Three seats up for grabs on Travis Central Appraisal District board. Here's who won.
Three Democratic Party-backed candidates won the first-ever elections to the Travis Central Appraisal District's board of directors Saturday, according to the unofficial results from the Travis County clerk's office.
Securing election to the nonpartisan positions were Jett Hanna for Place 1, Shenghao “Daniel” Wang for Place 2 and Dick Lavine for Place 3. The nine-member board — only three of whom are now elected — hires the district's chief appraiser, approves the appraisal district's budget, approves contracts and sets general policies, according to the district's website.
The early and mail-in vote results released shortly after the polls closed Saturday evening showed each of the Travis County Democratic Party's endorsees holding solid leads over the Republican and third party challengers — a trend that held throughout election day.
Hanna, Wang and Lavine were all elected by wide margins, with each race getting about 51,000 ballots cast.
“I think it is so important that we win every single one of these elections and send a message to the Republicans," U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, said at a watch party for the three Democrat-backed appraisal board candidates Saturday night. “Whether it is school board or a city council race in Pflugerville or a school trustee in Leander, we need to win all these races, and that's where we build the infrastructure to eventually take back this state.”
An $18 billion omnibus property tax package that the state Legislature passed last year, Senate Bill 2, opened the door for the inaugural appraisal board elections Saturday.
Among the more overlooked elements of the state tax relief plan, which received voters' blessing in November, were the elected positions SB 2 created to alter the property appraisal process structure to increase taxpayers' input. The bill also increased the state's homestead exemption from $40,000 to $100,000 and allocated millions to pare down school district property tax rates.
The appraisal district board — which currently has nine members appointed by local taxing jurisdictions and the Travis County tax assessor-collector — neither appraises nor reviews property values.
Beginning next year, the board's members, in addition to its current responsibilities, will appoint members to the Travis Appraisal Review Board — a group of residents who resolve disputes between property tax payers and the appraisal district. The review board's members are currently appointed by a local administrative district judge.
More: Home appraisal too high? Travis County voters will pick appraisal board members Saturday
Most notably, SB 2 requires approval by two of the three elected board members for any appointment to the review board, meaning two of the elected officials could effectively halt an appointment that is otherwise supported by the rest of the board.
Of Travis County's 895,663 registered voters, only 55,991 participated in Saturday's local elections.
Hanna elected to Place 1
Hanna defeated former Austin City Council Member Don Zimmerman for Place 1, receiving nearly 70% of the vote to join the Travis Central Appraisal District's board.
An attorney with a background in commercial real estate who previously served on the board from 1988 to 1990, Hanna said he hopes to help the district work equitably for taxpayers.
“I'm looking forward to working on making sure that the district does the job it’s supposed to: be fair, equitable and transparent,” Hanna told the American-Statesman during an election results watch party in Austin.
More: Your Travis County appraisal notice is in the mail. Here's what residents can expect.
Hanna received 35,597 total votes in his return to the appraisal board, eclipsing Zimmerman, who received 15,653 votes.
"We ran to give the minority of voters a chance to be heard, and the majority voted with the partisan Democrat machine as they always do," Zimmerman said in a statement to the Statesman. "This defeat hurts the economic security of the minority, as the defeat of (District Attorney) José Garza’s opponent in March hurt their physical safety. In my observation over the past 20+ years, such concentration of Democrat political power is driving more and more conservatives out of Travis County so I’m not yet seeing how the situation doesn’t worsen."
Wang bests GOP chairman for Place 2
Wang, a lawyer who specializes in electricity regulation and received 67% support from voters in the three-way race, was reflective about his victory on election night.
“I grew up going to public schools in Travis County, and so it's a special privilege and treat for me to be able to pay forward to that system that I grew up in,” Wang told the Statesman.
Wang defeated Travis County Republican Party Chairman Matt Mackowiak and Travis County Libertarian Party Secretary Jonathan Patschke, receiving 34,495 total votes. By comparison, Mackowiak received 12,793 votes, and Patschke received 3,912.
"I appreciate the 12,000+ votes that I received running as a taxpayer advocate. Unfortunately, a strong majority wants higher property taxes — and we will all get to pay the price," Mackowiak told the Statesman in a statement. "People like to complain about the affordability crisis, but in the end voters did not know enough or care enough to seize this opportunity."
"I'm humbled by the nearly (4,000) people in Travis County who thought me worthy of the public trust," Patschke said. "If Shenghao Wang can accomplish the advances in fairness and transparency that he's spoken about, residents of Travis County will be well-served, and I'm grateful that the seat went to someone willing to speak so openly about those goals."
Lavine wins Place 3
Having previously served on the appraisal district's board for more than 20 years, Lavine said he was humbled to receive voters' support for his return to the panel.
Lavine, who had the widest margin of victory in the three races, received 73% support in defeating Bill May.
More: Here's who's running for the Travis Central Appraisal District Board of Directors on May 4
“It's very gratifying that there’s so many people, who I've never met and have nothing personally to gain from this, who put so much effort into it, because they cared about what's going to happen to funding for public services, and they want to make sure the appraisal district runs efficiently,” Lavine told the Statesman.
Outpacing the GOP-endorsed May through early and mail-in voting, Lavine maintained his edge on election day. In total, Lavine received 36,574 votes, compared with May's 13,504.
May did not immediately respond to the Statesman's request for comment Sunday morning.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: See election results for Travis Central Appraisal District's board