EXCLUSIVE: Friendswood officials fight lower tax caps while avoiding appraisal increases
by David Benzion · 02/22/2005 7:00 amA LoneStarTimes.com investigation has determined that many of the Friendswood-area officials using taxpayer resources to argue in Austin against a reduction in annual appraisal caps have themselves avoided any increase in their property tax burden in recent years.
LST’s review of Galveston County Appraisal District records revealed that during a period when the average Friendswood homeowners tax appraisal increased by 32%…
- Councilman Jerry Ericsson’s increased by only 9%;
- Mayor Kimball Brizendine’s increased by just 6%; AND
- Councilmembers David Smith, Laura Ewing, and Mel Measeles saw no increase whatsoever in their appraised property taxes (0%).
Measles, in addition to serving on City Council, is currently the regional president of the Texas Municipal League, a highly influential special-interest group comprised of government officials and bureaucrats. The TML is a key lobby group in Austin fighting against a reduction of property tax appraisal rates from 10% to 3% annually.
LST’s research also revealed that Friendswood City Manager Ron Cox’s property tax burden did not increase by a single penny in the past three years.
Cox recently testified in Austin on behalf of the Texas Municipal League that, in regard to the appraisal system, "I personally don’t think it’s broken."
UPDATE– A knowledgeable source in Friendswood city government informs us that although councilman Tracy Goza and Mayor Kim Brizendine live in the same subdivision, Goza’s appraisal has gone up in proportion to the average Friendswood homeowner’s, while the Mayor’s has not.
Councilman Goza– 8.3% annually, 33.2% 2000-2004
Mayor Brizendine– 1.6% annually, 6.3% 2000-2004
Goza does not support the Mayor’s legislative agenda to oppose a reduction in appraisal caps from 10% to 3%.
10:58 a.m. UPDATE– Councilman Goza has agreed to come to the live broadcast with Dan Patrick and Edd Hendee at Friendswood’s DoubleDave’s Pizza at FM 528 and 518 (behind the Texas First Bank building) today at 4 p.m. to address this controversy.
As promised this morning, he will receive free breadsticks. The offer remains open to all other councilmembers, as well as city manager Ron Cox.
The public is encouraged to attend as well.
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Great story about Friendswood! Keep up the good work. We are with you, it’s time to clean house at the ballot box!!
Nick & Linda
Just shows that being a poorly paid public servant pays very well while the light is turned off. Now they need to learn what to do other than acting like a roach when the light is turned on.
Per Public records, I drove by my County Commissioners, El Franco Lee’s, home yesterday. Was astounded to see that his beautiful home and expertly landscaped yard was appraised at @ $90,000. Makes me want to check the other commissioners as well.
Wonder what the appraisals are of those who are on the appraisal board itself. BRAMANTI RESPONDS: See for yourself, Jim. Here is a list of HCAD’s board members. And here’s an old list of Appraisal Review Board members. Some of those folks are still on the board.
Thank you for bringing this to light. I am a member of CLOUT and a resident of Brazoria County. I will be attending the rally this afternoon in Friendswood. We should all be fed up with this nonsense and stand up and speak out. Thank you for being the only real voice of the strapped homeowners.
David, if the news of the the Friendwood gang of five is correct. Then the Texas Rangers should be called in and these folks should go to jail.
However the 3% cap has now got to end, the dynamics of this has changed so as to never have this happen we need to have our property tax be valuled at time of sale, in this way this can never happen again, you know this is state wide.
The peasants of Friendswood need their government officials to collect as much money as they can. It’s going to cost a fortune to get rid of the stinch that’s comming from the city hall. It smells so bad, it ought to be against the law, ….perhaps it is!
Here is the appraisal on Friendswood Rep Larry Brown. 0% increase in three years.
Thanks to KSEV and all associated for the information on the Taxes in Friendswood. I’m a resident of Sugar Land and I have started looking into the increases in the city income over the last couple of years and will continue to talk to my cousilman about the cap. I do know that my counsil signed a letter last year in support of the Texas Municipal League. Several of the counsil members also claimed to support a reduction in the cap. How do you tell? I’m a member of clout and will continue to support the issues associated with the cap and our legislature. I will say the problem is and will be the Lt. Govenor, he will not support a reduction in the cap. Thanks Scott Walker
Where is the Houston media on this SCANDAL? Oh yeh, there is a fire and a car wreck to cover. Good job exposing these roaches.
David Smith owns Century 21 realty in Friendswood! You would think he could make better realestate invetments then his own home!
Please unite to defeat the corrupt politicians at the ballot box.
Please do a Freindwoods to Missouri City.
The Council for Mo City voted to approve the TML resolution against property tax caps.
I encourage everyone who reads this to contact their State Representative and Senator. I know that I will Tell Rep. Martha Wong and Senator Mario Gallegos.
There is most definitely something rotten in Denmark, or should I say Friendswood.
Sincerely
Jack Henderson
Let’s not jump to conclusions to soon. Let’s be fair. The only way for this to happen is an independent investigation into appraisals of politicians in Galveston County. Surely those named would be for this investigation as well? Who would have a reason not to want to clear this up?
Main Stream Media should already be checking the tax roles in many other cities and towns across Texas. Wonder if or when they will?
Looking at the 2003 median subdivision prices at the Houston Association of Realtors website, the 2004 GCAD appraised values, and the square footage of the Friendswood 5’s homes, the story becomes even clearer. Keep in mind that the 2003 HAR data I am using is the most recent available, and that if the 2004 values reflect the growth occurring elsewhere in Friendswood, the apparent undervaluations listed below would be even larger.
Ron Cox lives in Sun Meadow. The 2003 HAR MEDIAN price is $62.02/sq ft. Ron’s home is 2,304 sq ft. That equates to a value of $142,894. His 2004 value at GCAD is $128,900. That represents an apparent undervaluing of the home by 10.8%. His lot size and home size exceed the median values for the subdivision, and therefore would assumably be valued higher per sq ft.
David Smith lives in Falcon Ridge. The 2003 HAR MEDIAN price is $73.02/sq ft. David’s home is 3,472 sq ft. That equates to a value of $253,525. His 2004 value at GCAD is $187,700. That represents an apparent undervaluing of the home by 35.1%. His lot size and home size exceed the median values for the subdivision, and therefore would assumably be valued higher per sq ft.
Laura Ewing lives in Polly Ranch Estates. The 2003 HAR MEDIAN price is $94.93/sq ft. Laura’s home is 4,056 sq ft. That equates to a value of $385,036. Her 2004 value at GCAD is $331,560. That represents an apparent undervaluing of the home by 16.1%. Her lot size and home size significantly exceed the median values for the subdivision, and therefore would assumably be valued higher per sq ft.
Mel Measeles lives in Clear Creek Woods. There is no available 2003 HAR data for this subdivision. There are two homes currently for sale in the neighborhood. One is listed at $77/sq ft and one is listed at $60/sq ft. Assuming a 5% discount from the lower of the two as a reasonable sale price, Mel’s 1,641 sq ft home would equate to a value of $93,537. His 2004 value at GCAD is $87,970. That represents an apparent undervaluing of the home by 6.3%. I consider the $57/sq ft value to be generous to Mel, given the recent trends in property growth in Friendswood.
Jerry Ericsson apparently lives in a subdivision called the Park. The HAR data vary wildly from year to year, apparently based on low numbers of homes sold each year. The most recent year (2003) had a media value of $70.89/sq ft. However, the two previous years had values of $84.61 and $89.46/sq ft. Depending on which value is truly a reflection of the neighborhood market value, Jerry’s home is either greatly over valued and he is losing money by not protesting his appraisal, or the home is similarly undervalued like his gang of 5 compatriates.
Kim Brizendine lives in Eagle Lakes. The 2003 HAR MEDIAN price is $83.28/sq ft. Kim’s home is 3,278 sq ft. That equates to a value of $272,992. His 2004 value at GCAD is $236,620. That represents an apparent undervaluing of the home by 15.4%. His lot size is nearly double the median and home size is right at the median value for the subdivision, and therefore would assumably be valued higher per sq ft. Its good to be the king…
Since I know the values in the whole Friendswood area are going up like a rocket, I believe these figures understate the problem by comparing 2004 appraised values to 2003 median values. Either way, this data just backs up the CLOUT/Lone Star Times assertion that these elected officials are not paying their share and are absolute hypocrites for claiming nobody needs appraisal growth relief.
This is incredible reporting. I have been a morning listener for a long time, but since Edd’s show about Ron Cox’ visit to Austin, the Friendswood council meeting, and especially this new revelation about the Mayor and council members minimal tax increases, this is just “too good.” You guys are great. What can I say, I’m a blogger.
Ft. Bend Economic Council voted agfainst supporting the apprasial cap and James patterson, commissioner spoke agianst the 3% cap. Very disappointing. Probably a lot of conflict of interest, just like Friendswood!
I find it very interesting that none of Ron Cox’s neighbors home values have increased. I do not live in Friendswood but would love someone provide insight into Ron’s neighborhood. Is is appreciating in value.
I look at the Galveston County tax records for the entire street and only one individual had a significant increase.
Sincerely,
Sean Barton
(713) 403-5565
Even though not specifically addressed on the radio when I was listening this morning. I believe this information should be immediately forwarded to the Texas Attorney General for criminal investigation of these public officials. Moreover, if the Chronical passes on this story, they should also be investigated as part of the cover-up process of this information.
How amny more elected officials in other citys are getting these deals?
No wonder I can’t afford a new home!!! How can it NOT be illegal what they are doing?? Who is supposed to be monitoring these people so that this doesn’t happen! I am furious!!
The story has been at least sort-of covered in the Galveston County Daily News now!
Here’s the link
Probably off subject but something that I see happening while I’m house shopping is that many properties are still listed in the deceased owner(s) name(s) with the over 65 homestead exemptions still intact and paying very low taxes while some heir is soaking some renter for big bucks on rent (Probably blaming the high rental rate on their property taxes.) Does the appraisal district or tax collector ever check these situations out?
you can go to the Texas Municipal League website an find the names of all elected officals in Texas.
We all need to do our own research!
Can Friendswood impeach their politicans?
Dear Ed and Dan,
Last night on Hannity and Combs they had a model property tax Hike. This model and husband bought I believe a 4 plex building in New York for $ 805,000 and placed $ 60,000 restoration into it.
Within one (1) YEAR THEIR TAX BASE WENT FROM $,4000 TO $ 29,000. I hope you both saw that. Incredible!!!
Sincerely,
Sharon M. radle
I live just up the street from Friendswood in Pearland. I’m wondering if the heat you’re pouring into Friendswood’s city council has caused Pearland city gov’t to make a public statement. Could you please look into Pearland Mayor Tom Reid’s property tax appraisals or please tell me how I can look into this…..
I went to http://www.BRAZORIACAD.org and looked up Pearland’s council members home data and found some good info.
I’m going to look into their neighbors data before I draw any conclusions. I will say that these guys numbers are nothing like the folks from Friendswood.
On it’s face, this Friendswood situation has at least the appearance that there’s some monkey business going on. But I suspect that if you were to take all the elected officials out of the equation and look at all the appraisals in Friendswood (or any other area) there would still be a wide disparity in the appraisals of similarly situated properties - with some homes having next to no increase for several years, and similar homes hitting the cap. Don’t get me wrong, the appraisal cap should be lowered, but there’s a larger issue here in the general inequity in the way the appraisal system is arbitrarily applied.
League City Mayor’s (Jeff Harrison) Galveston County apprasal has been frozen in 2002 and 2003 (2004 is not posted yet).
League City Councilman Rusty Tidwell’s apprasal has been frozen in 2001, 2002, and 2003.
http://www.galvestoncad.org/
I wonder what League City’s view of the cap is???
This corruption is more widespread in GalvCo than you know.
In unincorporated Galvco on bay front property the value of dirt(land) ranges wildly depending on who you are.
You need to look into the property values of the Galveston Co. Appraisal board members. I live down the street from the president or maybe ex president.
2 years ago land appraisals were 11$ to 12$ per sq ft until you get to his house then the land values decrease dramatically. Even tried to get the reporter at Houston Chronicle to do a story.
Not interested! I’ve still got all the documentation. Wish you’d look into it.
Why am I not surprised that the Mayor,City Manager and some Councilmen haven’t had the same property tax increase as the average tax payer in Friendswood. Politics is the same at the local level as it is in the state and federal levels.
We (voters) need to send a message to these guys and gals that if you want to be in government you have to play by the same rules as the people you represent.
The politicians (Friendswood and all over Texas) are reaping a huge benefit by escaping increasing tax values. The only way this can happen is through collusion with a local county appraisal district. Doesn’t this violate the RICO act? Isn’t this action just as bad as the conduct of Enron executives? If the politicians benefited, the rest of us were damaged.
I look forward to Dan’s show tonight.
Stephen Carter
keep up the pressure! got any tar and feathers? artM
I believe that a criminal investigation should be initiated to see if there are any wrong doings, and also if this is state wide.
It might be interesting to see how the properties of the Galveston and Harris County Appraisal Board members have appreciated. Should be available by an open records request to each of the Appraisal Districts.
Please say it isn’t so! Fradulent property tax relief in Galveston County? Special tax rates for those in municipal govenment? I am interested in what came out of the meeting today at 4:00 PM (Feb. 22) in Friendswood. What did the members of the Friendswood City Council have to say?
I also understand that this may be going on in League City too. I already have a bone of contention with the taxation methods of CCISD (never ending bond elections). Now to know that I’m getting ripped on my property taxes too (which is what CCISD uses towards determining our school tax rates)..it just floors me.
What can we do?
I think you are possibly quick on the draw with regard to the supposition you are inferring regarding the members of the Friendswood council and the mayor’s property taxes. I am a property owner, voter, taxpayer, and Harris County Republican Precinct Chair (471 - LaPorte) and I am personally in favor of a property rate tax cap that forces elected officials to have public hearings and hold a recorded vote on tax RATE increases as opposed to increasing tax revenue solely through appreciation of real property. I also encourage these same officials to exercise maximum restraint regarding spending, and am in favor of ‘sunset’ provisions for most local and state programs. ===
My problem is as follows: First, your implication is clear and unmistakable – you are implicating with innuendo that these public servants and elected officials have somehow done something underhanded in manipulating the tax values of their personal properties. Have they? Do you have evidence that they have done anything more than protest their tax values through the channels available to every property owner and taxpayer? Have there been property improvements or are their other explanations that would account for the differences in Mayor Brizendine’s and Councilmenber Goza’s property tax valuations. ===
Simply stating facts in a manner that implies impropriety is JUST NOT ETHICAL – frankly, it sullies the issue we are trying to right. Making these implied accusations without offering direct proof is just not manly! You are doing the very thing we are accusing the officeholders all over this state of doing by their resisting a fair and open process for taxation (and, yes, I do believe that taxation is a necessity and can serve good purposes) — you are hiding in the dark behind facts and figures but without presenting a real case for what you are unmistakably asserting by innuendo. This is no different than promoting ever growing increases in tax revenues without open and direct debate. ===
PUT IT ON THE TABLE JUST LIKE WE WANT OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS TO DO WITH OUR TAXES. IF YOU HAVE PROOF REGARDING YOUR ASSERTION AND SUSPICION, WHY DON’T YOU DO THE MANLY THING AND BRING IT TO LIGHT. IF YOU DON’T, WHY DON’T YOU APOLOGIZE AND STOP STOOPING TO CHILDISH ACCUSATIONS AND GET ON WITH THE REAL BUSINESS AT HAND. ===
I can’t imagine an unbiased person reading your column and not assuming that you are doing everything in your power that you can to sully the good character and reputation of these officials. The very same principles that guide our demand for honest, open, and fair government, also judge your unfortunate accusations.
Seems like last year an individual reported on the Edd Hendee show that Jon Lindsay got tremendous tax relief on 33 acres of land he sold for a bundle. The head of HCAD was reported to have a smaller increase along with all the people who lived on his street.
When you add it all up it doesn’t pass the smell test. The privilaged in Friendswood should not be voted out at the next election; they need to be thrown out. Same way with any other people of privilage when it comes to fairness in taxation.
Our political system stinks!!
Dan & Edd,
I am a Clear Lake tax payer,& plenty of it.
You guys made some major impact in Friendswood and thanks for the pizza at Double Dave’s. I will
support their establishment. thanks, Lonnie
I listened to Dan Patricks show this morning as well as the evening show from friendswood. The facts were clearly laid out the table for all to respond including city officials from Friendswood. Some responded, some did not. Those who did were challenged and treated with deserved respect. How can you have innuendo when you have open and public debate between the citizens, media, city representatives, as well as state representatives. Everyone was given a forum and opportunity to speak. sounds like democracy to me. Some like it. Some do not.
Sincerely,
Jack Henderson
I don’t believe Edd and Dan accused the Friendswood Mayor and Council of fraudulently manipulating their appraised values. They simply pointed out the fact that these individuals have had essentially no increase in their appraised values since 2000 while at the same time other Friendswood residents have had significant increases. While it may be that there are pockets of inequity or some individuals with unique situations where values have not been adjusted, I think we have to recognize that for these particular individuals to be so far below the average is more than a statistical anomaly. Those of us who have experienced the kangaroo court at the Galveston County Appraisal District appeals office may be seeing our suspicions confirmed. The integrity of the Friendswood city officials may be just the tip of the iceburg in this corrupt system that ignores the citizens’ ability to pay while pushing through ever-increasing taxes. And they didn’t even have to raise your tax rates!
Hey Benzion, I remember you from your Mike Richards days, I admit I had my doubts about you back then, but as I’ve gotten to know your work since then, man you’ve grown by leaps dude! You’re coming into your own, along with the rest of the team whom I also support. I thought for a while you’de gone back east somewhere but am glad you stayed.
Great research on the Friendswood tax data.
This is the Boston Tea Party all over again, for the first time really since the revolution. This type of taxpayers fight for accoutability will be THE MAJOR ISSUE for the rest of the decade and will revolutionize this country. The pendulum is swinging back to what benefits the average honest taxpaying American who has always operated under the honor system, well, we’ve been trusting of our politicians for so long because we Americans are great people, and in that vein, we are finally stepping up because they’ve pushed us too far and we are just beggining to make changes in our society. Like the Iraquis are just learning d’cracy, we’re re-learning it and your on the front lines of the fight back home.
This issue will transcend property values to almost all issues where our taxes are spent. It will spread like wild fire.
Keep blazing a trail and don’t let up, never never give up the fight.
Keep on shining dude, all the besto you and yours,
Chips
PS: Maybe you could coin a phrase like Boston Tea Party but make it Texan, like Texas Tax Party or something.
What would be the role of the State Attorney Gensral be in this possible tax scandal developing in Friendswood?
Also it would be interesting to see how those that tax us (The Appraisal Boards) have faired these past few years.
This year I am voting against every incumbent in our city–my District rep and the two at-large reps. I’ve made it my mission to try and unseat every incumbent in every election. These aren’t supposed to be jobs for life.
Why not have our side introduce legislation in Austin stating that any elected or appointed management type official MUST have his yearly appraisal increase set at the exact average of the jurisdiction he/she serves in.
Force the controlers of the spending to live under the system and burden they feel is so necessary for the huddled masses who toil for them.
( exempt the Aggie taxman on grounds that we like him!)
The debate and spin from the TML and the other assorted royality would be worth the effort.
Bill Foss had a fascinating analysis of home valuations for the Friendswood mayor and city council members in your comments section. My only comment is that I believe that as home and lot sizes increase, the market valuations per square foot in that same neighborhood actually go down. All of the houses on that street push each other towards an average in the marketplace.
If my 2500 square foot house would sell for $150,000, that comes to $60 per square foot. My next door neighbor has a 3000 square foot house, but that does not mean his house would sell for $180,000, there simply is too much price difference on the same street for only 500 more square feet of space. True, his house would be worth more on the market than mine, but it is not a linear progression.
Bill’s analysis is still valid, and I am glad he came up with that angle and did the research. I just wanted to comment on his frequent assumption that larger square footage always translates to an equally larger appraisal value.
You guys are doing great work! Boy, Bill White must really be glad this came along and diverted attention away from Safe Clear.
My name is Kevin Cole and I am a City Councilemember from Pearland. I am planning to bring a resolution to support the 3% cap for our Council to vote on. I am working with Rep. Dennis Bonnen’s office in Austin to get such a resolution. I want to see where the rest of the Council stands on this issue. Councilmember Woody Owens has agreed to sign the agenda request with me.
This Monday night, 02/28, we are voting on the 65+/disabled tax freeze. The meeting starts at 7:30pm. I need your help in getting my fellow Councilmembers to vote in favor of this freeze. Most of them simply want the voters to vote on it instead.
Any help would be appreciated!!
I have been researching property appraisals for the County Judge and Commissioners in Fort Bend County. The CAD site is http://www.fbcad.org. Note, if you want to do this yourself, on the owner search just use the last name, it is extremely hard to get a good result if the first name is given. So far I have checked out Judge Hebert, Commissioner Stavinoha, and Commissioner Meyers, and here is what I have found. In 2003, the year he took office and following several years of steady increases, Judge Hebert had a *decrease* in his appraisal. In the interest of truthfullness, his value in 2004 increased considerably. For Commissioner Stavinoha, I found some years of increases, but also several years of no change, including 2003-2004.
In contrast, my home in Cinco Ranch, which was built in 2001, has the following history: From 2002-2003 I had a modest (~3%) increase, but 2003-2004 was ~9%. But the real winner here (and I have not gone through the entire Commissioner’s Court yet) is Commissioner Meyers. He lives in Sugarland and serves Precinct 3. When I saw the numbers I couldn’t believe that any house in Sugarland could be valued like this, and when I saw the history I had to doubt the veracity, but it is listed consistantly throughout the pages for his property. In 2003, Commissioner Meyer’s home, (2700+ square feet) was valued at $147, 270. That is just the home, not the land. In 2004 the entire property, land included, was valued at $74,120! Almost half of that is land! Nearly $100,000 of value was removed from the house. I sincerely hope this is merely a string of typoes in the FBCAD website. Hopefully, someone can come up with an explanation.
Jim Grantham’s point about linear appraisals brings up a distinction that I failed to make in my earlier analysis. What I was getting at by saying that the larger square footage of the houses in question would possibly command a premium in pricing is that significant jumps in square footage usually mean that the house has an additional room such as a formal dining room, extra bedroom, or extra bathroom. While Jim is correct that the price of a three bedroom home would not go up linearly with a few extra square feet of space, adding an extra room to a house typically will add more value than simply the value of the additional square footage. So Jim’s example is correct assuming that both he and his neighbor have the same number of rooms. However, if his neighbor’s extra 500 square feet represents two extra 10′x15′ bedrooms, it is quite likely that his house would indeed be worth MORE than the $180,000 Jim’s hypothetical example suggests.
The lot square footage works the same way. If the difference in square footage is a few hundred extra square feet of backyard, the lot is not likely to have a direct relationship to increased value in the price of the home. However, the lots in question were in most cases several thousand square feet larger than the average lot in the neighborhood. If the average lot is 15,000 square feet and the lot in question is twice that, it almost undoubtedly would result in the home selling for a premium over an identical home on a smaller lot.
While I totally agree with the concept of a reduced appraisal cap, I feel that the implications that the Mayor and City Council have cheated the appraisal system on their own homes are not reasonable. I can’t believe I am defending the Friendswood mayor and council, but the facts surrounding their appraisals deserves further investigation. I do not personally know any council members, and my experience in dealing with the mayor and his supporters on council has left me with the impression that they really don’t want to hear what the citizens of our area think. But I still don’t feel that they deserve to be labeled as “tax cheats” because of their home appraisals.
Take Ron Cox’s case for instance. If you look at the appraisal records for the homes in his subdivision, Sun Meadows, you will see that almost all of them experienced a zero percent increase in 2001, 2002, and 2003. This fact also illustrates how inequitable the current system is. My own Friendswood home has increased in value 37% in the last four years according to the GCAD. This is good news when I go to sell my home, but in the mean time my neighbors and I are carrying an increasing share of the tax load while others in the same small city are seeing no increase at all. Entire subdivisions are benefiting from an inequitable tax system, not just the mayor and some of the councilmembers.
Mel Measels’ home illustrates this as well. It’s true that his appraisal has not increased in the last five years. But neither have any of the other homes on his street. This street, Timber Lane, is near Clear Creek, and I assume that flooding is an issue there. Three homes on that street were bought out by the City after tropical storm Allison. So we might want to think twice before labeling Mel as a cheater.
One of Jerry Ericsson’s neighbors had his appraisal drop from $470K to $382K in five years. During the same time, Jerry’s appraisal increased by $22K. Still, Jerry should be ashamed for his lack on knowledge on this issue. During his radio interview, it was obvious that he had no idea how much the average home appraisal had increased in recent years. When discussing the 32% increase in Friendswood appraisals that Dan Patrick referred to, he kept asking, “Does that include new homes?” Apparently he thought that the 32% increase was the City’s total property tax revenues, not the increase in appraisal averages. Jerry also claimed that he didn’t know what his own home was appraised at. How can you consider such important issues as appraisal caps if you have no idea what is going on with your own home, neighborhood, and city?
The fact remains that a reduced appraisal cap is a good idea. But calling this group cheaters is not fair.
Randy Alexander,
Dan and Edd have repeatedly said that the numbers are what they are and have invited a response from these officials whose numbers are in question. If they choose not to accept the opportunity to dispute the implications the numbers bring about, then the implication has to stand. Let me say that another way. The numbers speak for themselves Randy. Regardless of the reason these values are what they are, it is apparent that these elected officials are not sharing the same increasing burden being imposed on their electorate. Even if there is a great reason why their numbers are not going up at the same rate, I can’t see any way that it is not completely hypocritical for them to send the city manager to testify before the legislature that the problem is not a big deal.
I wrote a very detailed comment that Jim Grantham responded to, where I compared the appraisals in question to the average values within those subdivisions. I can’t find it on the website now, so it may have been taken down.
(BENZION INTERJECTS: It wasn’t taken down, we just have a rotating limit on the number of comments that stay in this scrollbox at any given time. The goal is to keep the comments "fresh", but maybe we need to consider expanding the number; this is a "improve it as it happens type project.)
While you are correct that in some cases there are mitigating issues such as flooding, and in at least one case, the overall subdivision increase was low; in EVERY case, the appraisals I looked at were below the neighborhood average value, despite all but one of the homes being significantly larger and situated on lots that were much larger than the subdivision average sizes. Knowing that 4 of the 6 council members have a background in real estate, I find it impossible to believe that they are buying real estate that will decrease in value or is somehow worth less than the properties around it. In the case of Laura Ewing, one of her neighbors claimed that their home flooded, yet their appraised value went up, while Ms. Ewing’s house did not flood, and their value has since gone down. So those factors don’t always affect the values the way you would think.
No one has implied that they are cheating. What has been exposed is the unfairness of the system. The Friendswood City Officials just provide the ultimate example of how unequitable the current system is. If Ron Cox and his band hypocrits feel that they have been unfairly accused, living in a free and open society they have the opportunity to rebutt their accusers and set the record straight for all to see.
Sincerely,
Jack Henderson
Houston, TX
Dear Jack:
You incorrectly state that “no one has implied that they are cheating.” But then you state that if council feels they have been “unfairly accused”, they should set the record straight. “Unfairly accused” of what? Accused of tax cheating, that’s what. Statements that these members bought the only homes in Friendswood that didn’t see any appreciation are not accurate and directly imply that they are cheating.
The fact is that these people have used the system just like you and I can to try and keep their appraisals low. I don’t see that their appraisals are out of line with their closeset neighbors. Admittedly I didn’t look at Laura Ewing’s because I don’t know her husbands name. But she was only elected in 2003, so I don’t see how her position helped her in 2001 and 2002. I have successfully protested my taxes twice in the past five years. It’s not that hard to get your valuation rolled back. And I noticed that my Dad’s has not increased in four years. So he must be cheating too.
That doesn’t mean I am happy with Council’s stance on the appraisal cap - far from it. As I said, the mayor and his five cronies don’t seem to care what we think. The taxpayers must send a strong message to them that we don’t appreciate their support of higher tax increases. Two council members, David Smith and Mel Measeles, are up for reelection in May. The best way to make our opinions known to them is to show up at the voting booth on May 15.
Correction - The Councilmembers up for reelection in May are Jerry Ericsson and Shannon Kimmel. Shannon is not one of the mayor’s supporters, so I certainly will vote for him. He has helped us get a fair hearing regarding playing time at the city’s sports fields as well. Kimmel and Goza seem to be the only ones that ever go against the mayor.
Ericsson should be voted out simply for his ignorance on the tax appraisal issue. Just my opinion.
I new something was amiss when you said City Manager Ron Cox’s property taxes haven’t gone up in 3 years. I am a friend of their family and knew they had just moved into a new house late last year (until that time they had been renting a house on the same street). I checked the galvestoncad.org website and apparantly the info given may be the lot’s history, NOT OWNER HISTORY. To double check this I looked up my mom’s house in Friendswood, in which she had just moved into last year. Sure enough same thing. I still find it deplorable he went to argue against the increase caps, though, but I will have to ask him his side on that, I guess. Thanks.