Six months after the firing of the Bastrop Central Appraisal District’s top official, the department is relying on an interim chief appraiser to improve the situation, with the board reportedly struggling to find a permanent replacement.
The 28-year tenure of Chief Appraiser Mark Boehnke ended Oct. 8 after more than two hours of closed session deliberations by the five-member appraisal district board. However, since the decision, there have been few answers as to why the board chose to take the action it did.
Several forms of documentation reveals conflict between Boehnke and County Judge Paul Pape over personal and public decisions, according to the Austin American-Statesman, along with backlash from taxing entities over late notices concerning a reduction in tax rolls preceded the administrator’s termination.
One month before Boehnke’s termination, Pape clashed with the appraisal district staff when he was denied a portion of his age 65-or-older homestead exemption, which freezes the tax rate on a property once the owner turns 65. An appraisal district staff member who went out to Pape’s property, misidentified a structure used as a guest house for a commercial rental property, according to appraisal district documents.
According to the Austin American-Statesman, Pape used his personal email account to send a message to board members Elaine Seidel and Bryan Bracewell expressing discontent about his homestead denial.
Originally the board planned to appoint a permanent chief appraiser by January, but decided to contract with Richard Petree as an interim head of the district until the tax rolls are certified in July.