Every vote counts in Saturday runoffs for appraisal district board, candidates say

Four candidates are on a mad dash across Harris County’s 1,707 square miles, trying to convince residents to take part in an election Saturday where every vote will count.

Two positions on the Harris Central Appraisal District’s board of directors are being selected, posts that previously were appointed by local taxing entities and largely overlooked by the public.

Beginning this year, three of the nine seats on the board are elected.

One of the positions already has been decided: Kathy Blueford-Daniels, a former Houston ISD trustee, won the Place 1 election on May 5, narrowly receiving a majority of the vote in a field of three candidates. Despite the seat being a countywide, at-large position, Blueford-Daniels won with only about 27,600 votes.

Turnout in the Place 1 race was just 2.1 percent of Harris County’s 2.56 million registered voters, according to Harris County Clerk’s Office data.

Turnout is expected to be even lower for Saturday’s runoffs, University of Houston political analyst Nancy Sims said.

“I don’t think this turnout will break 1 percent,” Sims said. “I just can’t see people coming out for this. There’s nothing else on the ballot to draw their interest.”

Blueford-Daniels, who previously served as an appointed member of the HCAD board, questioned the timing of the appraisal district elections.

“Here we are in a runoff in June, right near the holidays …,” she said. “The timing, the cost, it leaves me suspicious about why the timing was such.”

Business owner Kyle Scott faces former state representative and Houston City Council member Melissa Noriega in the Place 2 race. Business owner Ericka McCrutcheon faces businesswoman Pelumi Adeleke in the Place 3 runoff.

HCAD’s board of directors sets the agency’s budget and can hire or fire the chief appraiser, but it does not have the ability to raise or lower residents’ property taxes or appraisals.

The three elected positions will have slightly more power than the six appointed members. That is because two of the three elected members can veto any appointment to the Appraisal Review Board, a committee that reviews appeals of property valuations.

In an effort to boost turnout, both the Harris County Democratic Party and Harris County Republican Party have gotten involved in the races, despite the seats officially being nonpartisan.

County Democrats have been uncomfortable with the elections for months, arguing the timing of the elections in the early summer months could be part of a Republican ploy to wrest local control of the county government from Democrats by disrupting property tax revenue.

Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, was one of the lead authors on the 2023 legislation that led to Saturday’s election. Bettencourt is a frequent foil for local Democrats because of his support for legal challenges of the county’s 2022 election results and the takeover of HISD.

Republicans say the move to make the three positions elected was necessary to make the board more responsive to the public, and the elections had to be held in May and June to quickly seat the elected members ahead of property tax bills being sent out in the fall.

The election is being administered by the Harris County Clerk’s Office, but HCAD is required to foot the bill for both the May 5 uniform election and the June 15 runoffs. The May race cost HCAD about $4.1 million; the runoffs are expected to cost another $3.4 million, according to the Clerk’s office.

PLACE 2

The runoff for Place 2 pits two experienced politicians against one another.

Scott, 46, previously ran for Harris County Treasurer as a Republican in 2022, losing a close race. He also has held an elected position as a Lone Star Community College trustee from 2013 until 2018.

Noriega, 69, briefly served in the Texas House of Representatives for eight months in 2005 as acting representative for her then-husband Rick Noriega while he was deployed with the Texas National Guard. She was an at-large member of the Houston City Council from 2007 until 2013, and ran for and lost a Texas House race in 2019.

“I don’t know this, but I think it’s possible that there are plans for these positions,” Noriega said. “There may end up being opportunities to advocate for Houston and the property appraisal process as they go forward with school vouchers and all the variety of things that are going on with the legislature. My experience is worth something with that.”

In the HCAD race, Scott is endorsed by the Harris County Republicans and Noriega is endorsed by the Democrats.

In the May 5 election, Scott finished first in a crowded field of five candidates with 46.5 percent of the 54,600 votes cast. Because no candidate secured more than 50 percent of the ballots cast, the race was forced into runoff; Noriega finished in second place, a little less than 12,000 votes behind Scott.

The central message of the two is not dissimilar.

Both candidates say HCAD should prioritize public education about the property tax system and each hopes to increase the district budget’s funding for education.

Noriega said she would like to see those efforts specifically targeted to low-income neighborhoods in hopes of helping residents claim exemptions they may be eligible for but not aware of.

Scott said he would like to lead an audit of properties that have tax exemptions to make sure they meet eligibility requirements.

Appeals process reforms also are a priority for Scott, who said he would like to see formal training for Appraisal Review Board members and a survey of resident satisfaction for current review members.

While the three Democratic-endorsed candidates are running separately, Noriega pitched their candidacies as a team that offers her legislative experience, Adeleke’s accounting experience and Blueford-Daniels’ previous experience on the HCAD board.

Scott and Noriega are fighting for every vote in a race that may see fewer than 50,000 ballots cast in the nation’s fourth largest county.

Scott attributed the partisanship in the race to an effort to simply increase attention on the elections and boost turnout for both parties’ voters.

“It’s not just Democrats and it’s not just Republicans, but it’s not surprising to me that people say a whole bunch of things to get people fired up to show up at the polls,” Scott said.

Noriega said the low turnout offers Republicans an opportunity to gain more control in the county, and recent moves, including the state takeover of HISD, shows they can not be trusted.

“Here in Harris County, I think there’s a real effort to hang on to anything that has to do with the schools, whether we know what they’re going to do with it or not,” Noriega said.

PLACE 3

The runoff for Place 3 is similar to Place 2: Two relatively unknown candidates endorsed by opposing political parties are vying for the seat.

McCrutcheon, 62, is a small business owner, civic club president and pastors the Joint Heirs Fellowship Church along with her husband. She ran and lost races for Houston City Council in 2019 and 2023.

“I sit down with people every day and hear their concerns, particularly my retirees, that taxes are getting so high they may not be able to keep their home,” McCrutcheon said.

Adeleke, 39, is a certified public accountant and a homeowner who said that even with her accounting background she found HCAD’s appraisal process inaccessible and difficult to understand.

“I have heard so many grievances about HCAD on the campaign trail,” Adeleke said.

McCrutcheon is endorsed by the Harris County GOP and Adeleke is endorsed by the Democrats.

Adeleke touted her accounting experience, arguing it will allow her to be effective on the board. She said she would prioritize transparency in the appraisal process and public education for the county’s residents.

Like Noriega, Adeleke also said she would like to target low-income areas of the county with low rates of property tax exemptions with that education.

She also echoed Noriega’s suspicions about Republican motives in the change to elect some board members.

“Yes, I try to make sure the taxes are fair, but we need county services funded,” Adeleke said. “I’m running against people who want to defund our services.”

She also argued McCrutcheon lacks the experience to hold a position on the HCAD board.

McCrutcheon touts herself as a voice of everyday Harris County residents through her work as a pastor and Kirkwood Civic Club president.

“I’m the best candidate because I have a heart for my city,” she said. “I am the best candidate because I have the everyday, working man experience.”

McCrutcheon said she would prioritize transparency and accountability in the appraisal process. She said she would ask for an audit of the tax rolls to see if anyone is getting a tax exemption on their property that they should not.

“Government in and of itself has no money of its own,” McCrutcheon said. “It has to get the money from its people, and the money we have is very important to me. Sitting on this board is not a power play. It’s a stewardship role for me.”

McCrutcheon blamed the questions swirling around the elections on politics, arguing Democrats are trying to scare voters into casting a ballot in the low-turnout election.

“They say I want to defund public schools, but what are they talking about? I’m a product of public schools,” McCrutcheon said. “It’s crazy as all getup, but it’s what happens when you take a nonpartisan position like the Harris County board and politicize it to win.”