The AG Advisory Board’s Role in the Property Tax System

Sec. 6.12 of the Texas’s Property Tax Code, requires the chief appraiser to appoint an agricultural appraisal advisory board with the advice and consent of the board of directors. The legislature created this advisory board to help improve communications between the farming and ranching community and the appraisal district. The board’s purpose is to advise the chief appraiser on the appraisal and use of agricultural land.

The agricultural advisory board must have at least three members.  These members must be appointed by the chief appraiser with the advice and consent of the board of directors.  The chief appraiser may appoint more than three members, again with the advice and consent of the board of directors.  The law specifies the qualifications of the three required members.  Two members of the advisory board must be owners of qualified 1-d, 1-d-1 agricultural, or 1-d-1 timberland in the appraisal district who have lived in the district at least five years.  One board member must be a representative of the “agricultural stabilization and conservation service” in the appraisal district.  The chief appraiser may not appoint an appraisal district officer or employee to serve on the board.  When making appointments to the board, the chief appraiser should try to achieve a balanced representation of agricultural or timber land owners.  Some factors the chief appraiser should consider are: geographical differences in the area, different types of agricultural operations in the area, and the different sizes of agricultural and timber operations in the area.  The agricultural advisory board must meet at least once annually at the call of the chief appraiser. Board members may not receive compensation for their service on the advisory board.  Advisory board members serve for two-year staggered terms.  When making the first appointments to the board, the chief appraiser is required to appoint one half of the members to one-year terms if the board has an even number of members.  If the board has an odd number of members, the chief appraiser is required to appoint one fewer than a majority to one-year terms.

By appointing the required Ag board and conducting the required annual meetings the board and chief appraiser support the CAD in improving its appraisal and classification of agricultural land.