In 2003, the most common late change by an ARB was for “one-third over-appraisals” allowed by Tax Code Section 25.25(d). Property owners may request a Section 25.25(d) hearing for the ARB to lower an incorrect appraisal that exceeds the correct value by more than one-third. Some 60 CADs reported what is considered a “substantial value error” on 3,454 properties with a total value of almost $934 million.
The next most common change was for Section 25.25(c) to correct a property improperly included on the appraisal roll. About 24 CADs reported this type of change on 2,367 properties worth over $355 million.
Other Section 25.25(c) late changes were those filed for clerical errors and multiple appraisals of the same property. Clerical errors occurred on 2,127 properties worth less than $1 billion in 32 CADs. Some 20 districts reported multiple appraisals on 565 parcels worth more than $94 million.
Tax Code Section 41.411, commonly called the “no notice” appeal, allows property owners to claim that the CAD or ARB failed to send the property owner or owner’s agent a required notice. About 39 CADs reported that 3,240 property owners with properties appraised at about $1.8 billion filed for a late hearing for a “no notice” appeal.
Tax Code Section 25.25(b) allows the chief appraiser to change the appraisal roll at any time to correct any inaccuracy that does not increase the amount of a taxpayer’s tax liability. Chief appraisers in 77 CADs reported 472 changed properties with a total of about $241 million in value.
Finally, Tax Code Section 25.25(h) allows for joint motion corrections, requiring both the chief appraiser and property owner or owner’s agent to agree that the ARB approve the correction. About 1,872 joint motions in 25 CADs were filed on properties worth about $556 million.
Court action
Property owners who disagree with the ARB’s decision on their property may continue on to district court. As of the survey’s reporting date, 93 CADs stated that taxpayers had filed 3,325 lawsuits on their 2003 values, compared to 107 CADs reporting 2,947 lawsuits at the same time in the previous year.
Nine CADs reported that 16 lawsuits filed on 2003 issues were resolved through non-binding arbitration.
About 2,015 lawsuits were still pending for tax year 2002 and prior years in 129 CADs.
Mapping
All CADs must establish and maintain tax maps for property identification.
About 62 percent of CADs have developed geographical information systems (GIS). These 157 CADs, up from 150 last year, have GIS systems for better mapping and information.
Of these CADS, 54 counties have completed their GIS systems.
Freeport exemption
The survey also updates the list of taxing units that tax or retain the right to tax freeport property. Texas Constitution Article VIII, Section 1-j, defines freeport property as goods, wares and merchandise (other than oil, gas and petroleum products) that leave Texas within 175 days of the date they are brought into or acquired in the state.
Counties, cities, school districts and junior college districts may tax or retain the right to tax freeport property. Other special districts must exempt freeport property.
CADs reported about 1,516 taxing units taxed or retained the right to tax freeport property in 2003, a decrease in taxing units from 1,526 units in 2002. Taxing units still taxing freeport property include 146 counties, 560 cities, 753 school districts and 57 colleges. More than one CAD may report some of these college districts.
For a list of these taxing units, call the PTD’s Information Services at 1-800-252-9121. In Austin, call 512/305-9999. Or you may view the list on the Comptroller’s Local Property Tax Web site at www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/proptax/freeport/index.html.
Personal property
Taxing units may tax non-income producing personal property, if the units follow certain hearing and notice requirements set out in Tax Code Section 11.14. For 2003, 24 CADs reported that 91 taxing units tax non-income producing personal property, such as private automobiles, boats and airplanes. These units include 13 counties, 20 cities, 36 school districts and 22 special districts.
For 2003, some taxing units were added to the group of 91 units and others dropped out. Groom ISD in Carson County began taxing non-income producing property. Taxing units that discontinued the tax included Cochran County, Morton ISD in Cochran County, City of Crowell and Foard County Hospital District in Foard County and the City of Canadian in Hemphill County.
A list of taxing units that tax non-income producing personal property is available by calling the PTD phone numbers listed above or on the Comptroller’s Local Property Tax Web site at www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/proptax/personalprop/index.html.
Personal leased vehicles
Motor vehicles leased for personal use after January 2, 2001, may be exempt from property taxes. Tax Code Section 11.252 defines these vehicles as passenger cars or trucks with a shipping weight of less than 9,000 pounds. The law defines “personal use” as using the vehicle more than 50 percent of its mileage for activities that do not involve the production of income.
A city, however, may continue to tax personal leased vehicles, if the city adopted an ordinance to do so before January 1, 2002. In 2004, 76 cities chose to continue taxing all leased vehicles, both personal and business. A list of these cities is available by calling the PTD phone numbers listed above or on the Comptroller’s Local Property Tax Web site at www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/proptax/personalauto/index.html.
Assessing & collecting
While all CADs appraise property, some CADs have additional duties for assessing or collecting property taxes. In 2003, 142 CADs also performed the assessing functions, including calculating effective and rollback tax rates, publishing required notices and preparing tax bills.
Some 111 CADs also collect property taxes, down from 113 CADs in 2002. Although the number of CADs collecting have dropped, the number of taxing units receiving collection services from CADs increased to 917 units in 2003, up from 905 taxing units in 2002.
CADs that collect taxes establish a separate collection budget. These CADs budgeted an average of $126,640 to perform the 2003 collection function. CAD collection budgets ranged from as low as $2,600 to $897,030, with an average cost per parcel to collect of 37 cents, down from 39 cents in 2002.
The survey also asked CADs to report on other taxing units that offer consolidated collection services in their districts. The Taxing Units Served by a Consolidated Tax Collection Office, 1986-2003 and Who Collects and For Whom tables show consolidated collections with the type of collecting unit and the number of taxing units receiving the service.
Some taxing units used private companies to collect taxes. In 2003, there were 46 private companies collecting for 501 taxing units, compared to 48 companies collecting for 486 units in 2002.
Consolidation of all property tax collections for all taxing units into one office occurred in 130 counties; that’s 16 more counties than 2002. The single collecting office included 69 CAD offices, 60 county tax offices and one city that collected property taxes for all taxing units in the county.
Only about 367 taxing units collect only their own taxes as more taxing units move to consolidated collection offices. In 2002, 382 units collected their own taxes.
Taxing Units Served by a Consolidated Tax Collection Office, 1986-2003 Type of Collection Office Year # Units Collected by CADs # Units Collected by Counties # Units Collected by ISDs # Units Collected by Cities # Units Collected by Special Districts/Private Firms Total # Units Collected 1986 732 720 124 59 305 1,940 1987 780 837 134 58 293 2,102 1988 813 854 126 74 4 1,871* 1989 839 955 105 69 7 1,975* 1990 867 1,048 106 56 434 2,511 1991 1,031 1,199 870 47 461 3,608** 1992 1,077 1,261 781 79 488 3,686** 1993 952 1,215 126 60 497 2,850 1994 940 1,311 124 60 470 2,909 1995 922 1,393 121 60 472 2,968 1996 924 1,450 121 51 481 3,027 1997 915 1,484 126 51 450 3,026 1998 918 1,576 127 41 462 3,124 1999 907 1,636 135 41 472 3,191 2000 906 1,692 128 37 464 3,230 2001 899 1,751 128 31 484 3,293 2002 905 1,817 120 30 489 3,361 2003 917 1,847 118 33 504 3,419 * Does not include taxing units served by private firms.
** Includes county education districts.
Source: Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Property Tax Division.
Who Collects and for Whom 2002 Collecting Office and Units Served 2003 Collecting Offices and Units Served 165 counties for 1,817 taxing units 163 counties for 1,847 taxing units 113 CADs for 905 taxing units 111 CADs for 917 taxing units 4 cities for 30 taxing units 5 cities for 33 taxing units 42 school offices for 120 taxing units 40 school offices for 118 taxing units 1 special district for 3 taxing units 1 special district for 3 taxing units 48 private firms for 486 taxing units 46 private firms for 501 taxing units 373 offices collecting for 3,361 units 366 offices collecting for 3,419 units Source: Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Property Tax Division. Books available
The Appraisal District Operations Report–2003 and 2004 also contains information on ARB compensation, software companies, computer facilities, appraisal firms, electronic data submission, tax rate rollback activity and more.
Many CADs also mailed the Comptroller’s office a copy of their 2004 appraisal budget, and some CADs that collect taxes provided copies of their 2004 collection budgets.
To request any CAD’s survey, appraisal budget or collection budget, please send an e-mail to the Comptroller’s PTD at ptd.cpa@cpa.state.tx.us or call the PTD’s technical assistance hotline at 1-800-252-9121. In Austin, call 512/305-9999.
From the CAD surveys, the Comptroller’s PTD also updates names and addresses of CAD directors, ARB members and chief appraisers. This information is contained in the Appraisal District Directory 2004, now in a more compact version.
The PTD will send each appraisal district and county tax office copies of both books. Anyone may purchase either book by sending a check or money order for $10 each to the Comptroller’s Property Tax Division, P. O. Box 13528, Austin, Texas 78711-3528.
Both books are available for viewing on the Comptroller’s Web site at www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/proptax/proptax.html.
Statement
October 2004
October 2004