FortBendNow.com

After seeing their tax appraisals increase by as much as 2300 percent, a group of Fulshear area residents is organizing to fight what they call a property tax system that is out of control.

Calling themselves Citizens Against High Tax Appraisals, the group literally filled the Fulshear City Council Chambers to overflowing Tuesday to ask council members for their support.

FIGHTING RISING TAXES – Melisa Roberts (foreground, right), spokesperson for Citizens Against High Tax Appraisals, joins fellow property tax protesters in filling Fulshear City Council Chambers Tuesday night. The group appeared to ask the city council for help in fighting skyrocketing tax appraisals in the Fulshear Area.

Melisa Roberts spoke on behalf of the group of more than 60 residents present. She called the rise in Fulshear-area appraisals a “crisis.”

“We are facing a crisis in our city today in which many of us are at risk of losing our homes and property. In the last two years, our tax appraisals have skyrocketed,” Roberts said.

She said the dramatic rise in property appraisals began last year and has continued into this year.

“In 2008, many of us were outraged by the horrendous increases in our property values. Many of us protested and lost, while others of us found mercy,” Roberts said. “While our cries of outrage were primarily unheard, some of us thought the worst was over. With a failing economy, we were certain our values would stay the same and were even hoping to see a decrease just as many others in Fort Bend County have experienced. Unfortunately, we the people in Fulshear and the local area have been victimized by the Fort Bend County Appraisal District again.”

Roberts showed her own recent appraisal notices to illustrate the dramatic increases in appraised values in the Fulshear area.

“In 2008, I personally saw an increase of 1100 percent on my property. This year, that had increased by 2300 percent – and you heard that correctly, 2300 percent,” she told Fulshear council members. “There are hundreds of us in this community who have similar stories.”

Roberts said while Fulshear appears the hardest hit in Fort Bend County, the problem of runaway property tax appraisals can be found throughout the state and nation.  People are at risk of losing their property because they cannot pay skyrocketing tax bills, she told the council.

ASKING FOR HELP – Tax appraisal protest spokesperson Melisa Roberts asks the Fulshear City Council for help in fighting escalating tax appraisals.

“Sadly, this goes beyond the additional thousands of dollars that it will cost each of us to be able to keep our property. We have all enjoyed a country which is known as a land of opportunity. With tax increases such as this, there is no opportunity for any of us,” she said. “When we get to the point in our society that we and our neighbors, friends and family risk losing everything we’ve worked for due to high tax appraisals, we are eliminating the middle class. Soon there will only be two classes – the rich who can afford these taxes and the rest of us who cannot.”

Roberts said properties in the Fulshear area are being appraised as though they have the same amenities as more urban areas like Sugar Land. She called on the city council to help residents get the system changed.

“Tonight, we are asking for a few things. We are asking you to contact our local and state representatives on our behalf. We’re asking that you hold a town hall meeting to address our concerns with a plan of action,” Roberts told the council.

She said residents feel their hands are tied and they cannot fight the entrenched appraisal system alone.

“We are not the first group to organize to fight tax appraisal districts across Texas; however, with your help and support, we can change legislation to make us the last group of people to have to fight these battles,” Roberts said.