Mark ?'?z?zr'rzatzr
County Judge Dianna Martinez

Of?ce Coordinator
County 0f Galveston Linda Bilotta 

Senior Executive Assistant

Zach Davidson
Communications Director

Galveston County Courthouse
722 Moody Avenue, Galveston, Texas 77550

 

May 5th, 2020

Of?ce of the Texas Governor
PO. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711

Dear Governor Abbott,

Thank you for your leadership during this COVID-19 Pandemic and the assistance your of?ce
has provided to our county during this disaster. Under the current economic circumstances,
driven by the pandemic, I am requesting that you suspend the 2020 property reappraisals in
Galveston County and freeze the appraisals at the 2019 values. The system for Texas taxpayers
to contest their 2020 property appraisals creates an unfair burden on the taxpayer, requiring
signi?cant investments of time and resources.

Please accept this as an of?cial request under the following statue granting you such authority:

Tex. Gov?t Code Sec. 413.016. SUSPENSION OF CERTAIN LAWS AND

RULES. The governor may suspend the provisions of any regulatory statute
prescribing the procedures for conduct of state business or the orders or rules of a state
agency if strict compliance with the provisions, orders, or rules would in any way
prevent, hinder, or delay necessary action in coping with a disaster.

On request of a political subdivision, the governor may waive or suspend a deadline
imposed by a statute or the orders or rules of a state agency on the political subdivision,
including a deadline relating to a budget or ad valorem tax, if the waiver or suspension is
reasonably necessary to cope with a disaster.

Widespread increases in appraised taxpayers property values are based on January 1, 2020,
which was before the drastic disruptions in property values due to the 9 pandemic. The
related economic problems of widespread massive unemployment. loss in wages due to sickness
with and the crash in oil prices are an all-too-real component of this disaster. Asking
Texans to pay more in property taxes this year based on pre-disaster property values would
?prevent, hinder, or delay necessary action in coping with a disaster.? Texans need the
government robust economic recovery, and sending taxpayers a bigger
bill does the opposite.

409-766-2244 - 281-316-8300 Ext. 2244 - Fax 409?765-2915

Therefore, under the authority reference above, as the Galveston County Judge, I request that

you freeze Galveston County property assessments at 2019 values and suspend the following
statutes:

Tex. Tax Code Sec. 23.01. APPRAISALS GENERALLY. Except as otherwise

provided by this chapter, all taxable preperty is appraised at its market value as of
January 1; AND

Tex. Tax Code Sec 25.18. Each appraisal office shall implement the plan for periodic
reappraisal of property approved by the board of directors under Section 

The plan shall provide for the following reappraisal activities for all real and personal
property in the district at least once every three years.

Again, I appreciate all of the hard work you and your team are doing for Texas and hope that you
can extend this relief to Galveston County taxpayers. This would be momumental in limiting the
?nancial burden of property tax appraisals on Galveston County and Texas residents.

Respect?illy,

Mark Henry 
County Judge

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