The Tarrant Appraisal District (TAD) is under renewed scrutiny following the discovery of vote misallocations in last year’s election for board members. Information presented at a specially-called meeting on Monday, November 3, revealed that Tarrant County College (TCC) received approximately 200 more votes than it should have in the 2024 board election.
TAD’s board structure includes three members elected by the public at-large, while the remaining members are elected by local taxing entities based on the value of their tax rolls. The misallocation raises questions about the accuracy and transparency of the entity election process.
The issue first came to light in June when former TAD board candidate Eric Crile alerted Chief Appraiser Joe Don Bobbitt after reviewing voting allocations for local taxing entities. Crile had been actively educating conservation districts about their participation rights in the election. His concern was triggered when the Tarrant Regional Water District requested to vote, and the resulting allocation letter highlighted discrepancies, particularly the lower-than-expected allocation for TCC compared to the previous year.
Upon review, Bobbitt determined that a typographical error had occurred during the calculation process. He acknowledged that he should have identified the mistake earlier and apologized for not bringing it to the board’s attention at the time. Bobbitt also stated that he found no statutory mechanism under the Texas Tax Code to correct the error retroactively and did not anticipate the election outcome would have changed if the numbers were accurate.
The misallocation drew criticism from several observers during the public comment period at Monday’s meeting. Former Colleyville City Council member George Dodson described the incident as damaging to TAD’s reputation and urged that future ballot allocations be thoroughly reviewed before being distributed to taxing entities.
Sayeda Syed, a 2024 TAD board candidate and 2025 candidate, identified widespread vote shortfalls in October. Her calculations indicated that all 21 school districts received fewer votes than allocated, Tarrant County lost 22 votes, and the City of Fort Worth lost 29 votes. Syed contends that the corrected vote totals could have altered the outcome of the 2024 election.
Following Syed’s report, Tarrant County Tax Assessor-Collector and TAD board chairman Rick Barnes issued a press release on October 23 acknowledging a significant calculation error and announcing a special meeting to address the issue, which occurred on November 3. Barnes emphasized the importance of accurate vote allocations ahead of the 2025 election, noting that several entities, including Fort Worth, were scheduled to vote the following day.
Barnes also raised broader concerns about the election system itself, describing the process in which taxing entities elect TAD board members as heavily influenced by the largest entities. TAD board attorney Matthew Tepper noted that a legislative change now requires larger entities with greater vote allocations to cast their votes early in the process to prevent them from disproportionately affecting the outcome.
The TAD board held an executive session to discuss personnel matters, during which a motion to terminate Chief Appraiser Bobbitt’s employment was proposed but failed for lack of a second. The board approved hiring a third-party investigator to review any irregularities in the appointment process for the 2024 and 2025 board terms.
Syed expressed support for the decision to seek outside review and urged TAD to adopt formal policies governing the appointment process to prevent recurring errors. Observers say the ongoing scrutiny underscores the need for clearer procedures and stronger oversight to maintain public trust in the appraisal district.
