The Cameron County Appraisal District office had its lobby full of people on Wednesday who were waiting to find out what's next for their property value.

The office has been seeing so many people come in to protest their new appraisal values that they’ve extended their work hours to get in as many people as possible.

The office is also working  to have a certified appraisal roll by July 24 to be able to turn over the totals to taxing jurisdictions the following day.

Among those protesting was San Benito man Ezequiel Pecina Rubio, who said the value of his home increased by $50,000 from the previous year.

“This year it was just too much, I had to come and do something," Rubio said.

Cameron County Chief Appraiser Richard Molina says on average, 15,000 people protest property values every year.

“This year we've had 37,000 protests that we've had to schedule,” Molina said. “This last week is probably the roughest week."

More people saw an increase in their property's value because of a higher property market value in Cameron County, Molina said.

“The sales were just crazy, so it required us to adjust the evaluation throughout the whole county — which of course property owners have their right to come in and dispute the valuation,” Molina said.

Property values increased by 35% throughout Cameron County this year. That number dropped to 30% following several protests.

Molina said more than half of the people coming in to protest are getting a value reduction.

“It's just a matter of what percentage are they going to get,” Molina explained. “Some might only get a couple thousand [dollars] which is not very much, but some might get many more thousands of dollars."

It’s a price drop residents like Gina Ward says is needed.

“The prices are just increasing beyond what people can afford,” Ward said. “We're just fighting for what little we can to just minimize our taxes."

The majority of protest hearings ends on Saturday, July 22. Several other protestors are scheduled to go before the board in September.