Helping Homeowners Or Political Opportunism? Forney Mayor Talks About Lawsuit Against Chief Appraiser
FORNEY, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - A day after filing a class action lawsuit on behalf of thousands of Forney homeowners, Mayor Rick Wilson addressed the matter with CBS 11 News.
Mayor Wilson, who is seeking his third term in office, said the Kaufman County Appraisal District is not only hiking appraised values of property unfairly, he suggests the Chief Appraiser is breaking state law with the rising property valuations.
Mayor Wilson said too many property owners are seeing their appraisals double in one year, and that means a growing tax burden.
"II was getting so many concerns, 'What are you going to do about these property values?' and my answer is 'the city does not have control of that. That's the appraisal district'," Mayor Wilson said. "People with houses who protested last year, did their comps, still got a bill 50 to 100 percent higher this year."
There are some who see Mayor Wilson's lawsuit as political opportunism, saying Wilson's concerns about property taxes are tied to his desire to be re-elected.
Mayor Wilson acknowledges he owes less in taxes this time on some property he owns.
He went on to explain, "There are 77,000 parcels of property on Kaufman County and the appraisal district has upped the valuations from $11 billion to $13 billion, which equates to a $2 billion increase."
