A fight over property tax policy in Tarrant County is now raising deeper questions about who the appraisal district is supposed to serve, who benefits from appraisal disputes, and why some board members and a former property tax reform advocate have criticized appraisal caps and related freeze policies.
At the center of the dispute is the Tarrant Appraisal District’s approved 2025–2026 reappraisal plan. The board directed the chief appraiser not to reappraise residential property values for tax year 2025 at current property values except for new improvements and construction. The board also moved residential properties to a biennial reappraisal cycle within the limits of state law.
The plan held residential values for 2025 at 2024 final values except for properties with new construction or new improvement value. It also kept homestead caps in place, which means some appraised values can only increase 10% annually until they reach market value. The plan further says TAD would continue analyzing residential accounts and running monthly ratio studies to compare prior-year values with newly calculated values before finalizing notices.
TAD later carried out that policy by mailing postcards to many property owners whose appraised values did not change instead of traditional appraisal notices. At the time, Rick Barnes, chairman of the Tarrant Appraisal District Board of Directors, framed the move as taxpayer relief, saying, “We know property taxes are a burden for all Texans–we are happy to offer this bit of tax relief in Tarrant County.”
Barnes has continued to defend the freeze. In a later county release, Barnes said the “2024 appraisal freeze performed exactly as intended” and said updated Property Value Study ratios showed valuations remained “accurate and fair across all 17 school districts.” The release also said average taxable values rose 3% countywide and net taxable value increased from $286.5 billion in 2024 to $297.2 billion in 2025.
The board’s structure now sits at the center of the political fight. TAD says five of its nine board members are appointed by taxing units, three are elected countywide, and the county tax assessor-collector serves as an ex officio director. TAD also says the board’s duties include adopting the budget, hiring the chief appraiser, and approving the biennial reappraisal plan.
That structure has fueled an argument from property tax-relief advocates that appointed members answer more directly to taxing entities, since they’re appointed by them, while elected members and the tax assessor answer more directly to voters and taxpayers. Critics of the appointed board members argue that tension matters more when the board is deciding whether to hold down values, loosen caps, or support broader reform.
The fight has also widened beyond the board. North Texas realtor and property tax protest advocate Chandler Crouch has publicly attacked the freeze and argued that many homeowners should protest their values. Crouch also operates in the property tax protest space and directs homeowners to tools and services tied to appraisal challenges. That means he has a direct professional interest in how often values change, how notices go out, and how often homeowners challenge appraisals.
Crouch offers his appraisal protest services for “free” but solicits donations from the parties whose cases he takes on. His property tax protest service also appears connected to a broader business model built around appraisal disputes, including donation-supported protests and visibility tied to his real estate work. Reforms that reduce the number or frequency of appraisal protests could undercut that model.
Some Tarrant residents have suggested Crouch has a conflict of interest in this respect and have questioned whether his current posture is consistent with his earlier public image as a property tax reform advocate.
When reached for comment about whether Crouch believed he had a personal business conflict of interest on the appraisal freeze issue, he told DX, “There’s a huge video that I just put out about Governor Abbott’s plan to reappraise every five years. I have a similar concern about appraisal caps. I think appraisal caps have their place. It’s not something I can endorse fully or stand against fully. It’s a little bit more nuanced than that.”
Crouch also denied knowingly relying on incorrect data. “I filed an open records request to produce the values that TAD would have sent out if they would have reappraised, and they fulfilled that open records request. I since talked to the staff and verified that the data that I got was correct, and I provided that data to every board member prior to becoming public. I provided that data to the highest ranking staff at the appraisal district.”
The Dallas Express asked TAD Chief Appraiser Joe Don Bobbitt whether the data provided to Crouch came from an older system, whether it omitted homestead exemptions, and whether Crouch was ever warned about any limitations in the data. Bobbitt did not respond to requests for comment.
That conflict has become more politically significant as Gov. Greg Abbott pushes a broader statewide tax-relief agenda. Abbott’s campaign materials say his five-point proposal would impose local spending limits, require two-thirds voter approval for local property tax increases, allow rollback elections, reduce appraisals to once every five years, lower the homestead appraisal cap from 10% to 3%, expand that cap to all properties, and let voters decide whether to eliminate school district property taxes for homeowners. Abbott’s campaign says the package would give Texans “complete control over their property taxes.”
Supporters of property tax appraisal caps and less frequent appraisals argue those changes would protect homeowners from appraisal spikes and force local governments to live within tighter limits. Opponents argue the district must prioritize valuation accuracy and protect school districts and other taxing entities from instability. In Tarrant County, that split now reflects not just a policy dispute, but a governance dispute over whether appointed members and protest-oriented critics are effectively pulling in the same direction against reforms supporters say would give taxpayers more relief.
TAD’s own plan shows the district did not stop tracking the market. The document states staff would continue market analysis and bring concerning ratios to the board before finalizing values. But the political fight no longer turns only on technical appraisal procedure. It now turns on competing incentives, competing constituencies, and competing definitions of who the district is supposed to protect.
As Texas Republicans push for broader property tax relief, Tarrant County has become a local test of a larger question: when tax reform threatens the interests of taxing entities and the business built around appraisal protests, who speaks first for the taxpayer?
