In May El Paso voters will have to elect three new El Paso Central Appraisal District board members putting an end to how members have been appointed for more than 40 years.
The new election, which comes with a minimum $600,000 price tag, was approved by voters in November as part of a historic $18 billion tax relief bill, included a requirement that three positions on the nine-member board be elected in counties with a population of 75,000 or more, rather than the full board being nominated and appointed by county taxing entities as it had been since the early 1980s.
“The taxpayers are going to have to fund substantial monies on these elections,” said Tanny Berg, chair of the El Paso Central Appraisal District board.
The El Paso appraisal district is responsible for appraising all property for taxing entities that impose property taxes in El Paso County. Taxing entities such as school districts, the city and county set tax rates. The rates and the valuation combine to determine how much tax each property owner must pay. The valuations are set based on recent sales of comparable properties or other means to estimate the fair market value.
Appraisal districts were mandated by state law in 1971. The law required the districts to be established by 1982 and El Paso’s was established in 1981.
The upcoming election – which must be paid for by the appraisal district – could double if a runoff is needed, said El Paso County Elections Administrator Lisa Wise.
“We don’t normally agree to contract an election in May of even-numbered years because of the primary and primary runoff,” Wise said of the March 5 Democratic and Republican primary elections.
Wise said they agreed to conduct this election because it is a unique situation and will be regularly held in November in the future, not in May and a few smaller entities will be on the May ballot this year such as City of San Elizario, Town of Anthony and a possible water district.
“We’re gonna have to move monies around in our budget to be able to have the money for this,” said CAD Executive Director and Chief Appraiser Dinah Kilgore.
The special election will be held May 4.
Upcoming changes to the appraisal district board
The current nine-member board is made up of individuals who represent the taxing various jurisdictions in the County, and are appointed by the governing bodies such as the county, school districts and incorporated towns and cities. The board also includes the El Paso County tax assessor-collector, Ruben Gonzalez.
Because there are more taxing entities than positions on the board, Kilgore said the district has been using the three-quarter rule which allows every area of the county to have representation on the board. The three-quarter method allows for taxing entities, including smaller ones to pool their votes to ensure they have representation.
“We covered the entire county so that the representation on our board of directors was a true makeup of our county dynamics,” Kilgore said.
Board member Walter Miller, for example, represents some of the Lower Valley taxing entities including the Town of Horizon, city of Socorro, city of San Elizario, Town of Clint, the Clint, Socorro, Fabens, San Elizario and Tornillo school districts, as well as El Paso Community College.
The new method of electing three of the board members could reduce the representation of smaller taxing entities in the future because the change in law requires appraisal districts to use a tax levy system to determine how many votes each taxing entity gets toward the five appointed members. The higher the tax levy, the more votes that governing board gets.
Smaller taxing entities such as the Town of Anthony or the Town of Horizon will not have a high number of votes to select board members because they do not collect as many tax dollars, she said.
“For example the city (El Paso) would have about 1,700 votes, but the town of Anthony would have eight votes – you see the big discrepancy,” Kilgore said.
Kilgore said once the election process is completed this year the board will expand from nine members to 13. The board, with the new members, will meet in August after the district completes its annual appraisals, she said.
Up until January 2025 the board will consist of three elected members, the tax assessor collector and the nine appointed members. Kilgore said the existing members were reappointed in January for a one-year term until the new rules kick in. Once the new rules kick in the board will go back to nine members.
Members of the board of directors that are appointed by the taxing entity will serve staggered four-year terms beginning on Jan. 1 of every other even-numbered year. Elected members will serve staggered four-year terms beginning on Jan. 1 of every other odd-numbered year, according to the updated tax code.
Appraisal board duties
“Those of us who serve on the board…we have meetings and we go through sessions where we learn about assessments and all that, but by and large, we have very little authority,” Berg said.
The key responsibilities of the appraisal district board of directors are to establish appraisal districts, to hire the chief appraiser, set the budget and approve the biannual reappraisal plan. The directors have no authority to set values or appraisal methods.
The overall appraisal board is separate from the district’s appraisal review board which presides over protests filed by property owners who want to challenge their land’s value. The review board members are appointed by the president district court judge in El Paso County. The appraisal review board can make changes or set a value in resolving taxpayer protests.
The post El Paso voters in May will be asked to elect three members to the appraisal district board appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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