VOL 8 No. 22
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FORT BEND FAIR. BALANCED. INFORMATIVE. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2015
P. O.BOX 623, SUGAR LAND, TX 77487-0623
Official newspaper of Fort Bend County, Missouri City & Sugar Land
Local student earns perfect score on ACT Sashank Krothapally, a senior at Dulles High School, earned a perfect score 36 on the ACT college admission and placement exam. On average, less than onetenth of one percent of all test takers earns the top score. Among ACT-tested U.S. high school graduates in class of 2014, only 1,407 out of 1.85 million students earned a composite score of 36. Sashank’s exceptional scores will provide colleges of his choice with ample evidence of his readiness for the academic rigors that lie ahead. ACT test scores are accepted by all major U.S. four-year colleges and universities. An honor student, Sashank is a member of Mu Alpha Theta math and science honor society, the Spanish Honor Society and National Honor Society.
By SESHADRI KUMAR The Fort Bend ISD administration has proposed a $580 million maintenance and operations budget for 2015-16, $102.5 million debt service budget and $26.7 million child nutrition budget. The proposed budget does not envisage any tax in crease. Last year’s M & O budget was $561 million. The budget assumes the current M & O tax rate of $1.04 cent per $100 valuation and a debt service tax rate of $0.30 Sashank Krothapally During his junior year, he per $100 valuation, making a participated in DECA and total of $1.34 per $100 valuawas a member of his school’s tennis team during his freshman and sophomore years. In his spare time, he participates in the Youth Leadership Development Program and volunteers at Methodist Hospital and the public library. By BARBARA FULENWIDER It isn’t the first time some 200 or so taxpayers showed up in mass at the Fort Bend Central Appraisal District (CAD) offices to protest the valuations on their homes. But it was the first time someone alerted a television station about the staged event. Cameras did arrive and rolled. Glen Whitehead, Fort Bend CAD chief appraiser, said everyone dispersed immediately after the television crew left and that “typically, we don’t have people call TV stations.” It happened two weeks before June 2 when hearings on protested accounts started. Culver County. He has been a district Whitehead said over the past judge since 1990. He was a few years CAD has had becounty court-at-law judge from tween 40,000 to 50,000 valu1991 to 1990 and First Assistant ations protested each year and District Attorney from 1974 to that the increases started in 1977. He has another 3 1/2 years 2010-2012 and continued to 2014 when the number reached in his current term. Following his resignation, the the current high. One reason for governor is likely to appoint his the past increases in the number successor. If the governor does of protests, Whitehead said, is not immediately appoint, the more property tax consultants regional presiding judge may are filing protests for taxpayers. The first batch of valuation ask Culver to continue for some time, until a new judge is ap- protests had to be filed by this past Monday, June 1. pointed.
Judge Culver plans to retire By SESHADRI KUMAR Fort Bend County’s 240th District Court Judge Thomas R.Culver III has announced his plans to retire effective June 30. Culver is expected to send his letter of resignation in mid-June. Culver, who has been serving the county as assistant district attorney, county-court-law judge and district judge for the last 38 years, says the time is right for him to call it a day so that he will have a flexible schedule and can spend time with his grandchildren. Culver plans to serve as a visiting senior district judge whenever assigned. Culver said it was a great honor to serve as judge and said he was very appreciative and grateful to the people of Fort Bend County who elected him 18 times, both in primary and in general elections. He had been elected unopposed all the time, except once in 2010 when he faced an opponent. Culver is the longest serving elected judge in Fort Bend
FBISD proposes $580 million budget with no increase in tax rate tion. The school district held a public hearing on the proposed budget on Monday. Two members of the spoke. They raised questions about the increase in appraised value of property by $3.7 billion and why there is no reduction on the tax rate. The board will adopt the tax rate at a later date. FBISD’s total appraised value or the tax base has increased from $30.07 billion to $33.71 billion. The appraised value has increased by 11.5 percent. The average market value
of residences increased from $221,271 to $255,547. Last year’s taxes on an average residence totalled $2,729 and this year’s taxes on the average residence is $3,035, an increase of $305, with no change in the tax rate. The district’s local revenue is estimated at $333 million and state funds will be $236 million and federal funds of $7.8 million, making a total revenue of $577 million in M & O funds. The proposed budget has general fund balance of $119.66 million and interest and sinking fund balance of $15.08 million.
The budget is based on a projected enrollment of 73,377 students. The average daily attendance is estimated at 70,956. Th budget includes an estimated 2 percent salary increase, amounting to $9 million, with salary adjustments totalling another $2.5 million. Monthly medical contribution at the rate of $482 per employee will cost the district a total of $32.95 million. The expenditure per student of the general fund works out to $7,910. Last year’s cost per student was $7,770.
Average change in property values 12 percent this year, says CAD chief If homeowners want to protest their valuations on the second corrected batch of valuations sent out, they have until June 12 to file. “It’s too early to tell if we’ll have more or fewer protests than we did last year,” Whitehead said. Even though appraisal districts throughout Texas have to appraise property at its market value, it can rise by 10 percent annually, according to state statutes. The 10 percent cap is only on homestead properties. Whitehead said the average valuation increase is 12 percent countywide. “It varies in various areas,” the chief appraiser said. Increases in Fort Bend have been as high as 20 to 25 percent. Patrick O’Connor, president of O’Connor and Associates in Houston, is in the business of filing tax protests for homeowners. He provided a data base to George Scott Reports, which says O’Connor “dramatically demonstrates” flaws in the valuation process. Scott says O’Connor has been a strong critic of Fort
Bend, Harris and Montgomery CADs because of “how they developed mathematical formulas to show they are complying with the property tax code and the state constitution.” Scott reports O’Connor saying that in the real world two homes or two businesses are rarely identical and that such differences as age, condition, remodeling, construction type and more must be adjusted to determine if the value of the homes are equal and uniformly determined. In the Scott report, O’Connor criticized the Fort Bend CAD for using a formula to make different houses appear to be equally appraised by manipulating data to create a false impression of constitutional compliance. Scott also said O’Connor filed a complaint with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation regarding such. Whitehead said O’Connor’s complaint was reviewed and “we are not violating that (Texas Constitution) at all. We don’t agree with the way O’Connor does equity He has his way of doing it and it doesn’t agree
with ours.” As for a 20 to 25 percent increase in property values over a particular year, Whitehead said, “It’s all in the market.” For instance, he said, “Katy, for the past few years, has had a really, really strong (real estate) market. Missouri City was a negative a few years ago and it has changed and is coming back up.” Whitehead said the change this year from last year was a 12 percent difference in values and that the norm has been an increase of anywhere from 8 to 16 percent over various years and various areas. He also said the state conducts annual studies on how each CAD appraises properties and looks at what properties are actually selling for. Their ratio study came up with 94 percent of value for last year, which Whitehead said doesn’t pass standards the state has adopted. “When we set values last year we thought we were at 98 percent but we ended up at 94 percent. This year based on studies we do every year, we’ll be at 96 or 97 percent of value,” the chief appraiser said.
WCJC academic recognition
Wharton County Junior College students from the Sugar Land area received recognition for excellence during the recent Academic Recognition Awards ceremony, held on the Wharton campus. Front row, left to right, are Nicole Lintz, the Outstanding Student in Office Administration; Vanessa Ingrassia, the Oustanding Student in Speech as well as the Outstanding Student in History and Geography; Matthew Burton, the Outstanding Student in English; Elaine Soliz, winner of the Success Initiatives Leadership Award; and Emmanuel Lopez, the Outstanding Student in Paralegal Studies.
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