Email, Marya D. Crigler, RPA, chief appraiser, Travis Central Appraisal District, Dec. 14, 2016

5:50 p.m.

At the appraisal district we do not analyze the impact of taxes,  our focus is on accurately reflecting market value in our appraisals,  and we use median appraised value in our appraisal ratio studies as a measure of our accuracy and uniformity.   For our purposes median, exactly in the middle,  is a better indicator since averages can be skewed by extreme high or low ratios.

In the required Truth-In-Taxation notices that must be published to the public,  the “average”  is the measurement standard that is used (see attached Comptroller Publication form 50-777 in the “Comparison of Proposed Levy with Last Year’s Levy on Average Residence” section), so most commonly when this matter is discussed in analyzing the impact of taxes for homeowner’s  it is based on average.

Thanks,

Marya D. Crigler, RPA

Chief Appraiser

Travis Central Appraisal District

From: Selby, Gardner (CMG-Austin)

Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2016 2:38 PM

To: Marya D. Crigler

Subject: Double checking with you

 Could you review my analysis below? It draws on our phone visit today. I hope to complete our fact check soon.

To recap, you initially provided a slightly lower average home value for the Austin district ($328,253 as of Aug. 8, 2016).

You said too that when the appraisal district analyzes the impact of taxes on typical homeowners, it uses the median value home in its calculations because that number is exactly the half point of all home appraisals; the average, you said, can be skewed by any extremely high or low values.

Next, we took the median value of homes in the Austin district as of Aug. 8, 2016--$261,487--and ran that through the district’s equation for determining how much an average homeowner pays toward recapture. Result: The median-value homeowner will be expected to pay $2,821 in M&O school taxes, of which $1,078 would be the homeowner’s share of the district’s recapture payment.

Are there any missing words including qualifiers missing in all this? Anything more to consider?

Thanks,

g.