The Tarrant Appraisal District may have a boring name but its work is essential.
Its job is to appraise the county’s 1.7 million pieces of property, which are worth $172 billion.
But critics, like Texas Sen. Kelly Hancock (R-North Richland Hills), question whether TAD is up to the task.
"The fact is, based on the problems we've had, I don't know if there is any confidence in the competency of TAD at this point,” Hancock said.
The focus of many complaints is TAD's computer system, which it upgraded two years ago with brand new software called Aumentum.
"It's vital stuff for us, and right now nobody has any confidence in it,” said Tarrant County Tax Assessor-Collector Ron Wright.
The glitches were so serious, the county couldn't update its tax rolls last year, he said.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
The Fort Worth School District alone said it lost $12 million.
TAD's top executive, Jeff Law, told a state senate hearing last month, that the system had problems last year but is much improved.
"I think things are going fairly well,” he said. “We've made a lot of progress in 2016. 2015 was a challenge. It was our first year in our new software. But 2016 has gone much better."
But internal emails obtained under the Texas Open Records Law show continued issues.
In March 2016, a TAD executive wrote this scathing email: "So we are approaching 18 months since (the software went) live and this functionality is still not here .... This is unacceptable for the taxpayers ... Why is this so hard? We need a solution and we need it now."
And in June 2016, another TAD executive wrote: "Too many problem situations occurring on a daily basis to even begin to document... At some point, sooner than later, I think a discussion is necessary to arrive at a plan."
North Richland Hills real estate attorney Kent Davis said the problems have made it hard for him to do his job representing taxpayers who challenge their appraisals.
Information is sometimes not available online, he said.
"If I ran my business like the way that TAD has run this software exchange, I'd probably be a park ranger counting bears in East Texas because I couldn't stay in business,” he said.
Wright said he is hopeful the glitches are finally being worked out.
"When we can go six months without an issue then I'll think they've got it fixed,” he said. “But right now, they haven't gone three months without an issue."
TAD Chief Appraiser Jeff Law declined repeated requests for an interview.
In emails to NBC 5, he did acknowledge past problems and said the software company has either refunded, or never been paid, more than $1.5 million – more than half its contract.
The company, Thomson Reuters, did not respond to detailed written questions but said most of the software problems have been fixed and that it is working hard to address any ongoing issues.
