Tarrant County Chief Appraiser Jeff Law wins vote of confidence

FORT WORTH (CBSNewsTexas.com) – After months of public scrutiny from elected officials and property owners, the chief appraiser for the Tarrant Appraisal District won a vote of confidence Friday from the district board of directors.

Jeff Law has improved communication with the community and with the board according to directors who voted to keep him on. 

The decision ended the possibility of another change at the top at the district. Keller, Tarrant County and other cities recalled former board chair Kathryn Wilemon in March over concerns about mistrust and transparency in district operations.  

Law acknowledged he still has work to do to gain the full confidence of the board after the 3-2 vote. Board member Rich DeOtte said his dissenting vote was due to issues continually coming up where he felt Law was taking a position against certain taxpayers.

“It’s our goal to communicate with the taxpayers, the tax entities, all the stakeholders, all the things regarding property taxes,” Law said after the decision that followed a closed door meeting. “I also want to try to inform and educate the public more about the appraisal process.”

New board chair Tony Pompa, who replaced Wilemon, said he thought the legislature’s actions to reduce property taxes also helped take some of the pressure off Law and the district.

Law and TAD faced criticism this spring when a website relaunch wasn’t able to handle a surge of traffic from taxpayers just as new valuations were released.

Last year he and another executive were suspended without pay for two weeks for the way he handled complaints filed with the state over a realtor Chandler Crouch, who helps thousands of property owners file protests for free each year.

An 11 point letter of repair the board gave Law in April directed him to fix the reputation of the district, create a culture that avoids retaliation, and to communicate in a timely manner with the public.

Property Values

Law presented final numbers for the 2023 property values at the meeting Friday, showing the value of residential properties were up 13% over 2022. That took the market value of properties in Tarrant County to $391 billion.

Nearly a third of all homeowners, more than 214,000, protested their valuations this year. TAD extended the time allowed to file a protest due to the access problems with its website. More than half of the protests filed were done using the online tool.