FORT WORTH, Texas — Residential property owners in Tarrant County are getting their appraisals in the mail this week. The notices are on time despite a tumultuous start of the year for the Tarrant Appraisal District.
The chief appraiser for TAD and his team are working hard to improve the board's reputation with homeowners.
Andrenette Sullivan made her first visit to the Tarrant Appraisal District on Wednesday afternoon. She is new to Texas and a first-time homeowner in Tarrant County. She's paying more than double the property taxes she paid in Florida. Since appraisal protest season just started, she didn't have to wait long at TAD Headquarters in Fort Worth.
"We weren't able to resolve all of my issues today," Sullivan said.
Sullivan is a criminal defense attorney. She did some homework on what to expect at the Tarrant Appraisal District. During her visit to the TAD office, Sullivan made sure she brought as many supporting documents about her home as part of her protest. That included the appraisal just completed on her home as part of the purchasing process.
"From my understanding, it's a simple process if you want to dispute the property amount," said Sullivan, "But I heard that it's really hard to get success in actually winning your dispute."
Whether or not property owners win a dispute, TAD's new chief appraiser Joe Don Bobbitt is out to change the board's reputation.
Bobbitt said he believes most of the disputes about appraisal amounts can be resolved. As the chief appraiser, Bobbitt said he wants property owners to walk away satisfied that the board did its job.
Improving TAD comes as voters are deciding between eight people vying for the three board positions. Bobbitt shared what kind of people he hopes voters will elect to sit at the table.
"People that have an interest in seeing that the public is best served. We need to be financially responsible," said Bobbitt. "But we still have a job to do to meet the tax code."
The board elections come as TAD tries to bounce back from a March 14 ransomware attack. The board did not pay hackers their $700,000 demand. It resulted in data being leaked for nearly 300 private property owners.
"There were confidential addresses and so it came down to people's security and safety," Bobbitt said.
Since then, TAD has made cyber security upgrades just in time for appraisal property protest season. They set up a help room at appraisal district headquarters with appraisers ready to help property owners start their protest. The on-site help will be available throughout the protest season.
Although Sullivan is new to the appraisal process, she's expecting TAD to keep her personal information safe and secure.
"It's important for the consumer as well as the government entities, to work together to help this American dream happen for people, whether it's a person like me who's getting a first home in Texas or people who've been around for many years," said Sullivan.