Tarrant Appraisal District has a new chief appraiser
FORT WORTH, Texas - There is a new man in charge of the office that sets property values and schedules protests for homeowners in Tarrant County.
Joe Don Bobbitt made it clear his first priority is to restore public trust in the appraisal office.
The end of the year marks a new beginning of sorts for Tarrant County property owners, as the Tarrant Appraisal District has a new chief appraiser, who almost immediately talked about restoring public trust.
"I’m excited to be here, and hopefully we can work together and get this in a little better shape and get the public to respect us a little more than they have in the past," Bobbitt said.
Bobbitt’s challenge will be to steady what has been perceived as an unstable board amid several public controversies, including severe criticism with questionable inflated home values, a scandal relating to alleged personal vendettas of TAD employees in response to realtor Chandler Crouch, who – at no cost– helps thousands of homeowners protest their values.
There was also a recent software security breach and the demand from county commissioners and several cities for Bobbitt’s predecessor to resign.
Commissioners vote 'no confidence' in Tarrant Appraisal District chief
The court’s action underscores a wave of community pressure, including a joint letter from the cities of Keller, Southlake and Colleyville to the appraisal district demanding that Jeff Law be fired.
"My hope is that the new chief appraiser is successful. My hope is that the new board is going to be successful, and that they start a new trend of being transparent and honest," Crouch said.
Three new board members will join the district in January.
Outgoing member Tony Pompa said timing was the main issue for moving ahead with selecting a new chief appraiser, rather than waiting for the new board make-up.
"Certainly the thought of not having a chief appraiser until March-April, was not something we were willing to consider. At the end, that was the biggest decision, we didn’t want to leave the chief appraiser seat open for that long of a time," he said.
"Just because I’m here doesn’t mean we are automatically going to be trusted, so it’s going to take time for us to show people that we mean it," Bobbitt said.