AUSTIN, Texas — Voters selected who will oversee Travis County's property appraisal process, which was a first for several large counties across the state of Texas.
Seven candidates ran for the three spots on the Travis Central Appraisal District Board:
- Don Zimmerman
- Jett Hanna
- Shenghao “Daniel” Wang
- Jonathan Patschke
- Matt Mackowiak
- Bill May
- Dick Lavine
After the polls closed and votes were counted, Hanna won the Place 1 race with 69% of the vote, Wang won with 67% of the vote in the Place 2 race and Lavine won with 73% of the vote for Place 3.
The board doesn't appraise property or review property values, but the roles in which they are selected will give members the authority to select the people who do.
This was the first time voters had a say in who would serve on the board under a compromise made by state lawmakers after passing a sweeping property tax bill in 2023.
The author of the bill, State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), said the choosing of nonpartisan positions will hopefully allow taxpayers to be listened to.
"These people can't tell the chief appraiser how to, you know, change the value of your neighbor's home or an office building. They're they're actually prohibited from that," Bettencourt said. "But what they can do and what we want them to do is interview good appraisal review board members that listen to home and business owners."
Bettencourt added, "The complaints that we were getting from the House and the Senate is that IRB members weren't listening anymore in hearings. And in some counties they were being told not to even use calculators so it was time for a change in how they were selected."
Chief Appraiser Leana Mann with the Travis Central Appraisal District released the following statement ahead of the vote:
"I look forward to working with all of our board members, both appointed and elected, to continue to serve taxpayers by ensuring fair and accurate market values for all property in Travis County."
Saturday's voter turn out was low, sitting just above 6%.