Craddick calls for gubernatorial commission on appraisals

DallasBlog.com:

“Speaker Tom Craddick is calling for the creation of a gubernatorial commission on appraisal issues in Texas. Craddick first called for the commission during his speech to delegates at the Republican state convention. ‘The average person out there is seeing their appraisals going up and up, and they are leery of (promised) tax cuts because it’s just going to be (eaten up) by appraisal creep,’ Craddick told the San Antonio Express News.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

For sure, a commission is needed. But not to handicap appraisal districts more than they are already are. Appraisal districts are prevented by law from having access to all the sales data they need to set accurate appraisals. Still, they seem to be doing a reasonable job, anyway, despite the common belief that appraisals are being jacked up to raise taxes. The Dallas Central Appraisal District says appraisals increased 6%, on average, in Dallas County this year. Compare that with what's happening to sales prices. Appraisals are going up because property values go up, whether you spend money on improvements or not. There's a real estate bubble in this country. It hasn't entirely bypassed Dallas County. For most homeowners (i.e., those that don't plan on dying in their current home), that's a good thing.

The appraisers don't always get it right, house by house. But it's not because they are out of control, aggressive, arbitrary, whatever. It's because they are denied by law from getting access to all the sales data. If you want appraisal districts to do a more accurate job in every neighborhood, press legislators to give them the sales data the local appraisers need, not to put yet more artificial caps on appraisals. That will lead only to even more cock-eyed results than what people believe is happening already.