By Cheryl E. Johnson
Galveston County Tax Assessor Collector
When voters approved Proposition 4 in November, not only did they secure school property tax reductions (through increased homestead exemption, continuation of State funding of reduced school tax rates through compression, resetting of tax ceilings for seniors and the disabled and creation of a pilot program establishing a 20% “circuit breaker” or appraisal cap on all real properties valued at $5M or less) – they also approved electing three county appraisal district directors in counties of 75,000 or more. Galveston County is one of those counties!
In fact, the enabling legislation (Senate Bill 2 of the 88(2) Session), established nine member boards in those counties – continuation of five appointed (that will eventually serve 4-year terms), the elected county tax assessor collector plus three elected (also eventually serving 4-year terms). These are at-large, nonpartisan, majority vote positions and sign up begins Wednesday, January 17th and runs through Friday, February 16th at 5:00 pm for the May 4th election. Applications must be accompanied by either a $400 filing fee or 500 signatures on the appropriate petition form and are submitted to the Office of the County Judge. Write in candidates have a different application form but have until 5:00 pm February 20th to submit the proper application without the filing fee or petition requirement. Elected directors will take office July 1st and subsequent elections will be held beginning with the November 2026 general election.
In order to be eligible, you must meet the requirements of being a registered voter in Galveston County and have resided there at least two years in advance of the July 1st date to take office. Employees of taking units (unless a member of a governing body of a taxing unit) and the CAD are not eligible nor are certain others (please see the SOS Election Advisory posted on the homepage of the Tax Office at www.galcotax.com under Hot Topics).
CAD directors hire the chief appraiser, appoint the taxpayer liaison officer and agricultural board members and will also – thanks to Senate Bill 2 – appoint appraisal review board (ARB) members. They are also responsible for approving the CAD Reappraisal Plan (which will be presented late this summer).
Please, join me in serving the property owners of Galveston County in this very important position! All forms (and an extensive SOS Election Advisory as well as my summary) may be found at the www.galcotax.com website under Hot Topics on the Tax Office Homepage. Cheryl E. Johnson, PCC, CTOP Galveston County Tax Assessor Collector
