CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — Early voting is underway in Nueces County to elect three new members of the county's Appraisal District Board.
Under property tax reforms that passed last November, a new state law requires an appraisal district in a county with a population of 75,000 or more people to have a board of nine directors.
This will be the first time Nueces County voters will have a say in who sits on the board.
"I want to make sure that everyone understands that this is not the Appraisal Review Board that will review your protest," Nueces County Tax Assessor/Collector, Kevin Kieschnick said.
He clarified that the Board of Directors do not appraise properties. Instead, they manage how the Appraisal District is operated through hiring and firing of the Deputy Chief Appraiser, Ronnie Canales, the county's budget, legal operations and logistics.
“They are there just to handle the functions and the management of the Appraisal District," Kieschnick said.
Currently, there are 11 at-large candidates on the Nueces County Appraisal District Board of Directors voting ballot. Within the law, five of the directors are appointed, three are elected by voters and Kieschnick will also serve on the board starting July 1.
“Also under that statue, the Tax Assessor/Collector becomes a fourth voting member of that board as part of the legislation,” Keischnick said.
He predicted that this election could have a low voter turnout due to the lack of information provided to the community. He also alerted that electing new board members will take more money out of taxpayer’s pockets.
“It’s not a lot of information out there and it has also never happened before," Kieschnick said. "So you’re going to end up with a run-off [election]. Then we’re going to have a county-wide election. That costs money and guess who’s going to have to pay for that, the tax payers do.”
However, Kieschnick still encourages people to get out and vote.
Early voting end April 30. and Election Day is May 4. Visit the Nueces County Clerk's website for voting locations and times.
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