Wednesday, April 23, 1997
Appraiser blasts Senate bill
Taylor County Chief Appraiser Richard Petree called the Texas
Senate's property tax "bill of rights" a "horrendous"
piece of legislation.
"I can't believe it passed 30-0 - they must have been
asleep at the wheel," he said of the Senate's unanimous decision.
"It's just got some horrendous things in it."
Among other things, the bill would give property owners the
right to cap appraisal increases at 5 percent a year unless the
property has sold, a step Petree said "blatantly violates
the constitutional requirements of equal and uniform taxation."
Under such a change, he said, "you could have two identical
houses side by side, one appraised at $100,000 and the other at
$80,000.
Other changes would add substantially to the district's operating
expenses. For instance, currently the Taylor County Appraisal
Review Board meets at the appraisal district's office on Treadaway.
The bill would outlaw meetings at district headquarters and requires
night and weekend meetings, with added staff costs, he said.
The bill would "put politics right back into the system
the way it used to be," he said.
"It sets the whole concept back to what it was in pre-1980,"
he said. "Local people would be appraised at lower numbers
and out of town folks would be appraised at higher numbers because
they can't vote."
Click here for details
on the Senate's action
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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