Tarrant evaluation committee candidates talk about cybersecurity and fair evaluations

Tarrant Appraisal District must do better by taxpayers.

That's the message appraisal district board candidates are sending to voters ahead of the May 4 election.

Candidates who attended the forum, co-sponsored by Fort Worth Report and the League of Women Voters, discussed ongoing cybersecurity issues in the district, educating taxpayers about the assessment process, and ensuring accountability and transparency. .

Historically, assessment committee members have been selected by the taxing entity. However, the constitutional amendment in November created three new major positions to be elected by the people.

Residents can vote for one person from each at-large race. Click on the links below to see what each candidate has to say about their vision for the district.

Place one forum

Location 2 Forum

Location 3 Forum

First place

Eric Morris, Sayeda Bilky's Side, and Trey Fowler are in the running for the No. 1 spot.

All three candidates agreed there needs to be more education for taxpayers about the assessments and how to challenge them.

Haltom City Councilman Morris suggested the district use social media to disseminate information about the protest process. Syed, a Colleyville resident, said she will ask city officials to educate people about their rights and how to apply for a homestead exemption. Fowler, a Haltom City resident and former City Council member, said he will be conducting a three-part education series for taxpayers, starting with receiving their assessments and ending with protests.

However, the candidates differed on specific policies and their legality. Both Mr. Morris and Mr. Fowler said they would like to see even stricter caps on residential real estate valuations. Currently, residents who receive the homeownership tax exemption cannot see their property's assessed value increase by more than 10% from year to year.

Mr. Morris recommended a cap of 1% to 2%, and Mr. Fowler recommended a cap of 2% to 5%.

“This is almost like a cost of living increase,” Fowler said. “…For all of us as property owners, this is still an increase, but I think it's more manageable. I think it makes more sense.”

Syed, who previously served on the Evaluation Review Board, agreed that the cap needs to be adjusted, but said the Texas Legislature would have to make the change. He has promised to submit a plan to the state Legislature that would cap interest rate increases at 1% to 2% a year.

“I have a plan not only for Tarrant County, but for the rest of the 253 (appraisal districts) in Texas,” she said.

Mr. Fowler and Mr. Morris also said they each wanted to limit evaluations to every two to three years.

“That's why you don't get a blue (evaluation) letter in the mail every April like you do today,” Morris joked to the audience.

Citing Article 41.41 of the Property Tax Law, Said reiterated that such changes must first be taken up by legislators. Proponents of the schedule change pointed to Section 25.18 of the Tax Code, which requires appraisals at least once every three years.

Morris also proposed a policy change that would require appraisal district officials to physically view certain older properties before appraising them. Computer systems now make those decisions, he said.

Fowler and Syed both pointed to problems with the comparable numbers currently used by appraisal districts and proposed an overhaul of the process. Syed said that during his time on the Appraisal Review Board, he has seen multiple instances where appraisal districts used the highest comparable property valuations when making appraisals.

2nd place

Curry Rigney and Eric B. Kreil are running for second place. Mr. Rigney did not attend the forum, and Mr. Krill was given five minutes to explain his platform and reasons for candidacy.

Kreil, a firefighter and Fort Worth resident, said he wants to change the culture of the appraisal district. He said progress has been made on this front, including the selection of new board members and the hiring of a new lead appraiser, but a more complete transformation will take time.

He said he wants taxpayers to know what the appraisal district's approach is when it comes to assessments. Krille said increasing the district's education budget should be a priority.

He also said he would like to establish workshops where residents can learn more about appraisals and how to appeal. He said the data used in the evaluation should be made available to everyone.

“The government should do whatever is in the interest of the taxpayer, not the tax entity,” he said.

He cited County Judge Tim O'Hare's support and concerns about the electoral impact it caused. O'Hare supports Rigney, Krill's opponent, as well as No. 1 Morris and No. 3 Bryant.

“This is a nonpartisan race. There's partisan politics involved,” Krill said. “Whatever your political leanings are, red, blue, yellow, green, purple, whatever you want to do, I'm just here to advocate on behalf of the taxpayers. ”

3rd place

Chuck Kelly, Lee Henderson and Matt Bryant are running for third place.

Each candidate emphasized the importance of improving cybersecurity in their districts. The hacker group Medusa launched a ransomware attack on the district last month and subsequently published taxpayer information online.

Kelly, a Colleyville City Council member who works in information technology, said security breaches are a problem of cascading failures. Finding ways to improve going forward will require root cause analysis, he said.

Bryant, a Tarrant County real estate investor, said his past experience as an engineer makes it natural for him to follow processes and be data-driven. He suggested looking at cybersecurity techniques used in other similarly sized assessment districts.

Henderson, a public policy strategist and former software engineer, doesn't pretend to know all the information about cybersecurity incidents, but the board will update cybersecurity contracts and make immediate changes to fix the problem. He said he could.

The candidates also made several other policy proposals. Bryant said he would try to limit assessed value increases for Homestead properties to 5% and move the district to a triennial assessment schedule.

“I think capping the increase at 5% would alleviate some of the confusion that is currently occurring,” he said. “Speaking of disruption, valuations are rising at an alarming rate.”

Kelly said he would change the structure of the assessment district board meetings to allow for public comment on all items on the agenda, one at a time. He was going to have his staff give presentations and make sure people were informed about what they were voting on.

“Honestly, throughout my time on City Council I've sat and listened to people and they've given me good information and I've changed my mind,” he said. “That doesn't happen with TAD.”

All three candidates called for greater transparency around the evaluation process, including the data and formulas used. Henderson also said his priority is to make sure residents feel comfortable in the area.

“At this point, it's not very friendly to go and talk to the TAD behind the glass window of a desk and during an assessment review board hearing,” he said. “A lot of people are very, very scared.”

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