The Board of Directors Role in the Property Tax System

The local property tax system follows the principle of checks and balances. An appraisal district board of directors hires the chief appraiser, sets the budget and appoints the appraisal review board members. The directors have no authority to set values or appraisal methods. The chief appraiser carries out the appraisal district’s legal duties, hires the staff, makes the appraisals and operates the appraisal office.

The Role Of The Appraisal Review Board Members

The appraisal review board (ARB) is the judicial part of the system. The ARB is a separate body from the appraisal office and serves a different function. It hears and resolves disputes over appraisal matters. This is a very broad and important responsibility, but the ARB must be sensitive to its legal and practical limits. First, the ARB only has authority over matters submitted to it. The ARB has no role in the day to day operations of the appraisal office or in appraising property.

Except where it is deciding a protest, challenge or a correction motion, the ARB has no authority to change a value or correct the appraisal records directly. In a challenge, it must order the chief appraiser to reappraise or correct the records related to the challenge. Only in resolving taxpayer protests can the ARB make changes or set a value on its own. Such a change only affects the property in question.

The AG Advisory Board’s Role In The Property Tax System

Sec. 6.12 of the Texas’s Property Tax Code, requires chief appraisers to appoint an agricultural appraisal advisory board. The legislature created this advisory board to help improve communications between the farming and ranching community and the appraisal district. The board’s purpose is to advise the chief appraiser on the appraisal and use of agricultural land.

Ag boards must have three to five members and meet at least once annually at the call of the chief appraiser, as required in Tax Code Section 6.12. By appointing the required Ag board and conducting the required annual meetings the board and chief appraiser support the CAD in improving its appraisal and classification of agricultural land.