The summer has been very busy for the Orange County
Appraisal District in Texas, according to officials. Chief Appraiser Michael Cedars
told The Record: “The last few months we’ve mailed out the
notifications of the appraised values. They’re notified of any change, and if
so, for how much. We mail them to everybody. If the value went up last year,
taxpayers will want to catch it.”
Contrary to popular belief, Cedars said the OCAD has very
little to do with taxes. He said the district appraises the market value of
75,000 parcels in Orange County. In fact, the OCAD already has turned its attention
to the 2016 tax year.
The OCAD appraises all of the properties themselves with the
exception of industry and mineral properties. Those appraisals are handled by
the firm of Pritchard and Abbott. There are five real property appraisers and
personal property appraisers in the OCAD office. They are all licensed by the
state. Cedars said there are many offices where the appraisers don’t have the
Real Property Assessors designation.
“This year has been a
‘pretty typical’ year for protests,” Cedars said. “There have been 2,000
protests with 300 of them going before the Appraisal Review Board. The values
were certified by July 21.The taxpayer usually doesn’t know what to bring in
(for a protest),” he said. “If it’s wrong, they want it fixed. It’s easier not
to re-appraise. The state audits the property values once every other year. If
there’s over a 10 percent difference, they say we’re outside the confidence
center and it can possibly penalize a school district. That could be really bad
for them.”