Texas Comptroller Susan Combs last week announced plans to conduct thorough audits of county appraisal districts. We hope the reviews help determine not only the paperwork and processes, but also the reasonableness and fairness of the appraisal process.

Under the Methods and Assistance Program, mandated this year by passage of House Bill 8, all county appraisal districts will be reviewed every other year. The comptroller’s office will review about half of the state’s 128 county appraisal districts each year.

Hidalgo and Willacy appraisal districts are in the first group and will be audited next year and every other year thereafter. Cameron and Starr counties’ first review will be in 2011.

The reviews will cover the appraisal districts’ standards, procedures, methodology, governance and taxpayer assistance programs.

The comptroller’s office will then issue its findings. Districts that aren’t following the law and accepted appraisal practices will receive training and other assistance. They will have one year to come into compliance, or face sanctions from the state Department of Licensing and Regulation.

A state news release states that the reviews are aimed at making appraisals more accurate and uniform across the state.

The reviews are welcome. County appraisals have been suspect since the legislature imposed limits on property tax rates. After the change appraisals across the state shot up, and most observers believe districts have inflated values in order to offset any losses they might have suffered under the rate limitations.

Appraisal rates also are capped, at 10 percent a year, but many districts routinely raise appraisals by the 10 percent allowed every year.

The Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, a tax research group, issued a report last year stating that higher appraisals had effectively wiped out any benefit of the tax rate limits.

Property appraisals are used to impose taxes for use by counties, cities, school and college districts, among other government entities.

Appraisals never were intended to maximize revenues for their respective taxing districts. They should reflect the property’s fair market value. Many property owners in the Rio Grande Valley and across the state have successfully appealed appraised value increases that were overstated.

Two of the largest expenses property owners face each year are property taxes and homeowners’ insurance; both are tied to the appraised value. Overstated values, then, can mean a significant hit against the owners’ bank accounts.

We trust these reviews will help address widespread public concerns that their property is being overvalued, either by design or by accident. If they are overvalued, we should expect corrective action.

In that respect, these kinds of audits are way overdue.