Maverick County Taxpayer contests County’s invalidation of Tax Rollback Petition

County Judge Saucedo, County Commissioners, Mr. Wilson,and Mr. Schmerber,

On January 9, 2017 Maverick County found that 2,067 signatures of the rollback petition were valid. This amount was deemed to be 99 signatures short of the necessary amount to require a rollback election. I contest this finding based on the following:

• A supplement to the petition was submitted to Maverick County on January 9, 2017 at 3:45 pm. Section 227.0023 of the Election Code allows for rollback petitions to be supplemented if (1) the supplement is “filed by the deadline”, (2) the original petition was submitted “not later than the 10th day before the deadline”, and (3) “the original petition contains a number of signatures that exceeds the required minimum number by 10% or more”.

The Texas Comptroller states that “The rollback process starts after the taxing unit formally adopts the tax rate” that exceeds the rollback rate. Maverick County formally adopted the final tax rate in accordance with the Tax Code that exceed the rollback rate on October 11, 2016. The deadline to submit the petition as per law was January 9, 2017. The original petition was submitted to Maverick County on December 22, 2016. The original petition contained 2,780 as per Maverick County officials, which is in excess of 110% of signatures as defined by the Texas Secretary of State. The Texas Secretary of State asserts that “when calculating the number of signatures for purposes of deciding if the petitioners may supplement the petition, remember that the signatures need not be “perfect” signatures, i.e., complying completely with the law. (The reasoning is that if the petitioners did file a “110%” perfect petition, the petition would not need supplementation and this procedure would be meaningless.)”. As such, the signatures in the supplement must be included as part of the rollback petition.

• Section 227.0022 of the Election Code states that a signer of the petition may not withdraw the signature from the petition after the date the petition is filed. As per Maverick County officials, 5 were withdrawn after the petition was filed.

• Mr. Schmerber specifically stated that 246 signatures were found invalid due the signatures not matching to records. The Secretary of State specifically asserts that the signatures on a petition do not have to match the signature on official voting records. Additionally, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts states that “To be valid, a voter’s signature is not required to appear exactly as the voter’s name appears on the most recent official voter registration list. If the taxing unit’s governing body is unable to verify a particular voter’s signature, it will look to the petition for some reasonable means to verify, such as home address”.

These clarifications can be found at the link below:

Texas Secretary of State:

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/laws/petitions.shtml

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts:

https://www.comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/truth-in-taxation/rollback-elections.php

I acknowledge that incomplete signatures and duplicate signatures existed in the petition. I noted those prior to submitting the petition. However, alone, the inclusion of these additional signatures exceeds the amount required to call for a rollback election.

I must also add that I have grown increasingly concerned after reviewing the released list of verified signatures. With over 450 petitioners deemed “not registered”, I have found several instances where registered voters were found to be “not registered”. Many of these are individuals I know personally andI I have confirmed that they are on the voter registration list. Your actions have disenfranchised these individuals and violated their rights by not including them.

Unfortunately, I am certain they are not alone. If necessary, we will be providing you with the list of all such voters once all necessary documentation is provided.I request a prompt response on how these violations of law will be corrected because it is clear that there was a lack of knowledge on the laws and regulations that pertain to rollback petitions.

Ethelvina I. Felan
Maverick County Taxpayer

January 10th, 2017 | News

Maverick County Taxpayer contests County’s invalidation of Tax Rollback Petition

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