Why are you voting on appraisal district board members in May?
You're going back to the polls in less than two months to vote on elected positions Texas voters agreed to in the fine print of the property tax proposition Republicans brought forward last year.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to show there will be 13 members of the board.
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- You're going back to the polls in less than two months to vote on elected positions Texas voters agreed to in the fine print of the property tax proposition Republicans brought forward last year.
Proposition 4 switched up who sits on county appraisal district boards in Texas' larger counties. You'll vote on three additional members. That's a first. It will bring the total number of board members in Travis County to 13. That is until 2025, when there will be nine.
Simply, appraisal districts determine how valuable your property is, and therefore how much you've got to pay in respective taxes. If you rent, the trickle-down effect could be how much you fork over every month, lawmakers argued during the session.
The board members you're voting on do not appraise property or review property values, but they do pick the chief appraiser and appraisal review board members.
"At the end of the day, it's not really going to change the process or the procedure. It's just going to have that layer of accountability. But with that layer of accountability comes the cost of running in the election," said Brian Smith, a professor of political science at St. Edward's University.
The Travis County Central Appraisal District said it's budgeted roughly $2 million for the election. They'll work with the Travis County Clerk to get it done.
"Turnout is going to be exceedingly low because it's not going to be a central election and voters minds. And it's not at a time when people usually think about politics. So if we're lucky to get 5 or 6%, then we could probably say it was a very high turnout election," Smith said.
The following are the candidates in Travis County. Some have officials websites, which have been linked, others do not.
Place 1
Don Zimmerman
Jett Hanna
Place 2
Shenghao “Daniel” Wang
Jonathan Patschke
Matt Mackowiak
Place 3
Bill May
Dick Lavine
Election Day is May 4, a Saturday. You've got until April 4 to register to vote.