WASHINGTON CO. APPRAISAL DISTRICT BOARD SETS DATE OF APRIL 26 FOR BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING
The Washington County Appraisal District Board of Directors has set the date for a public hearing on the proposed 2022-23 Fiscal Year budget.
At its meeting on Tuesday, the board scheduled the budget hearing for Tuesday, April 26th at 10 a.m.
The proposed budget is valued at $1,216,200, up $237,020 from the current year’s budget.
The new budget accounts for $140,200 in debt service, an extra $76,220 for professional and contracted services, $13,500 more in supply and material costs, an additional $5,400 in personnel expenses and $1,700 more in other operating costs.
Also on Tuesday, the board approved a budget amendment allowing the appraisal district to retain $87,960 left over from the 2020-21 budget. Chief Appraiser Dyann White said the funding will be used to pay for building security updates, add money to the district’s vehicle fleet fund, help pay down the cost of the district’s new appraisal software, and add technology to allow property owners to appear for protest hearings by teleconference or videoconference.
The board also received a presentation from Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson regarding a Homestead Exemption Analysis (HEA) project. Through the HEA, the law firm would review all properties in the county with a homestead exemption to be sure they still qualify for exemption. The firm estimates that less than 2 percent of homestead exemptions would be questioned, and only 1 percent of those would be found to be ineligible. The board took no action on pursuing the project at this time.
During her report to the board, White said the Comptroller’s preliminary audit of property values in Brenham and Burton ISDs for 2021 found the district’s appraisals to be “invalid” due to being too low. According to White, the overall scores were around 93 percent, and must be 95 percent or higher to be considered valid. She said the main factor in the invalid score is the lack of sales data available to the district when appraisals are performed. She said the district is appealing the state’s findings and will report the final score once it is available.
White also announced that the district will undergo an onsite Methods and Assistance Program (MAP) review by the Comptroller’s office starting Monday.
Looks like property values will be increasing.
“During her report to the board, White said the Comptroller’s preliminary audit of property values in Brenham and Burton ISDs for 2021 found the district’s appraisals to be “invalid” due to being too low.”