AUSTIN—Mike Collier, Democratic nominee in the comptroller race, is again accusing his Republican opponent, Sen. Glenn Hegar, of being beholden to special interests because of a bill that was bottled up in the Senate committee Hegar headed.
Mike Collier
Hegar’s campaign says the accusation is absurd.
The bill aimed to crack down on undervalued commercial properties and the appraisal appeal process, and was opposed by groups that have contributed nearly $200,000 to Hegar’s political campaigns.
“Texans need an independent watchdog as Comptroller, not another career politician who is a lobbyist’s lapdog,” Collier said.
Hegar’s campaign brushed the attack off as election-season mudslinging.
“This is more of the same from our opponent’s failing, negative campaign as he continues to implode,” said David White, campaign manager for Glenn Hegar.
Glenn Hegar
The most recent campaign buzz stems from a 2013 proposed bill to address the appraisal appeals system.
Commercial property owners frequently protest their building’s assessed value and sue appraisal districts in an attempt to lower that figure—it’s an option few residential homeowners take because lawyer fees can be costly.
Dick Lavine, a fiscal analyst for the Center for Public Policy Priorities, said appraisal districts are often quick to settle because they feel that commercial property owners are not required to provide substantial evidence of inequity. Also, the appraisal district picks up the legal fees if the court rules that the property value is lower than the original assessment.
“Appraisal districts felt like plaintiffs [commercial property owners] were cherry picking what properties were comparable.
There might be 60 similar buildings and they would pick 5 of the lowest valued buildings and say ‘There you are,’” Lavine said.
The bill, authored by Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, would have tightened the definition of “comparable” for commercial properties valued at over $1 million, using language similar to that which appraisal districts use to assess homes. It would have increased the number of comparables that appealing property owners must provide as evidence for inequity in hearings.
The nitty gritty on the bill
Davis filed the bill Mar. 7. It was referred to the senate finance committee Mar. 13 and was then referred to the finance subcommittee on fiscal matters on Mar. 18. As chairman of that panel, Hegar had the authority to schedule hearings for proposed bills. Hegar scheduled the bill for an Apr. 18 hearing.
The subcommittee met eight times between Mar. 18 and Apr. 18.
According to hearing witness lists, 13 groups registered in support of the bill, including the Texas Association of Appraisal Districts, the Texas Association of School Boards, Texas Conference of Urban Counties and a number of individual appraisal districts.
Representatives from nine groups registered against the bill, though only an attorney for the Texas Association of Realtors testified. Groups opposed to the bill included the Texas Association of Realtors, the Texas Apartment Association, the Texas Association of Manufacturers, the Texas Chemical Council and the Texas Oil & Gas Association
The subcommittee on fiscal matters did not vote on the bill.
The comptroller’s race
In a new press release, Collier slams Hegar for the death of the bill, calling it a result of money from special interests. It’s the second time it has come up in the campaign. The bill would have made the appraisal process more fair to residential property owners but it didn’t make it through committee because Hegar sided with lobbyists, he said.
“The situation has gotten out of hand and Hegar’s record shows he has no interest in fixing our broken property tax system,” he said.
Since 2006, Hegar has received $197,500 in campaign contributions from the groups that opposed the appraisal bill, campaign reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission show.
Hegar’s campaign said Collier was playing politics and called it a “ridiculous attack.”