Harris County Appraisal District Board of Directors met Aug. 16

Harris County Appraisal District Board of Directors met Aug. 16.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

A meeting of the Harris Central Board of Directors was held Wednesday, August 16th, 2023, at 9:30 a.m. at the HCAD offices.

Chairman Sullivan proceeded with the meeting by requesting that the employee service awards be presented by Chief Appraiser Altinger and Board member Jonathan Cowen, and once a quorum was confirmed he would call the meeting to order.

With board member Kathy Blueford Daniels joining the meeting at 9:37a.m., Chairman Sullivan called the meeting to order at 9:39 a.m. Ms. Blueford-Daniels led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Salute to the Texas Flag.

Roll Call. The presence of a quorum was established by roll call. Chairman Sullivan, Jim Robinson, Jonathan Cowen, and Kathy Blueford-Daniels were present. Board members Martina Lemond Dixon, Al Odom and Ann Harris Bennett were absent.

Chief Appraiser Roland Altinger and Tammy White-Chaffer of Olson and Olson, legal counsel, also were in attendance.

Recognition of Service Awards and Employees of the Month. Chief Appraiser Altinger and Board member Jonathan Cowen presented 10-year service awards to Darrell Brown of the Business & Industrial Property Division, and Lauren Higgins of the Review Appraisal Division.

15-year service awards were presented to Liz Hernandez of the Appraisal Operations Division, Alisha Kellum of the Communications Division, Richard Miranda of the Business & Industrial Property Division, Tonya Nguyen of the Business & Industrial Property Division, Chona Roberson of the Information Technology Division, and Kelvin Taylor of the Residential Property Division.

A 25-year service award was presented to Margarita Dozal-Deoca of the Review Appraisal Division.

A 40-year service award was presented to Carolyn Howard of the Jurisdiction Communications Division.

Employees of the Month. Chief Appraiser Roland Altinger and Board member Jonathan Cowen presented employee of the month plaques to Zachary Eaton of the Information Technology Division, Thu Ngo of the Review Appraisal Division, Pamela Tatum of the ARB Operations Division, and Ruben Vasquez of the Residential Property Division.

Comments from Members of the Public. Peter Barbaro addressed the board and provided a handout.

Consent Agenda

“All matters listed under consent agenda are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion, there will not be separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired, that item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately.”

Board member Jonathan Cowen requested to have consent agenda item d. removed and considered separately.

Mr. Cowen, seconded by Mr. Robinson, moved to approve all other items on the consent agenda. The motion carried unanimously.

a. Approval of Minutes. Reviewing and approving the minutes of the regular meeting of June 21, 2023.

b. Tax Transparency Website Renewal. Renewing payments to True Prodigy Tech Solutions in the total amount of $75,000 for tax transparency website and taxing unit portal to comply with the Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act.

c. VisiFLOW Services Renewal. Approving a one-year contract renewal with Eccentex Corp. in the amount of $150,000 for Visiflow software and services support.

d. General Liability, Property Coverage, Workers’ Compensation. This agenda item was pulled from consent and considered separately.

e. District Depository. Authorizing the extension of the District’s depository contract with Frost Bank for a period from January 1, 2024, through December 31, 2025.

f. Flu Shots. Approving seasonal flu vaccinations for HCAD staff and ARB members.

g. Appreciation Luncheons. Approving appreciation luncheons for HCAD staff and ARB members.

h. DEX Imaging Agreement. Approving a one-year contract with DEX Imaging in the amount of $101,000 for all printers and Multi-Functional Unit management.

i. InNet Technologies Services. Approving purchase of Accedian’s Cybersecurity Internal Network Detection and Response services in the amount of $150,000.

j. Financial Reports. Receiving the district’s monthly financial reports.

k. Bills and Payroll. Receiving the report on payment of bills, payroll, and transfer of funds between line items.

General Liability, Property Coverage, Workers’ Compensation. This item was moved from the consent agenda and considered separately. After presentation and discussion, a roll call vote was taken and the item passed unanimously approving renewal of general liability, property coverage, and workers’ compensation insurance through Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool in the amount of $330,614 for the period of October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024.

Board Legislative Committee. Chairman Sullivan, seconded by Mr. Robinson moved to approve creation of a legislative committee of the board whose purpose will be to exercise oversight of all legislative matters of the appraisal district. After discussions by board members an amendment to the amendment was made by Chairman Sullivan as follows:

• Create the board legislative committee.

• Duration of this committee does not expire but can be modified by a majority of the board.

• The committee will be composed of up of up to 3 board members, with the board chair or his/her designee serving as committee chair.

After a roll call vote, the motion passed with Board member Jonathan Cowen abstaining.

Committee Appointments. Chairman Sullivan, seconded by Mr. Cowen moved to amend the Board of Director’s Policy Manual to authorize the chairman to create committees. After presentation by Chairman Sullivan on this item, board members voiced several concerns, and a roll call vote was taken by the Chairman. The motion failed with board members, Mr. Cowen and Ms. Kathy Blueford-Daniels voting no and Chairman Sullivan and Board member Jim Robinson voting yes.

Board Agenda & Meetings. Chairman Sullivan, seconded by Mr. Cowen moved to amend the Board of Director’s Policy Manual to provide for the preparation of the board’s agenda by the chief appraiser and its review and modification by the chairman. After open discussions by board members, Chairman Sullivan respectfully withdrew his motion, pulling this item from the agenda.

Approve 2024 Budget. Mr. Cowen, seconded by Ms. Blueford-Daniels, moved to approve the 2024 Budget, and open the item for discussion. Chief Appraiser Altinger briefly recapped the highlights of the proposed budget for 2024 with a slide presentation which included a budget increase to the jurisdiction allocations due to the addition of the S.B.2 impact and the financing method. Mr. Robinson provided additional background information to the board from the County regarding the S.B.2. Board Elections impact. After open discussions, Mr. Robinson amended the motion to state that the budget increase of $14M would be strictly dedicated to the estimated election cost and any remaining funds, if any, would be refunded back to the taxing units. Mr. Cowen, seconded by Mr. Robinson moved to approve Resolution No. 2023-02 adopting the 2024 budget as amended and modified by the Board here today. The motion carried unanimously.

Protest and Hearings and Required Notice. Jeff Morrison, Chief of Hearings, reported on protests and hearings, including iFile and iSettle. Protests received as of this meeting for the 2023 tax year totaled 521,688 with the vast majority of them being filed electronically. The ARB records will be approved Friday with certification in the next couple of weeks. The focus now is on completing the remaining accounts and working prior year, correction, and exemption accounts.

Taxpayer Liaison Officer Report. Teresa Terry, Taxpayer Liaison Officer, provided a verbal report to the board. A written report was also provided in the board packet.

Appraisal Review Board Report. ARB Secretary, Betty Jackson, reported on the progress of hearings, attendance by members of the appraisal review board at hearings, and activities of the executive staff and the board’s attorney.

Appraisal Matters. Board member Jonathan Cowen voiced concerns on the recent HCAD errors in calculations and asked how the problem is being resolved. Chief Appraiser Altinger and Deputy Chief Appraiser Cunningham addressed the board regarding the situation and explained the issue in further detail. The main issue with the neighborhood in question was that some data received by HCAD, which was then used during valuation of the neighborhood, was later found to be invalid. Once this was discovered, staff immediately went about fixing the values on the affected properties.

Executive Session. Chairman Sullivan called the board into executive session at 11:49 a.m. for the purpose of: (a) private consultation with the board’s attorney regarding (i) pending and potential litigation, (ii) settlement of pending appeals to the State Office of Administrative Hearings, (iii) settlement of pending arbitrations under Texas Tax Code Chapter 41A, and (iv) settlement of pending litigation under Texas Tax Code Chapter 42; (b) considering the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public officer, or employee, including the duties and appointment of the chief appraiser; (c) considering the deployment, or specific occasions for implementation of security personnel or devices; (d) deliberating the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property if deliberation in an open meeting would have a detrimental effect on the position of the governmental body in negotiations with a third person, as permitted by the Open Meetings Act, Chap. 551, Government Code.

Chairman Sullivan opened the meeting at 12:00 p.m.

Roll Call. Board members Jonathan Cowen, Kathy Blueford-Daniels, and Jim Robinson were present. Ann Harris Bennett, Martina Lemond Dixon, and Al Odom were absent.

Pending Litigation. Mr. Cowen, seconded by Ms. Blueford-Daniels, moved to approve settlement of pending litigation, arbitrations, and SOAH appeals as submitted by staff. The motion carried with Chairman Sullivan abstaining. A list is attached.

Appeals Under Sec. 42.02 Tax Code. There were none.

25.25(b) Corrections report. The quarterly report of corrections was made available upon request by any board members who wanted to inspect it.

Adjournment. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the meeting adjourned at 12:01 p.m.

https://hcad.org/assets/uploads/pdf/resources/2023/Boardbook-September-20-2023-Meeting.pdf