Taxpayers in Maverick County Fight to Hold Commissioners’ Court Accountable After Repeated Abuses
(Press Release) On Friday, October 6, 2017, Maverick County taxpayer Ethelvina Felan asked the district court to rein in irresponsible budgeting decisions by County Judge David Saucedo and Commissioners Court in order to preserve the funds that must be paid back to taxpayers if the voters roll back the 2016 tax rate pursuant to a court-ordered election. Felan’s 19-page motion depicts a County government that has made glaring errors in calculating the appropriate tax rates for 2017—much like the faulty calculations uncovered in 2016—and then refused to disclose information when requested by taxpayers. The failures of County Judge David Saucedo, Commissioners, and Tax Assessor-Collector Isamari Villarreal to competently and transparently perform their duties have prompted Felan—with the support of many other concerned taxpayers—to request court intervention to protect the public’s money as the County drags out the legal process.
More than three months ago, Felan won a judgment finding that the County had obviously miscalculated the 2016 tax rates, and ordering the County to hold a rollback election pursuant to a petition filed by Felan and signed by more than 2,000 taxpayers. However, the County appealed the judgment, thereby delaying the election until the appeal is final. In the meantime, while County officials still sit on top of the taxpayers’ money, they have rushed through adoption of the current year’s tax rate and 2018 budget with little concern for fiscal responsibility or transparency. In fact, County officials have refused to provide information that is required by statute to be available to the public.
County Judge Saucedo has already admitted that if the rollback election succeeds, taxpayers will be entitled to refunds amounting to $1.6 to $1.8 million. County Auditor Sandra Watkins responsibly recommended that the budget should account for this, holding sufficient funds in reserve. Saucedo rejected her recommendation. Instead, his budget projects a surplus of less than $200,000, which would not even cover 11% of the required refunds. But even this surplus relies on unrealistic assumptions, as Saucedo’s fantasy budget projects a collection rate of 100%. Of course, Saucedo has not attempted to explain how he expects to collect literally every dime billed to taxpayers in 2017. (Previous budgets have projected collection rates of 92-95%.) Assuming a 95% collection rate, as in past years, Saucedo’s fantasy budget has in fact set the County up for a deficit of more than $400,000 in 2018. So, not only will the County be unable to pay any refunds to taxpayers, it will not even be able to fund other planned expenditures.
County officials have attempted at every turn to hide these details from the public as they rushed to adopt the budget and current year’s tax rate.
First, the County waited until Thursday, September 14 to post the proposed budget to the County website for the public to view, and then scheduled the one and only public hearing for the following Monday, September 18. However, documents reveal that County Judge Saucedo had completed and filed his proposed budget two weeks earlier. State law requires that, in any County that maintains a website, “the county clerk shall take action to ensure that the proposed budget is posted on the website.” Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code § 111.006(b). The County Clerk has been able in the past to post information quickly. Why did Clerk Sara Montemayor wait two weeks to post Saucedo’s irresponsible budget proposal?
Maverick County taxpayers also caught the County in an apparently faulty calculation that resulted in a falsely high rollback rate, which has the effect of permitting the County to adopt a higher tax rate without holding public hearings. However, Local Government Code § 141.010(h) says that the County “shall on request provide” certain information regarding tax rate calculations, including an explanation for how the effective and rollback rates were calculated. Taxpayer Chila Kypuros went personally to the Tax Assessor-Collector’s office to request documentation backing up the County’s faulty calculations. Despite this law, Tax Assessor-Collector Villarreal told Ms. Kypuros that she was under orders from County Judge Saucedo not to release the information, and that Kypuros should contact the County’s lawyer. This occurred on September 21. It was Ms. Kypuros’s second trip to the office to request this information, and the second time she was denied. The Commissioners’ Court adopted the tax rate and budget that very evening, while taxpayers were still in the dark as to how the County arrived at its calculated and proposed tax rates.
Felan has retained Najvar Law Firm, PLLC, a Houston-based firm specializing in election law, to represent her in her lawsuit. “The court has the authority to intervene to protect the taxpayers’ money until the rollback election happens,” said principal attorney Jerad Najvar. “There is a pattern of irresponsibility and abuse here that I believe clearly demands action in the name of all Maverick County taxpayers,” he added.
Najvar filed a motion for court action on Friday, and expects to set it for hearing soon. The case is Felan v. Maverick County, et al., No. 17-02-33970-MCV (293rd Dist. Ct., Maverick Cnty.).
Jerad Najvar practices political and appellate law and is founder of the Najvar Law Firm, PLLC in Houston. He has successfully prosecuted several cases in state and federal court against abusive government officials and candidates, including an election contest in Hidalgo County, Rivera v. Lopez, which included proof that ten votes were illegally cast by persons falsely claiming residency in the district.
