Class highlights protest process for property tax

Editor’s Note: This story first appeared online.

On May 26, the American Legion Post 157 hosted a class that walked residents through the procedure of property tax relief via the protest process.

Michael Berlanga, CPA/LREB of ReSolutions Now and Texas True Tax, conducted the free master class to a crowd of about 11 people.

The class covered taxpayers’ right to protest their tax valuations, their right to government evidence, evidence presentation strategies for taxpayers and their right to appeal CAD ARB rulings through arbitration.

The typical timeline for the schedule of the Bandera County property tax process begins on January 1 with the effective valuation date of property. Sometime in April, property appraisal value notices are sent to taxpayers.

May 31 was the deadline to file a protest of the property’s appraised value, and starting May 17, the Appraisal Review Board (ARB) began hearings.

Berlanga emphasized the effective valuation date as being precise – the amount that the CAD values a property on January 1 is not determined by the value on a day before or a day after.

“If a home burns down on New Year’s Eve, all that is left is land and a slab on January 1,” said Berlanga.

Berlanga explained, “In Texas, 80 percent of the taxpayers do not protest their property value. That is a record low. You ask yourself, well, why is that?”

He said most appraisal value statements show language in more than one place that relay a targeted message; language such as “This is not a tax statement,” or “This is not a bill,” or “Do not pay from this notice.”

As a result, taxpayers believe that they don’t have to deal with the notice, so they likely toss it aside for later attention, according to Berlanga.

Per Berlanga, last year in Bandera, like many counties, of the approximate 10 to 20 percent of protests filed from over 36,000 accounts, only two to three arbitrations were filed.

“This is statistically impossible to comprehend for me when I realized that the ARB training did not include any real estate knowledge, unlike those who are certified as Arbitrators” added Berlanga. When filing the protest, Berlanga pointedly suggested that evidence of value be requested. Since the Bandera CAD form does not include a box to request evidence, he said to make sure to check off the other box, then write in Provide CAD evidence.

“It seems the odds are stacked against us here but by law, CAD’s must provide evidence when requested.” said Berlanga. He also recommended that the notice be emailed, rather than efiled into a portal, stressing that person-toperson communication is optimal over property-to-property.

Berlanga discussed CADs and why their method of mass appraisals are a cause for protests.

In Bandera County specifically, there are approximately 36,000 property accounts. The Bandera CAD has six appraisers (four field, one assistant and one chief appraiser), equating to to 6,000 properties per appraiser, an impossible workload to appraise property individually. Therefore, the appraisers use the mass appraisal method, according to Berlanga.

“This standard methodology employs just common data, allowing for statistical data that lead to broad miscalculations and lack the nuanced characteristics and conditions of individual land and property appraisals,” he said. “According to one Texas-based valuation firm, the mass appraisal methodology is a major reason that Texas County property appraisals are overvalued.”

San Antonio born, raised and educated, Berlanga offered a free property seminar in Bexar County in 2016, attracting over 300 people.

“Since then I realized, without a profit motivation, the opportunity to inform, entertain, and inspire taxpayers to use their God given and State-legislated rights to lower value and save taxes was very fulfilling in serving the community while sharing the authority found in scripture (pay to Caesar what is Caesar, and God what is God’s…).” said Berlanga.

Having completed a Masters in Accounting with a Concentration in Income Tax, Berlanga is dual licensed as a CPA and Real Estate Broker for over 30 years. To further his knowledge, he took courses required of the Appraisal Review Board Panels and Property Tax Arbitrator courses. He has been recognized as a property tax expert by the Atascosa County Commissioner’s Court and the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Berlanga has filed with the Secretary of State to be an Independent Candidate for Comptroller, which, he says, has revealed the limitations and constraints of progress by the two party system that doesn’t currently embrace independent thoughts or solutions to common problems demanding relief and reform.

Berlanga shared, “For now, I can offer ways to find relief. My long term vision is to restore the State to the duty of the Legislature in funding an efficient system of public education as outlined in Article 7 of the Constitution. To those communities that can gather audiences through their Chambers, Churches, Rotary Groups or Boards of Realtors, I am open to returning and further explaining the right to appeal the rulings of County Appraisal Review Boards through Arbitration.”

Berlanga’s master class offered a comprehensive, step-bystep, overall view of the entire protest process, which included prospective psychological aspects and dynamics that are inherent between the taxpaying protestor and the board members during the hierarchy or hearings. A resonating slogan from his class is to Stop Tax Abuse. Get relief. Tax avoidance is not tax evasion.

To contact Michael Berlanga, email him michael@re-now.net or call 210-273-1177