Changes in state legislation means the deadline for filing a property appraisal protest has moved up two weeks.

Wichita County property appraisal notices were sent Thursday and Friday from the Wichita Appraisal District.

Chief Appraiser Lisa Stephens-Musick said their office reviews about 80,000 property parcels each year in the county.

State House Bill 2228 changed several deadlines relating to collection of ad valorem (property) taxes.

One of these changes is the deadline to protest an appraisal, which moved up from May 31 to May 15.

Stephens-Musick said this caused her office to move up the dates they mail out appraisals, to give property owners at least 30 days from the time of notice until the protest deadline.

Property owners have the right to protest a proposed appraisal value – and each year about 2,500 do, said Stephens-Musick.

Most of these, she said, are resolved informally, or the property owner retracts the protest.  

“Protesting is a lot of times an educational experience, because people really don’t know what we do and how we do it,” she said.

According to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, if a property owner is displeased with their property appraisal, they can file a notice of protest with the appraisal review board (ARB).

An ARB is an impartial group of citizens authorized to resolve disputes between property owners and the appraisal district.

After hearing about the property from both the owner and appraisal district representative, the ARB makes an independent assessment of the property’s value.

The ARB will begin hearing protests May 15 and should complete evaluations by July 20.

Other than the deadline changes, Stephens-Musick said 2018 appraisal values are not significantly higher or lower than 2017's for most people.

In 2018, most properties will see an increase or stay the same value. Property values went down for about 3,000 properties.

Overall, properties values increased an average of two to three percent in the county, Stephens-Musick said.

The highest valuation jumps are in two areas that increased more than eight percent over 2017 values.

Bayberry Drive – a neighborhood in the southwest portion of the city – will see a value jump of 8.3 percent, and 294 properties on City View Drive will see an 8.19 percent increase.

The appraisal district is an independent entity, separate from both city and county. They were formed in the 1980s to ensure equity in school funding.

Every county in Texas has an appraisal district (except Potter and Randall counties, which share one), but they are not governed by the county.

Stephens-Musick said their 19-person staff appraises about $9 billion-worth of homes, commercial, mineral, utilities and business personal property in the county.

Appraisals in the county are done through mass appraisal, Stephens-Musick said, rather than fee appraisal.

“What we do is appraise areas, or groups of property, where a fee appraiser appraises one property at a time,” she said.

Areas, or neighborhoods, are evaluated using a cost model.

Various factors are considered when determining property value, especially for residential areas.

Values are based, in part, through comparison of like-types of properties and sales in particular areas.

“We look at neighborhoods and how homes are selling in a neighborhood. And, based on that, statistically we’re coming up with values,” she said.

Stephens-Musick said when determining value for a property, they mainly focus on what is visible from the outside.

The district uses aerial photography of properties, from which they can measure structures and gather other data.

Appraisers physically drive by and take pictures of properties every four years, so one-fourth of the properties are seen each year.

If properties are well maintained on the outside, an appraiser could assume the same for the inside – and vice versa.

Property owners should be getting their 2018 property valuation in the mail this week.

The 2018 values are online now and can be viewed at the Wichita Appraisal District website.

More information about protesting a property valuation can be found on the Texas Comptroller's website.