Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 8
Number 8 is consider and take appropriate action on authorizing the travis central appraise will district to reapraise property with fire damage located in areas declared to be a natural disaster area by the governor that occurred in Travis County due to wildfires on the following dates: a, September 2011, the most recent wildfires, and we went back and picked up b, pinnacle fire, April 17, 2011.
and I guess the reasoning there is there were homes and property destroyed as a result of wildfires in both situations, so fairness says we ought to cover both.
>> that's correct.
leroy nellis, planning and budget.
I have with me elliott beck from the county attorney's office and renee beck from the tax department.
just as kind of a quick overview, patrick brown did send me an email back on the 12th of September based upon an inquiry by pete baldwin from our emergency services about the possibility of doing a reappraisal on those homes that have been damaged by the wildfires.
and he did and I submitted it as backup give us a copy of the code 23.02 that essentially says that if in fact the Commissioners court request that the chief appraiser reapraises properties damaged, that he would have the authority to go back and reapraise those properties.
and he said he was willing to do that.
the code section does indicate that the governing body that requests such reappraisal could be asked to come up with the funds to cover the cost of doing the reappraisal.
it shouldn't be substantial in the amount it would take.
my understanding is t cad does have a list or will be getting a list of those properties damaged so the property owner would not be required to do any type of application to have their reaparasail.
that it would -- it would happen automatically upon the Commissioners court making a formal request, which I would submit to the central appraisal district with a copy of the vote from the minutes.
that's kind of the background on this.
legal out, did you want to follow up on anything?
>> just to mention that the governor has declared -- excuse me, the governor has declared this area as a natural disaster area and the governor's office has delineated which properties are covered by the disaster area and that's what your motion would be for is just to say we follow that.
now, if the governor's declaration matches the property description that are given by the governor's office.
>> elliott, the Pflugerville homes were not included in the maps.
are they included in your good evening today?
>> if the governor's declaration covered that, yes.
>> so we are limit to areas declared to be a natural disaster area by the governor as the agenda item says.
>> you cannot trigger the reappraisal unless you have a actual declaration by the governor that this particular area is a natural disaster area.
>> miss decker, any additional comments?
>> we're working closely with the appraisal district and we'll be able handle whatever the court says to do.
>> Commissioner Huber.
>> the governor's declaration, does that describe a degree graphic area and all properties in there would be included, even if it was just raw land in western Travis County that might have been affected by the spicewood fire?
>> you recallly the declarations are stated in a general way and I haven't seen -- you do have a statement in here from the governor's office saying that -- it's not in here, but this -- this one is declaring the entire state.
but you would have to look at the actual language of the declaration dealing with their being a natural disaster.
and I would think that if -- that the wording would just say Travis County in general.
any wildfires we had in Travis County should be covered.
>> my only request is to make sure that the Pflugerville area isn't overlooked since there were two fires that same day that were the first fires that occurred that day.
we want to make sure that community is included as well as I believe there were fires down around burleson road as well.
so I would just like to make sure that that was an historic day of naturally occurring fire throughout the county and I just wanted to make sure we were complete.
>> mr. Baldwin.
>> I was going to say the original -- pete baldwin, emergency management coordinator.
the emergency disaster declaration filed by the governor was back in December of 2010.
it included -- I'm not sure on the numbers, but well in 200 counties.
>> 254.
>> 254.
so as time went on, he kept renewing that disaster declaration every 90 days.
so at the point in time of the December 4th fires, we were, and Travis County is named in there as covered under the disaster declaration issued by the state.
and then we issued a local disaster declaration shortly thereafter.
so little my understanding and we will double-check, but the Pflugerville fires should be covered under.
>> how can we make sure of that?
because if we're looking at a list that tcad is supposed to be supplied with to reapraise these properties, they will have to go on what's provided.
in other words, because there were two homes that were just gutted.
I had a chance to see those homes up in Pflugerville.
and I mean they were just devastated, devastation characteristics.
and I want to make sure that whatever list is provided to tcad is the list of the ones that should be covered as far as reappraisal.
so how do we know that will actually take place because there seems to be a question or some -- a situation where we may not be sure that the ones that have been affected will be reappraised.
and especially if we have to go on the list.
>> Commissioner Davis, I think the September 1st declaration by governor perry is all that is needed here where he's basically saying that the entire state, all 254 counties, are within this area.
there is a paragraph in there that basically is saying this means that all entities, public and private, can do whatever they need to do to implement that.
and I take that to mean that that gives y'all authority under 23.02 to then ask our appraisal district to reapraise whatever you think has been hit by a fire in this county.
that's Pflugerville, spicewood.
>> we should probably cross check that list with fema registrants.
>> as far as the Pflugerville properties, I have those addresses and if I need to I will personally call them.
but we have maps that have been generated based upon ground truth that has addresses which we can and I have provided to the Travis County appraisal district.
we'll make sure everyone is included, yes, sir.
>> and, of course, the appraisal district is going to be able to take these maps like he is talking about and be able to know whether something was hit by the fire or not.
but I go back the important part is the governor's declaration, but I think it's so blanket covering the whole state that everything else falls into place.
it certainly includes with Travis County and with the bollin map I think you are set to go.
>> that's why I move approval of aab.
a and b.
discussion of the motion?
mr. Nellis, new and different.
>> one note, the tax department has requested approval to send out the original tax bills pending the reappraisal with a note from the tax assessor explaining that those individual properties will be reappraised and will be reissued.
so dusty had asked that we get the court to approve that in the motion.
>> okay.
that included in your motion, judge?
>> well, I don't know that this language is broad enough to do that.
is it?
I'm not sure I understand exactly what your request is anyway.
>> the request is for the -- number one, to allow the tax department to issue the original tax bills when they mail out the tax bills.
and the second is to notify that property owner that their property is currently under reappraisal.
>> do we need to approve that?
that doesn't cover that.
>> well, it does give you the flexibility that you can take appropriate action regarding that with the reappraisal and he's just asking you to allow the tax office to send a notice to that effect.
I think you could probably -- and you can always repost for next week.
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> actually I raised my hand because I have a question about the motion.
sorry.
but we --
>> that passes by unanimous vote.
>> I actually wasn't raising my hand to vote.
you had asked if there were comments.
>> the vote was 4-1.
>> there are cost for making the reappraisal.
and the county bears the cost.
do we have an estimate of the cost?
>> I do not have a dollar amount.
of the cost.
to reapraise.
I would assume that -- I don't know how many homes do you think there are?
>> total there's less than 100 homes in all three fires.
>> when you get the coslet us know.
>> any other taxing entities that are considering this because that tax is shared if other taxing entities that cover the same home.
>> I'm not aware, I just don't know if the other taxing entities are considering it, but I will be in contact with those other entities.
>> thank you.
>> so we need this back on, let us know.
>> and I am in --
>> number 9.
>> I agree with the motion.
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