Trustees for the Gregg County Appraisal District chose their second-in-command to succeed retiring Chief Appraiser Tom Hays, according to the Longview News-Journal.
The naming of Mary “Libby” Neely to guide the appraisals that establish values on which taxes are based came the same day trustees learned as many as 557 homestead exemptions might be on tax rolls in error. Tax attorney Jim Lambeth told the board the cases of mistaken, often-expired, homestead exemptions were identified at about the same rate as is common in all counties, about 2 percent.
“Corrections would date back several tax seasons and that homeowners conceivably could face retroactive property tax bills from years they thought were paid,” Lambeth told the newspaper. “We are working on 557 homesteads that we believe are candidates for being erroneous. We're very early in the process.”
Linebarger said letters were going out to the 557 property owners and that he'd have a better fix on how many homes were affected by mid-year. He said he hoped to close out the probe in 2018.
“We won't have complete and meaningful numbers until a later date,” he said.
Neely, who assumes supervision of 28 appraisal district employees on May 1, added that state law allows primary homeowners to retain homestead exemptions if they move somewhere else but intend to return home.
“They would live in that house if they could,” Neely said of those valid homestead exemption holders. “The penalties for inaccurately claiming a homestead exemption are not nice. Any error we find, we have to act. We don't have a choice.”
Neely, 57, has been with the appraisal district since 1996, serving as director of appraisals with oversight of daily operations in the last decade. She has 30 years of property appraisal experience.
Hays noted that Neely's diverse experience includes stints as senior business personal property appraiser, head of commercial appraisals and overseeing daily administrative functions.