For the last two years, a Fort Worth-based broker and property tax consultant has been the bane of the Tarrant Appraisal District, helping homeowners pro bono to file 90,000 appraisal protests.
In response, TAD officials launched an investigation of Fort Worth-based Chandler Crouch, complaining that he was making a “mockery of the current tax system.”
But hundreds of the homeowners he helped turned out to a TAD board meeting Thursday to support Crouch and blast the board for targeting him.
“I will not vote for you again,” one fuming homeowner told the board, “any of you! You will be kicked out!” She wasn’t alone. The few dozen citizens able to fit into the tiny meeting room all took the board to task — not only for the investigation of Crouch, but for a general lack of transparency in the county’s appraisal system.
Since 2017, Crouch has filed more than 90,000 protests on behalf of local homeowners — all free of charge. In 2022 alone, he’s already filed 28,000, according to NBC-DFW.
“I don’t charge anybody anything, and it does not vary. I don’t care who you are. I’m here to help, and I’m happy to help,” he told the news station.
In the fall of 2021, the TAD board had had enough. Crouch received a letter from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation regarding four complaints — all signed by Randy Armstrong, TAD’s director of residential appraisal.
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The complaints name four instances — or 0.014 percent of his filings so far this year — where Crouch allegedly misrepresented facts to “achieve unwarranted value reductions” and abused his “dual positions as both a Property Tax Consultant and a Licensed Texas Realtor/Broker” to enrich himself.
One complaint contested the existence of water damage that Crouch claimed should bring the home value down. The other three are more focused on Crouch himself, with one alleging, “Mr. Crouch’s only intent is to discredit TAD staff.” More than one of them allege Crouch of making a “mockery of the current tax system.”
On June 17, Crouch went before the TAD board and denied the allegations, calling the complaints “highly emotional” and “crazy.”
The day before Thursday’s hearing, Crouch said he was confident that people would turn out to support him.
“They can recognize that I’m kind of being bullied. All I’ve done is try to help people,” Crouch said on June 29. “Everyone needs to know what’s going on at the appraisal district. The appraisal district needs to know everyone is watching.”
Crouch’s supporters answered the call and turned out in droves, not just to defend the man, but to demand more transparency from the TAD board.
Larry MacFarland, one of the first in line for Thursday’s meeting, told an NBC reporter on the scene, “They’re not in a bubble. We’re watching what they’re doing. We’re paying attention.”
[NBC-DFW] — Maddy Sperling