Did Friendswood school district pressure appraiser for higher property taxes?

06:23 PM CST on Thursday, March 31, 2005

By Doug Miller / 11 News

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Homeowners in one local community may feel a jolt of sticker shock when they receive their new tax assessments this year.

Many people will pay higher property taxes following a second look by the Galveston County Appraisal District. One tax activist calls the reason for the review "outrageous" and "suspect."

11 News followed the money trail through Friendswood's tax trouble.

Just like a lot of homeowners, Larry Chesnut complains about his property taxes.

"Your paycheck goes up maybe two or three percent a year and they want 10 percent, 10 percent, 10 percent," says Larry Chesnut.

In the Friendswood School District, property values have historically risen 7 to 11 percent per year.

But last year, the school district got the word that the hike would amount to about 6 percent.

When Friendswood school district officials learned their property valuations weren't rising nearly as quickly as they had in the past, they got concerned. And so, the superintendent and a number of school board members held a face-to-face meeting with Galveston County's chief appraiser.

After that meeting, the appraiser sent the superintendent a letter saying in part, "I am disappointed that we could not meet your expectation with regard to value increases, but assure you ... that we are making every effort to maintain an equitable and uniform appraisal roll."

The appraiser then reviewed home valuations in a half-dozen subdivisions and raised them an average of 6.5 percent.

"That's outrageous," says David Benzion. He and other conservative tax activists dug up the appraiser's letter.

"The supposedly neutral appraisal district and the supposedly neutral taxing entity -- in this case, the school district -- are getting together and one is putting pressure on the other. The people that lose are the average homeowner," says Benzion.

When asked if he was pressured to raise the valuations on those houses? Ken Wright of the Galveston Central Appraisal District, says, "No. No, I've never been really pressured by anyone."

But even the appraiser says getting a personal visit from the superintendent and school board members was a little unusual.

"If the school district believed and had reason to believe, which they did, that there was unequal treatment among our taxpayers by GCAD, they had the responsibility," says Friendswood School Superintendent Patricia Hanks. "Not only was it OK for them to do that, they had the responsibility to challenge that or talk to GCAD about that."

And that brings us back to Larry Chesnut, who mows his grass and pays his property taxes in one of those reappraised subdivisions.

"Who's looking out for me?" he asks. "All they're doing is looking out for their budget. Nobody ever comes to me and says, 'Hey, can you afford this?'"

He'll find out next month, when his appraisal notice arrives in the mail.