An HISD threefer

So much HISD news, so little time...

HISD shorted out of tax revenue, state says

The Harris County Appraisal District undervalued commercial and apartment property in 2005 and 2006, shorting the Houston Independent School District millions of dollars in tax revenue, the Texas Comptroller's Office said this week.

Based on the comptroller's methodology, Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt calculated that HISD and other local governments lost out on as much as $400 million in tax revenues.

Bettencourt and HCAD officials disagree with the comptroller's findings.

[...]

The comptroller's office will begin a performance review of HCAD next month because it has under-assessed HISD's property two straight years. The appraisal district's method of assessing property in all school districts in the county will be audited.

The comptroller's office is expected to recommend steps HCAD should take to comply with the state's method of assessing property.

If HCAD fails to implement the recommendations within a year, the comptroller's office can ask the county's state district judges to appoint a special master to run the appraisal district.

Two points to make here: One is that property tax reduction is essentially a matter of religious faith for Paul Bettencourt - he's one of the leading proponents in Texas of appraisal caps. It's very difficult to read a story like this and not view it through that prism. He may be following the letter of the law, and yet somehow they always err in favor of the property owner. One can believe this is coincidental. One can also note that this serves his political ambitions quite nicely; the fact that HISD gets screwed in the process would have to be considered gravy. Bear in mind that some of the revenue school districts lose in this fashion is made up by residential property tax revenues. More money coming from commercial real estate means less would be needed from homeowners.

Point two is that Bettencourt and HCAD are hardly alone in undervaluing commercial (and high-end residential) properties. Which is why folks like State Rep. Mike Villarreal have submitted legislation in recent sessions to require sales price disclosures, which would make the real value of these properties more apparent to tax assessors. Governor Perry's task force on property tax reform merely wanted this to be voluntary. You can imagine how effective that would be. I'm thinking sort of like voluntary pollution controls.

HISD bond plan won't require tax hike, Saavedra says

Houston school district leaders said today that higher-than-expected property values mean they won't need a tax rate increase to foot the bill for the $805 million bond package that they're asking voters to approve Nov. 6.

According to figures HISD leaders received this week, property values are expected to exceed $95 billion, about $5 billion more than anticipated.

"This is really extraordinary," Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra said. "We will not even ask for one penny, not even half a penny. Zero is what we'll ask for."

The district originally had planned to increase the tax rate by 3 cents over the next two years if voters approved the bond issue, which includes plans to build 24 campuses and renovate 134 others.

I rather doubt that will make the anti-bond folks happy, but it's something. In tandem with story #1, one has to wonder - how much of that unexpected extra revenue is coming from commercial properties, and how much from residential? It would be nice to know.

And speaking of the bond...

HISD chief admits error with bond strategy

Houston school Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra admitted Wednesday that he should have sought community input on the district's $805 million bond proposal before asking trustees to place it on the Nov. 6 ballot.

"We all learn from our experiences," he said. "Most likely, in hindsight, we probably would have gone out to the community ahead of time and identified those issues that we might have anticipated might have drawn opposition, and tried to work those issues out first."

I believe the proper response here is "No $#!+, Sherlock!"

But he added that second-guessing his strategies won't help repair aging school buildings. If approved, the bond package would build 24 schools and renovate 134 others.

"If we're going to be successful and provide what's best for children, at this point, we can't do Monday morning quarterbacking," Saavedra said.

And if you fail, and thus can't try again for another five years, I'd say there will be plenty of Monday morning quarterbacking to be done. Being successful will be your only defense, I'd say. Miya has more.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 20, 2007 to Local politics