Hardy, Sharma, Adams maintain leads in Tarrant Appraisal District races

Editor’s note: This article was updated with early voting results at 12:05 a.m. Nov. 4.

Rebecca Hardy, Ambika Sharma and John Adams maintained their leads in the races for Tarrant Appraisal District’s three at-large seats as of 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Tarrant County Elections site.

Two of the races appeared headed for runoffs, as Hardy led with 40.47% of votes counted and Sharma with 39.3% in her race. According to state law, a runoff is required between the top two vote-getters when no candidate in a race receives at least half the vote.

In the Place 1 race, Byron Haynes was in second with 25.92% of the vote. In Place 2, Cary Cheshire was in second with 22.3% of the vote. In the Place 3 race, Adams had 58.85% of the vote over incumbent Matt Bryant’s 41.15%. They are the only two candidates in that race.

Nine challengers and one incumbent, Bryant, are vying for the three Tarrant Appraisal District board seats.

The TAD board has nine directors:

• Five appointed by the district’s taxing units.
• Three elected at large by voters in the county.
• And the county tax assessor-collector.

Most of the candidates seeking election favor returning to an annual residential reappraisal policy, away from the biennial policy the board passed in 2024 and narrowly renewed in September. The board would next be able to revisit the policy in 2028, but Gov. Greg Abbott has proposed once-every-five-years reappraisal for all properties as part of a five-point property tax reform plan the Texas Legislature will take up in the 2027 session.

The debate has significant implications for taxpayers and local governmental entities that rely on property taxes to fund budgets that pay for most basic services.

Critics of biennial reappraisal have said the policy means some properties have been frozen at appraisals that are too high.

The biennial reappraisals have resulted in budget chaos for numerous local governments that haven’t been able to reliably project property tax revenue as a result, but the candidates agree their legal responsibility is in ensuring TAD appraises correctly.

The TAD board voted 5-4 to retain biennial reappraisals. Of the five who voted for the policy, two members did not seek reelection. 

Here’s how candidates in the three TAD races stack up on the question of whether to continue to reappraise every two years:

Place 1 (open seat): Phyllis Grissom, Byron Haynes and Sayeda Bilqees Syed all favor returning to annual residential reappraisals. Rebecca Hardy favors “less frequent (biennial) residential appraisals.” Incumbent Eric Morris is not seeking reelection.

Vote percentages as of 11:45 p.m.:

• Hardy: 40.47%
• Haynes: 25.92%
• Grissom: 20.76%
• Syed: 12.8%

Place 2 (open seat): Ambika Sharma and Paul Stockard support a return to annual reappraisals. Marshall Hobbs supports continuing the two-year appraisal schedule. Cary Cheshire supports a policy of reappraisal every five years, or annually if a homeowner requests it. Incumbent Callie Rigney is not seeking reelection.

• Sharma: 39.3%
• Cheshire: 22.3%
• Stockard: 21.62%
• Hobbs: 16.74%

Place 3: Incumbent Matt Bryant who is seeking reelection, voted to remain with the biennial policy, and favors sticking with it. Challenger John Adams supports a return to annual reappraisals.

• Adams: 58.85%
• Bryant: 41.15%

The candidates deliberated the question and others in a recent Fort Worth Report candidates forum hosted in collaboration with the League of Women Voters and KERA at Texas Wesleyan University.

Readers can watch the archived forum here. To read the Report’s full story from the forum, click here.

Grissom, Sharma and Adams are running as a slate.

Scott Nishimura is senior editor for local government accountability for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at [email protected].

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