A budding movement to overhaul Bexar County’s appraisal process got its first public hearing on Tuesday — an event that drew dozens of neighborhood leaders, accountants and school district administrators all eager to take the political temperature of the newly reshaped board.

After the Republican-led Texas legislature added new elected positions to large counties’ appraisal boards this year, members of Tarrant County’s appraisal board turned around and made big changes aimed at saving taxpayers’ money.

Now other appraisal boards across the state, including Bexar County, are under pressure to follow their lead in using less frequent appraisals and requiring extra evidence to increase a valuation by more than 5% in a single year.

“A lot of this is really unknown,” said Northside ISD Superintendent John Craft, who attended Tuesday’s meeting to stay abreast of the Bexar Appraisal District’s thinking. “I think that the call to really analyze more closely, rather than jumping in feet first, is very appropriate.”

Municipal governments affected by Tarrant County’s changes have been raising alarm about their new appraisal policies, which they say will force higher tax rates and shift a higher tax burden onto lower-income residents. School districts, meanwhile, say the changes will impact their ability to pay off their bonds, which rely on consistency in revenue projections.

Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, Robert Bruce, a conservative activist and founder of the Boerne Stage Airfield who was elected to Bexar County’s appraisal district board in June, had already sought to put an exact replica of Tarrant County’s changes on the agenda for a vote.

But Chief Appraiser Rogelio Sandoval explained at the beginning of the meeting that appraisal district staff is legally required to make a formal policy proposal before members can vote on any changes at their next meeting on Sept. 10.

“Make no mistake, as chief appraiser, my job is to do the will of the board, and whatever reappraisal plan the board chooses is what I will implement,” Sandoval said.

“But I just want to let everybody know in attendance, and everybody here as my board members, that we did not take this lightly,” he said of staff’s recommendation to continue with their existing policies.

New perspectives on the board

After the appraisal district’s 20-minute policy presentation, new board members wasted little time diving into new ideas.

Parts of that discussion seemed to align with the legislature’s goal of demystifying the appraisal process through the new elected board members.

For example, Bruce was shocked to learn that the appraisal district isn’t allowed to use the MLS data that realtors use when determining property values. MLS data is fair game for property owners to use as evidence when challenging their valuation, but the appraisal district can’t use it on the front end to help their estimates.

“Texas is not a mandatory sales disclosure state, and because of that, we are not entitled to that information,” Assistant Chief Appraiser Scott Griscom said.

Bruce replied incredulously, asking whether the legislature was to blame. Griscom said it was, and the exchange drew chuckles from those who’ve long viewed the issue as an obstacle in the appraisal process.

In more serious moments, two of the newly elected board members, Bruce and Erika Hizel, clashed with Bexar Appraisal District’s board chair, Dave Gannon, and appraisal district staff over whether the board’s goal should be to increase the number of people challenging their property valuations.

Gannon said the ability to challenge a valuation is completely unique to Texas, and Bexar County has put tremendous effort into making the process easier and teaching residents how to do it.

“Y’all came in here today. Did you see anybody in line ready to protest? I guarantee you, hundreds of protests are going on today, and they’re being resolved,” Gannon said.

“One of the challenges, I think, for the board and the state, is trying to turn the tables a little bit and reeducate people that this is an opportunity that no one else has,” he added. “It should be celebrated not denigrated.”

But several candidates who ran for the board’s elected positions this year campaigned on the idea that a successful appraisal district would issue more accurate appraisals in the first place, and therefore have fewer people challenging them.

Hizel pointed to the half dozen people who signed up to speak at Tuesday’s meeting as evidence that the process isn’t working as smoothly as advertised.

“It’s a great right to have, but it takes a lot of work when you’re not a certified appraiser,” she said.

Politics in the process

While many of the board’s longtime members seemed reluctant to make any major changes in time for the next property tax season, Bruce said he planned bring forward a proposal in September that would allow people who’ve already challenged their valuation this year not to have to come back and do it again the following year.

That could be moving to every-other-year appraisals like Tarrant County did, he said, or something different.

“I know that not everybody’s on fire for what Tarrant County did, but it has passed muster,” Bruce said.

Unlike past meetings, where the board approved changes by voice vote, Gannon said they’ll take recorded votes at the Sept. 10 meeting, for transparency.

That could put some elected officials on the board, like Tax Assessor-Collector Albert Uresti and Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia (D4), in a tough choice between ideas that are politically popular, but causing heartburn for the taxing entities.

Uresti seemed on board with the idea of less frequent appraisals. Rocha Garcia who represents the city of San Antonio on the board and is running for mayor next year, said she hasn’t ruled it out.

Naomi Elizabeth Miller, a longtime aide to former Texas Speaker Joe Straus who was elected to the board this year, said Tarrant County’s ideas were intriguing but they’re too fresh to be considered a model for other counties.

“I’m all for saving the taxpayer money, but I’m also very concerned with how this would affect our taxing agencies, especially our school districts,” Miller said. “Without that data, I can’t in good conscience say it’s a good idea.”

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Assistant Chief Appraiser Scott Griscom’s last name.