Group Rallies in Support of Appraisal Cap (Friendswood, Texas)

Galveston Daily News ^ | February 23, 2005 | T.J. Aulds

[anymouse]

FRIENDSWOOD — A group had a pep-rally of sorts at a Friendswood pizza parlor Tuesday to encourage support for Gov. Rick Perry’s proposal to limit increases in taxable property values to no more than 3 percent annually.

The group released what it said were numbers showing government officials do not pay their fare share when it comes to property taxes.

Edd Hendee, a radio talk show host and executive director of Citizens Lowering Our Unfair Taxes, released figures indicating that the property values of Friendswood Mayor Kimball Brizendine, City Manager Ron Cox, council members such as Mel Measels and Laura Ewing and State Rep. Larry Taylor increased at less than the city’s average rate.

Hendee said records obtained through County Tax Assessor-Collector Cheryl Johnson’s office show that while the average values for homeowners in Friendswood had increased almost 32 percent since 2000, the public officials he targeted saw either no increases or, in the case of Brizendine, increases of as little as 6 percent.

And while Hendee and fellow talk show host Dan Patrick hammered away at the discrepancy between the figures for the elected officials and for the average taxpayer, they stopped short of saying those officials had been shown favoritism.

“I think it is suspect,” said Hendee. “This is just a random sample of individuals whose only connection is how they voted on council or on the tax cap.”

Cox disagreed. The city manager was a particular target of the group because he testified before a state legislative panel recently against lowering the current 10 percent appraisal cap to 3 percent.

“The answer is much more complex than what it appears (in the CLOUT figures) unless someone takes the time to look at each individual situation,” said Cox. “It’s hard to make a response.”

Cox doesn’t deny that the appraised value on his home in the 100 block of St. Andrews Drive has remained at $128,900 since 2001.

But according to records The Daily News obtained from the Galveston Central Appraisal District, neighboring properties have not seen an increase during the same period either.

When compared to their neighbors, Brizendine and Measels — who are also singled out an advertisement CLOUT is running in today’s edition of The Daily News— do have lower increases in their property appraisals. But according to the appraisal district documents, the homes with higher increases have had recent additions or improvements.

Galveston Central Appraisal District Chief Appraiser Ken Wright, who claims to be a member of CLOUT himself, said such comparisons were not comparing apples to apples.

He said appraisals are based on market values within neighborhoods.

“There are many factors that come into play,” he said. “But an honest assessment must be done when comparing like values and communities. It’s a bit disingenuous to compare values across an entire city that is seeing considerable growth.”

Wright also said that because of concerns that elected officials might appear to benefit from lower appraisal values, the district keeps an active list of all Galveston County elected officials’ property values.

He said if a discrepancy is noted, the district errs on the side of overvaluing a property.

[anymouse]

Property Tax Reform is a hot topic in local, state and national media. Time for FReepers to help turn up the heat on out of touch bureacrats.

[anymouse]

Texas Tax Reform ping.

[Flyer]

the public officials he targeted saw either no increases or. . . increases of as little as 6 percent.

Ping. . .

[TXBSAFH]

You and I both know there are differnet rules for politicians and us peasants.

On a related issue, a bit of advice to Cox in dealing with KSEV, do not start a fight with someone who buys their ink by the barrle. It will get messy quickly.

[Pilsner]

I'm still waiting for Perry to support a cap on unfunded mandates handed down from Austin. His idea of "reform" is that he and the Legislature can impose any expense they like on local governments, but those local governments cannot raise taxes to pay for them. I'll support caps, on either the amount of property taxes raised or valuations, when those caps are coupled with a constitutional ban on unfunded mandates. Until then this is no more than grandstanding to distract the public's attention from Perry's actions in Austin.

And oh, if you think Perry and the Legislature are going to save you from your local officials, think about this. Every Texas gets to vote for one County Commissioner (out of four) and the only County Judge (Constitutional not trial court). That means 40% of the folks in County Government are answerable to you.

Each Texas also gets to vote for one State Rep (out of 150) and one State Senator (out of 31), plus the Governmeor and Lt. Governor. That means that 2.19% of the folks in Austin are answerable to you. So where do you have more influence?

[BellStar]

Host Dan Patrick and Guest @ Rally

[BellStar]

[PetroniDE]

The appraisal cap bill died in the State Senate last time; hopefully it will pass this time.

I also heard that someone threatened the pizza parlor that hosted KSEV. Don't know who but probably a supporter of one of the out-of-touch bureacrats. Perhaps our next food-related get-to-gether should be at that pizza parlor.

[TheGrimReaper]

If I remember correctly, Laura Ewing's home valuation is actually DOWN approx. 2% since 2000.

This is the same old politicians' song, 10,000th verse...
"We need this...we need that...so we NEED to suck more cash out of the pockets of the sheeple. What's that? Cut expenses? -- You must be kidding!"

[sugarbabe]

I have known Laura Ewing for years. She is a nice lady but a liberal democrat!

[GulfBreeze]

Thank y'all for keeping this issue alive out here in freep world. We need tax caps any way we can get them!!!

There are some otherwise real fine Republicans serving out there who just seem to forget that reducing taxes and shrinking government applies to THEM TOO!!!!

gulbreeze - feeling "chair"itable