What to know: All Midland voters will choose between Keith Stretcher, Kathryn Chandler, and incumbent Manny Natividad for the Midland Central Appraisal District (MCAD) Place 1 position in the Nov. 3 election.

The Permian Press asked the candidates the same three questions focused on MCAD operations, taxpayer rights, and the board’s oversight of the chief appraiser, and asked candidates to respond in 150 words or fewer. Answers are published in alphabetical order by the candidate’s last name. Candidate responses are presented as submitted. Early voting runs Oct. 19-30. Election Day is Nov. 3.

Why it matters: MCAD determines the appraised value of property in Midland County, but it does not set the tax rates that determine how much residents ultimately pay.

The board also does not personally decide what an individual home or business is worth. Instead, it oversees the appraisal district. Major responsibilities include hiring the chief appraiser, approving MCAD’s budget, and setting policies for how the district operates.

Midland’s top stories. One quick email. Free, every Friday.
Get Midland Wrapped, our free weekly email for busy Midland residents. Each Friday, we break down the week’s most important local stories — what happened, why it matters, and what to watch next — so you can stay informed without the noise.

Question 1: What is one specific change you believe the MCAD Board should make over the next two years? Why is that change needed, and what would success look like?

Kathryn Chandler: At this point, without being a member of the board, I do not have a specific change in mind. However, generally, I would like to see more outreach and taxpayer education about taxpayer rights, the appraisal process, the separation of the processes for appraisal and setting the tax rate, and the delinquent collection process. I think success would be a more educated taxpayer base.

Manny Natividad: The hiring of a new chief appraiser on 1-1-25 is the one specific change we made. Due to inadequacies under the previous administration with state mandates, taxpayer transparencies, and internal administration/personnel. The new board that I serve on had to go outside this area to find a chief appraiser who could handle the size of our district and be able to run a collection/appraising operating office of our size.

New Chief Appraiser now has the necessary equipment, software and allowances for required personnel. The State Comptroller has notified us of our improvement in the implementation of ratio studies, map researches, property appraisals and customer transparency operations. Three property tax cycles will bring us completely up to speed and compliances.

As a former employee employed as assistant tax assessor of 14 years and appraisal district head of the commercial appraising dept., I made sure we hired a chief appraiser who was experienced and qualified. I’m certified with the T.D.L.R as a Tax Collector, Assessor and Appraiser.

Keith Stretcher: A top priority is to improve transparency and communication with the public. The appraisal district currently posts the agendas for the meetings of the Board of Directors on the appraisal district website. However, there is no back-up material posted on the agenda explaining each agenda item.

If you look at the City of Midland City Council agenda website, it includes the contracts, staff memorandums and extensive material related to each item. The Midland Central Appraisal District needs to provide this service. This will allow the citizens to have the information prior to the meeting to see if they would like to attend or call the members of the board of directors or staff with questions.

The information provided to the board of directors is public information and should be accessible to the public and hopefully build public confidence. The minutes of the board meetings also need to be on the website.

Question 2: When a property owner believes MCAD has valued their property incorrectly, what role should an elected board member play in helping the taxpayer, and where should the board member’s involvement end?

Chandler: The role of an MCAD board member (elected or appointed) is to actively hear to the taxpayer concerns, educate the taxpayer about the appraisal and protest process, and then to refer the taxpayer to MCAD staff (specifically, the taxpayer liaison) as to any specific concerns regarding the valuation of the property.

The MCAD Board has no role in determining valuation and all members should be up front with the public about the specific roles and responsibilities of the Board vs. the MCAD office.

Natividad: There are steps and procedures that we as an appraisal district in Texas must follow that are set forth by the Texas Property tax code. A property owner should first contact the TLO, the taxpayer Liaison Officer to see if it’s just a correction with the parcel to see if it requires a correction to the location, property owner information and any exemption that the owner is entitled to.

If it comes down to value discrepancy, a notice of property value is issued every year and at that time if the owner disputes the value, he/she can file a formal protest and is instructed to gather any information that may help the appraiser determine if an adjustment needs to be made. An informal and or formal hearing will then be scheduled for the property owner to bring his concerns to the Appraisal Review Board.

With that being said, as a board member we can and only allowed by the property tax code to give these instructions to the taxpayer.

Stretcher: An individual Board member does not have the authority to adjust a person’s specific property. That should be clearly communicated to the individual. However, the process should be explained to the taxpayer. I, as a Board member, would contact the Taxpayer Liaison Officer (TLO) and give the taxpayer’s contact information to the TLO and ask the TLO to contact the taxpayer.

After a few days I would contact the taxpayer to make sure he or she had been contacted and that the process was explained by the TLO.  I would also contact the TLO and emphasize once again how important it is to make sure taxpayers understand the system and make the system as streamlined as possible.

Question 3: What specific measures should the board use to assess whether the chief appraiser is performing well, and what results would cause you to believe a change in leadership is necessary?

Chandler: The Board should look at the efficiency and efficacy of the way that the MCAD office runs, including the accuracy of the budget proposed by the chief appraiser, the timeliness of office responses to taxpayer questions and concerns, and staff turnover rates.

All of these factors would play a role in the Board’s collective determination whether leadership change was necessary, in addition to considering the discrepancies between the certified tax roll and the Texas Comptroller’s School District Property Value Study. If there are large discrepancies, then the Board and Chief Appraiser would need to look closely into why.

Natividad: Great question, with the previous chief appraiser, not all the specific dealings with the State Comptroller were being passed on fully to the prior existing board. Such as the failings with the States grading system of our district. Also, personnel issues with the prior administration raised red flags with the new board. We took steps to question the prior Chief Appraisers level of administration duties.

We did what was necessary to bring our district back to its sound, ethical and approval status with the State Comptroller, and we continue to place much emphasis on taxpayer transparencies with how our district operates and remedies that are available to all Midland County Taxpayers.

Stretcher: The first step is to explain to the Chief Appraiser exactly what the Board expects and what the Chief Appraiser will be evaluated upon. I would think items such as understanding real and personal appraisal methods, exhibiting a knowledge of existing state law and any future changes in the law as well as potential changes so that the Board could decide whether to contact Speaker Craddick or Senator Sparks about the potential changes.

The Chief Appraiser should recruit and train staff and provide benchmarks on how the staff will be evaluated and how workflow will be managed and when and how property will be reappraised. The budget prepared by the Chief Appraiser must be presented timely and the budget should address the financial operations as directed by the Board of Directors.

The Chief Appraiser must demonstrate skill and willingness to work in cooperation with the public.