The Board of Directors of the Cass County Appraisal District (CASS CAD) is accepting applications from residents interested in service on the appraisal review board (ARB).

The review board hears property owner protests about appraised value, exemption denials, and other appraisal district related matters.  ARB members sit in one panel of five to conduct property owner protest hearings.

Members of the review board are appointed by the appraisal district’s board of directors and serve three-two year terms.  Service on the review board doesn’t constitute a full time job but, while conducting hearings, members are paid for expenses related to time and travel.

Review board service is generally a full-time commitment during the summer months and requires members to be available for service two to five days a week from May through July.

The most important qualification for any ARB members is an attitude of fairness and willingness to devote sufficient time to the responsibilities.  Texas law also contains specific provisions on eligibility.

Candidates for the ARB must be current residents of the Cass County Appraisal District, and must have resided in the district for at least two years.  Persons who fall into any of the following categories are ineligible: 

• Persons who own an interest in property on which delinquent taxes are due, regardless of where in Texas that property may be located, unless the tax is deferred or being paid under an installment agreement.
• Individuals currently employed the State Comptroller of Public Accounts; or who are a member of a governing body, an officer, or a full or part-time employee of a county, city, school district, or any other entity supported by local property taxes. Former governing body members or officers of a taxing unity served by CASS CAD are ineligible for four full years from the date they ceased to serve in that capacity.
• If you are related within the second degree, by consanguinity or affinity, to (1) a person who does business as a paid property tax consultant in Cass County; or (2) a person who performs appraisals for use in property tax proceedings in Cass County; and you cannot be related within the third degree by consanguinity or the second degree by affinity to an officer or member of the board of directors for Cass County Appraisal District. Relative within the second degree include your spouse, parent, child, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, brother or sister, spouse of a brother or sister, step child, step parent, father-in-law, mother-in-law, and the brother or sister of your spouse.  Relatives by consanguinity within the third degree also include great-grand parents, great-grandchildren, the brother or sister of either of your parents and nieces and nephews.
• Anyone who personally, or whose spouse personally, has a contract with a local government or an appraisal district. The same restriction applies if the person, or his or her spouse, owns a 10% or greater interest in a business that contracts with a local government or appraisal district.    
• Persons who at any time have appeared before the ARB for compensation as a tax consultant, accountant, appraiser, or representative of a property owner.
• Anyone who has served on the appraisal review board for all or part of three previous two-year terms, and any individual who has ever been employed by CASS CAD or has ever served as member of the district’s board of directors.
• Applicants are not considered if they are presently under indictment or have previously been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude.

Application forms are available for pick up at the CASS CAD office or by contacting Cass County Appraisal District at 903-756-7545.