The TAD freeze
The 2024 residential appraisal freeze
How did we get here?
In July 2024, TAD changed the rules.
Tarrant Appraisal District had generally reappraised residential properties every year.
Then the TAD Board voted to move existing residential properties to a two-year reappraisal cycle.
The plan was simple:
TAD approved the new two-year appraisal cycle
Residential appraisals frozen
Residential appraisals frozen
Residential reappraisal scheduled to resume
Cycle locked: state law bars reconsideration until 2028
The idea was to give homeowners more stability.
In September 2026, the board voted 5-4 to renew the two-year cycle for 2027-2028, over the objections of homeowners carrying frozen, outdated values. Under state law, the board cannot reconsider the cycle again until 2028.
The warning in 2024
Superintendents saw it coming.
As the board voted the change through in July and August 2024, nine Tarrant County school district presidents wrote that the board showed a shocking lack of understanding of what the freeze would do to their budgets.
Fort Worth ISD
$45M
Eagle Mtn-Saginaw
$11.2M
Northwest ISD
$10M
Crowley ISD
$7.5M
White Settlement
$3.5M
Kennedale ISD
$2.1M
Everman ISD
$1.8M
Castleberry ISD
$1.4M
Lake Worth ISD
$1.2M
Projected first-year losses, as reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Combined, more than $80M across just these nine districts before the freeze even took hold.
Board members had warnings of their own. One had seen state data projecting the losses before the vote. Attorneys questioned a county judge’s role in scripting the agenda.
But there was a problem
The housing market didn’t freeze.
Home values continued to change. Some went up. Some went down. But for existing residential properties, TAD’s appraisals stayed frozen.
The freeze wasn’t good for everyone.
If your home went up in value
The freeze could save you money.
If your home went down in value
The freeze could make you pay more than you should.
The freeze didn’t treat every homeowner the same. If you knew to protest and won, you could lower your appraisal and your tax bill. If you didn’t, your frozen value stayed in place, even if your home’s market value had fallen.
What was the impact?
The impact reached beyond homeowners.
The freeze had a profound effect across homeowners, neighborhoods and governments.
Homeowners
One policy. Different outcomes.
190,000+
single-family homes were potentially over-appraised in 2025.
Some homeowners won under the freeze. Some lost. And the tax base shrank.
An analysis of TAD data obtained by a local realtor through an open-records request found properties with declining market values while their TAD appraisal values remained frozen.
Neighborhoods
The freeze’s uneven outcomes hit whole blocks and neighborhoods differently.
The appraisal gap
Appraised value, as a share of market value (100% = full market value)
The track edge marks full market value (100%). Lower-value homes are appraised above market value, spilling past the 100% mark, while higher-value homes are appraised below it.
Source: Tarrant Appraisal District Chief Appraisal Report, August 2026
Government
TAD doesn’t set tax rates. But TAD’s values form the taxable base behind them.
Cities, school districts and other taxing entities are responsible for setting the tax rate. TAD’s property values make up an important part of the taxable base those entities use, which helps create the tax rate.
How your tax bill is set
TAD Appraised Value
set by TAD
Tax Rate
set by city, JPS and schools
Property Tax Bill
what you pay
TAD’s choices shape the tax rate you pay. Take a deep dive into how the freeze shifted the cost of public services.
Deep dive into the impact →