Hays Taxpayers Fuming Over Steep Rise In Appraisals

By Linda Morgan

I attended a meeting at St. Mary’s Church on Tuesday night, June 3. About 100 put-out citizens gathered to “vent” about their recent appraisals from Hays County. Some folks were complaining of 50%, 60%, even 200% increases in appraised values.

David Junkin (local attorney) gave advice on how best to go about filing a protest with the Appraisal District. Then Michael Hicks (whom I had not met before) talked about the bigger issue of getting something done by the State Legislature. Michael said he had "the ear" of Senator Wentworth and went on to say that Wentworth is willing to craft some sort of bill and work this issue in the 2009 session. I said blah-blah blah-blah blah-blah.

We have heard this for years (and YEARS) and what was delivered to us by the Legislature is/was a BIG joke. And, here we all sit just two short years later (after our so-called school property tax break) paying even more in property taxes. At one point in the meeting, I pointed out that there really isn't any need to reinvent the wheel and that citizens in other states (ie, Proposition 13, California) had indeed been successful at putting referendums for REAL property tax reform on their state ballots.

I asked if anyone knew how many signatures are required to get an initiative or referendum on the Texas ballot – no one knew the answer to that. So, I did some research when I got home and that is when I found the answer – it cannot be done! I followed up with a note to my friend and distribution lists the next morning to let them know what I had found (see below). I have no faith that our Legislature will deliver property tax relief to Texas citizens. Therefore, we need to deliver it to them.

But, first things first. It will be very important for Texas citizens to have I&R rights. I woke up this morning with a whole new passion – and, it’s called Initiative & Referendum Rights for Texans. We CAN get that done and then we deliver our own mandate for property tax reform to the Legislature LONG BEFORE they get off their duff and do anything meaningful. It's pathetic I tell ya, totally pathetic! I would really like more citizens to become aware of this Initiatives and Referendum for Texas movement that is gaining a groundswell of support, and would really appreciate any help in getting the word “out there."

Here is the email I distributed to many of my friends and email contacts the morning after the meeting:

During last night’s meeting of disgruntled, disenchanted, and outright angry Hays County property tax payers, I asked the question regarding how many signatures are required to place an Initiative and Referendum on the state ballot. I have researched that question and the apparent answer is that it CANNOT BE DONE. Texas DENIES its citizens the right of initiative.

I found the following website where (with a valid voter registration number) you can sign a petition that calls for voter access to binding statewide Initiatives and Referendums on constitutional amendments and state statutes and FURTHER APPRISES the Texas Legislature in the 2009 session of the urgent need to schedule an election on a constitutional amendment that would prescribe these I&R rights for the Texas voter. In addition to signing the petition, there is also a “Tell Me How I Can Help” tab at the upper right corner and at the bottom of the page. http://www.initiativefortexas.org/ I have little faith that our Legislature will ever deliver meaningful tax relief for Texas property owners.

After years and years of legislative sessions and special sessions, you can see what our state government actually delivered and touted as “school finance reform” and “property tax relief." I believe Texans will only get true property tax relief when the Texas citizens DELIVER IT to our Legislature and not vice versa. For that very reason, I am a supporter of Initiative and Referendum Rights for Texas. Please check out the website, sign it, and pass it on!

Linda Morgan retired from high-tech in Houston in 2002 and headed for the hills. She is a member of the Hays County Texas Master Naturalists Chapter through which she has learned a great deal about the conservation of our natural resources and the ever-increasing growth/development issues. Ms. Morgan is a big proponent of school finance reform and real property tax relief for Texans. She is a real estate agent and remains active in the real estate market.