County, appraisal district explore merger

LA MARQUE — Galveston County Tax Assessor-Collector Cheryl Johnson is floating the idea of the county’s appraisal district merging with her office to save money and “make the property appraisal process more transparent and accountable.”

But there’s some concern among area taxing entities that a merger could be seen as letting the fox guard the chicken coop.

Johnson will outline her proposal during a workshop of the appraisal district board this afternoon.

“This is a proposal to save money,” Johnson said. “It’s not a power grab by me. It’s about cost savings and better utilization of staff.”

Johnson, who under her proposal would become the chief appraiser, estimates the merger would save the appraisal district about $1 million a year. The bulk of those savings would come by transferring the appraisal district staff to the county’s health benefit plan.

Johnson’s push for the merger was to take advantage of plans for the appraisal district to move from its location on the Gulf Freeway to what will be the mid-county annex building in what was a former Walmart store near Mall of the Mainland in Texas City.

“We have been talking about this behind the scenes for two years — now it’s time to discuss this in the open and decide if this is something we really want to pursue,” Johnson said. “It makes no sense not to at least consider it.”

Johnson suggested the move also would make the appraisal district “more accountable” to the voters.

The tax assessor should be prepared for a chilly reception to the idea, however. Members of the appraisal district board, which would have to approve any merger, are getting negative feedback from most of the county taxing entities.

The taxing entities, particularly the school districts and the county, are the ones that elect the appraisal district board members.

“I knew this was coming up; I checked with some of the school districts to try to get a feel for their view on this,” appraisal district board Chairman Gary Jones said. “I have not found one yet that supports it.”

The concern, Jones said, is that politics could find their way into the appraisal process if the operations were run by an elected official. Appraisal districts were initially created in the late 1970s, in part, to prevent an elected official from influencing appraisers to give breaks to friends, family or campaign contributors.

The appraisal districts also were created so property valuations were consistent from one taxing entity to the other within a county. Jones said that as far as savings on benefits, the appraisal district already was meeting with county officials to discuss shifting the district’s 40 to 45 employees to the county’s program that contracts the operations of two health care clinics to provide general health care needs to employees.

For Johnson, the proposal is a no-brainer when considering cost savings and more public accountability, but she said the focus of today’s meeting is to get a sense of direction from the appraisal district board members. “If they want it, then we can move forward,” she said. “If not, we can drop it.”

+++

At a glance

WHAT: Galveston Central Appraisal District board meeting

WHEN: 3:30 p.m. today

WHERE: 600 Gulf Freeway North in Texas City