Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Property Value Appeal topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Ysleta ISD board approves contract for state property-value appeal services
Summary
Ysleta ISD trustees approved awarding Solicitation No. 225001 (state property-value appeal services), a contingency-fee arrangement intended to pursue additional state aid; staff said the firm would be paid about 10% of any extra state aid recovered and 5% for continuing audits of prior years.
Ysleta Independent School District trustees voted Oct. 16 to award Solicitation No. 225001 — a contract for state property-value study appeal services — approving a contingency arrangement the district says will protect taxpayers by paying the firm only from additional state aid it recovers.
District staff and legal counsel explained the contract during a workshop-style review before the vote. Comptroller David Solis told the board that, under the arrangement described by staff, the selected firm would receive no fee if an appeal does not generate additional state funding for the district. "No appeal, no win, no additional revenue to the district, no fee to the law firm," staff said. Solis also cited the most recent successful appeal, which yielded about $687,000 in additional state aid.
Board members and outside counsel described property-value study appeals as a technical, niche area requiring appraisal expertise. Attorney Anthony Safi told the board such appeals typically require either in-house appraisal expertise or retained appraisal experts and that a law firm with statewide experience can achieve economies of scale that internal counsel could not. The district said in-house counsel would be unduly burdened by the specialist work.
Trustees asked staff for clearer reporting on appeal outcomes and timing. Staff said the state’s preliminary property-value study is typically released around January, with near-final certification later in the year, and agreed to provide a board workshop or report after state certification so trustees can see the exact dollar difference an appeal generated.
Under the terms described in the meeting, the firm would receive approximately 10% of additional state aid recovered by a successful appeal and 5% for continuing audits that may look back up to three years. Staff gave historical examples of prior recoveries: about $687,000 most recently, $184,000 one year, and $824,000 in 2021, noting amounts vary with the gap between state and local values.
A trustee motion to approve the award of Solicitation No. 225001 was seconded and carried unanimously. The board recorded the action as approved by all present trustees.
