Local schools face may lose $280k in funds

Donley County schools could lose more than a quarter million dollars in state funding if appeals of state property valuations are not successful.

According to Clarendon CISD Superintendent Monty Hysinger, the State Comptroller’s office annually reviews property valuations in every school district to determine if local efforts are doing enough to bring in tax dollars.

“There are two tiers of state funding,” Hysinger said. “Tier One is a fixed amount, and Tier Two is based on local effort through property taxes.”

If the local property valuations are within five percent of the state valuation, the state will proceed with funding using the local numbers. If not, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) provides funding using the state figures. In a nutshell, if TEA uses higher state numbers, local schools lose money.

Paula Lowrie heads the Donley County Appraisal District, which does the appraisals for the Clarendon school district and that part of the Hedley school district which lies in Donley County. She says this year the state valued properties in the Clarendon district more than $4.5 million higher than the local values. In the Hedley district the difference was more than $1 million.

In Hedley, those higher numbers mean the school could lose $80,000 or more in state funds for the next school year. In Clarendon, that amount could be a loss of $200,000.

“[The comptroller’s office] is influenced by statewide economic factors,” Lowrie said of the state’s valuations. “This happens everywhere in the state. It’s rare that the state ever appraises lower than the local appraisal.”

Judging local property values from the state’s capital doesn’t necessarily provide an accurate assessment.

“Those people are sitting in Austin and don’t realize land isn’t as high here,” Hedley Superintendent Bryan Hill said.

To make their appraisal, the state takes a random sampling of property sales, Lowrie said. But sometimes the state may not have all the information. In an appeal, local officials will look to see if a sale included personal property, farm equipment, or anything that might have inflated the sale price.

Both local school districts are appealing the comptroller’s appraisal, and both are seeking the cooperation of local property owners.

The Clarendon school has hired the law firm of Perdue, Brandon, Fielder, Collins & Mott, L.L.P. to represent its interests in an appeal to the comptroller. Representatives of that firm will review property sales in Donley County to try to show that the comptroller’s office has valued local real estate too high, and to that end they may be contacting local people who bought or sold property in the school district in the last year.

Clarendon CISD has used this law firm before, and Hysinger says they have a good track record of helping school districts because some of their people used to work for the comptroller.

“We just want people to know that if they are contacted by someone claiming to represent the school, it is legitimate,” Hysinger said. “This won’t affect their local taxes at all; it will just help us with the appeal.”

If people don’t want to talk to the attorneys, they can call the school to verify what’s going on, he said.

“I’d just hate to see us lose this money for our kids,” he said.

Hill said his school will probably be making some similar phone calls to people in that district, and Hedley faces the added burden of appealing valuations in two counties. Approximately one-third of the Hedley district lies in Collingsworth County, Hill said.

Hedley hasn’t hired a law firm to represent it. Their appeal will be handled in house and with the assistance of the local appraisal district.

Both superintendents say their schools have had to appeal the state valuations for the last several years.

The appeals should be filed this month. If the comptroller doesn’t make a correction, then the school’s can appeal to a court of law in May.

For more information about the appeals process, Hysinger encourages people to contact him at 874-2062.