Texas Justices Say Courts Can Review Property Tax Deals (1)

The Texas Supreme Court held Friday that state courts can review an agreement between an electric utility’s predecessor and appraisers that contains clerical errors that increased the company’s tax liability by about $1.7 million.

The contested settlement agreement valued Oncor Electric Delivery Company NTU LLC’s transmission lines at $133.8 million. Oncor said the Mills Central Appraisal District and Wilbarger County Appraisal District overvalued the property by about $85.4 million.

The appraisal districts argued that the settlement is a statutory agreement under Section 1.111(e) and is “final” unless the deal was fraudulent.

Appraisal review boards’ authority over Section 1.111(e) agreements may ...