Hackers hit Tarrant Appraisal District a month ago, stealing sensitive data of hundreds of residents in a ransomware attack. Property tax valuations are now coming in, but people are hesitant to file protests due to the hack. NBC 5’s Keenan Willard reports.
As appraisal notices go out, homeowners are walking into the Tarrant Appraisal District office with questions.
The good thing, says Chief Appraiser Joe Don Bobbitt, is that homeowners can expect, on average, a 6% increase in home values, compared to 23% last year and 18% the year before.
“The values … they haven’t gone up this year as much as they have in the past, so, we’re excited about that," he said.
He expected the same number of protests, though -- around 200,000.
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When folks get their property value notices, which started going out this week, they have 30 days to file their protest.
But right now, doing that online isn't possible: The protest dashboard isn't fully working.
“We hope it’ll be up by this Friday. We’re not making any promises," Bobbitt said.
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He said TAD has been shifting to a new website host, but the process was delayed after the appraisal district was hit by a cyber-attack last month.
"The current website has not been compromised due to ransomware and is still secure," Bobbitt said in a statement. "The ransomware incident however did impact our ability to enhance the website and roll out improvements that we had planned. Users may see intermittent issues as we continue improving the website features and security."
Hackers posted some information for 300 people online and demanded $700,000. Bobbitt declined to comment on whether TAD intended to pay the ransom.
He said they don’t plan to extend the protest deadline and encourage people to email their protest form or bring it to the appraisal district in person.
“[We have] a little workshop area set up where you can come in, file your protest, and talk to an appraiser right here immediately when you first come in," he said.
Tax consultant Chandler Crouch doesn’t want the district’s cyber challenges to deter folks from trying to save money.
"There's some unique dynamics that are happening this year. The bottom line is it's still a good idea to protest," he said.
He hopes TAD can get their new site off the ground without a glitch.
"I think that it is gonna play a role in protests moving forward. We won't know exactly how much, but I'm expecting the website to have some intermittent issues," Crouch said.
On Wednesday Crouch used a specialized browser to view the Dark Web, showing NBC 5 documents released by the hacking organization Medusa as part of the breach of TAD last month.
"It’s shocking the amount of data that they have," Crouch said. "I mean it’s in the millions of documents."
Among the stolen information were driver's license numbers and ID photographs of Tarrant County residents.
As Tarrant residents prepare to protest their valuations, some have been worried about sending information to TAD online in the wake of the attack.
"We’ve had a handful of people reach out to our office very, very concerned," Crouch said. "One lady locked down her bank accounts."
NBC 5 asked TAD for a response to taxpayer concerns about protesting their property taxes online in the wake of the attack.
“TAD is aware that the criminal group Medusa has illegally posted files they claimed to have obtained from the TAD network," the district said in a statement. “All individuals, under 300 in total, whose legally protected information was potentially affected have already been notified via U.S. First-Class Mail as of last week.”
“These letters provide details on the type of data that may have been accessed as well as outline the complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection services we are offering,” TAD continued.
Bobbitt said they’re working to make their new site safer and faster, but wanted to reassure neighbors.
“As far as we know, our database was not actually breached. Our appraisal software and image system was not actually breached. So, most of the information we had was not affected," he said.
TAD has also created a call center where property owners can ask more questions and find out if they were mailed a letter.
The call center is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. and can be reached at 1-800-939-4170.
You can find more resources from TAD here.
WHAT IS A CENTRAL APPRAISAL DISTRICT?
In Texas, a central appraisal district exists to provide a single-source valuation of real estate for taxing units (hospitals, ISDs, cities, counties, etc.) that impose a property tax within a district. There is one appraisal district for each of the 254 counties in Texas, and they follow the same geographic boundary as the county, but they are not part of the county government.
An appraisal district is a subdivision of the state and they are governed by its own board. Each appraisal district has a chief and a board of directors. The nine-member board is made up of the tax assessor, five members appointed by the members of the taxing units in the district, and, as of May 2024, three members elected by voters. The funding for the appraisal district comes from all of the taxing units, not just the county government.
Before the creation of the state's central appraisal districts in 1981, the taxing units would each file their own appraisals of personal property, and if a property owner wanted to protest that appraisal they had to protest each valuation separately.
The appraisal districts were created to separate the entities collecting a property tax from being the same ones who did the appraisals of the property. The districts centralized the appraisals into one valuation to make the entire process easier and more equitable for property owners.
Appraisal districts are required by state law to appraise property at full market value and all taxing units in the county must use those appraisals when collecting a tax.
