The chairman of the board from Pro Tax of the Texas-based Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD), which settles disputes over property tax appraisals, has agreed to reschedule hearings after getting pictures that showed review board members sleeping during protest hearings, according to Austin, Texas-based TV station KXAN (Channel 36)
Pro Tax says its agents took pictures of Appraisal Review Board (ARB) members sleeping during two separate hearings in November, according to the complaint.
“One of them had to be awakened when the motion (to vote) was made by another member of the panel,” said Bill Aleshire, an attorney representing Pro Tax and another firm in an unrelated lawsuit against the TCAD and the ARB, to the TV station.
The situation stems from previous incidents involving Pro Tax. Aleshire says TCAD and ARB are retaliating against Pro Tax agents for their employer’s lawsuit. In October, Pro Tax and another firm sued TCAD and ARB, alleging the two bodies are working together illegally.
The Texas Tax Code requires appraisal districts be separate from the review boards that settle disputes between taxpayers and TCAD. The lawsuit claims TCAD illegally controlling the schedule for protest hearings is and deliberately over-scheduling Pro Tax agents. The lawsuit claims one agent was scheduled for more than 80 hearings in one day, and the board dismissed protests when the agent couldn’t make it.
ARB Chairperson Betty Thompson, who provided a copy of her letter responding to the Pro Tax complaint, wrote: “I agree sleeping during a hearing is not acceptable behavior.”
Thompson also said the pictures “do not clearly depict whether a hearing is in progress or whether the panel is on a break” but nonetheless, she has agreed to reschedule the hearings from the day the pictures were said to have been taken.