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BASTROP COUNTY — Paul Johnson ran for the Bastrop County Central Appraisal District’s board of directors on a platform of transparency—and now he says the district may be operating outside the law.
Since joining the board, Johnson has leveled sharp criticism at CAD leadership, alleging violations of policy and state law, including a series of in-depth videos outlining specific allegations.
“The biggest problem facing the CAD is that the chief appraiser (Faun Cullens) has created appraisal district policies and procedures that are against the law, and the chief appraiser has always hand-picked the people on the board of directors,” Johnson said.
He stated that any concerns that do get raised are authorized after the fact, so they are no longer ultra vires—or actions taken beyond one’s legal authority— for the chief appraiser. Johnson said he believes this practice extends such unauthorized actions to the entire board.
“The board members do not provide the required oversight and will not admit that the chief appraiser has ever done anything wrong,” he said.
Despite multiple requests from the Courier, Cullens declined to comment on the matter without permission from the CAD’s legal team.
The CAD, created in 1980, is responsible for local property tax appraisal and exemption administration for 28 taxing units across the county. The district estimates property values to allocate the tax burden among residents and businesses and determines eligibility for exemptions such as homestead, agricultural and those for disabled veterans or charitable organizations.
The office of the chief appraiser oversees all district operations, including staffing, budget management, records, purchasing and the valuation of commercial, residential and industrial properties.
“We continue to strive for accurate valuation and professionalism in serving the public and entities while meeting the requirements of the appraisal district,” Cullens said in a letter included in the district’s 2024 annual report.
Johnson contends that some of Cullens’ actions are illegal and said he is determined to bring them to light.
“I thought I would put each of her illegal acts on the agenda to force the board members to discuss them in public,” he said. “I thought that once it became public knowledge that she did something that was illegal, and every vote on it was also public, that every board member would be conscientious enough to correct it. I was wrong.”
According to Johnson, none of his fellow board members have agreed to allow his concerns to be discussed in a public meeting— he said he hopes that will change soon.
“To fix these problems, the board members need to be willing to discuss them in public,” Johnson said. “Then, if they don’t have enough integrity to vote to end the illegal practices on their own, they need to feel so much pressure from the public that they will vote to end the illegal practices.”
The CAD board is scheduled to meet again at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, May 29.
More details to come in the Courier and Bastrop County Insider.
