Maverick County Judge David R. Saucedo’s Response to County Taxpayers Lawsuit

(Press Release) You have a “so-called” tax payers association that claims to call for transparency, yet fails to live up to its own expectations and would much rather operate by attempting to shock and anger our citizens with false accusations. Don’t let the smoke and mirrors fool you. What gets lost in their message, actually it’s never even mentioned, is the fact that your County taxes are lower this year than they were last year. What’s more, they’ve gone down each of the last two years and are the lowest they’ve been in the last five years. Don’t just take it from me, flip over your County tax statement and see the numbers for yourself.

It’s sad that this association chooses to not tell you this; They can’t claim to have not known. They would much rather sensationalize their story and accuse the County of circumventing the law, again failing to disclose that the County is not required to take the steps mentioned in their press release when taxes are being lowered.

Remember, we haven’t forgotten who we represent. My budgeting left a three million dollar surplus after this fiscal year, of which two-thirds of that has been set aside should contingencies and payments arise. That is correct. Maverick County is now operating in the black.  Moreover, we are the only entity to offer a 3-2-1 discount tax rate to our residents. Let me guess, they didn’t mention that either, did they? Instead, they’ve chosen to rally around a County Auditor that has made it increasingly difficult to provide important services to our residents. Mind you, this is the same auditor who has managed to put Maverick County through litigation when she was accused of racially discriminatory practices by her entire staff. The days of  “dejale la pata en el pescuezo a la gente” no longer exists in Maverick County. It went out in the 1960’s and I refuse to stand for it now. I take issue with a County Auditor that attempts to reflect her political philosophy onto County government practices, and even more so when she repeatedly insists on going outside the boundaries of her post, and by de facto, an organization that is supportive of such actions for the sole sake of being contrarian. Understand that we are here to uphold the law, and as long as we operate within the law, we have the right to accept or reject auditor recommendations.

Let’s remember who we represent and what we fight for. We’ll continue to fight for the needs of all of our citizens, regardless of the actions of a small group that caters to an elite faction that doesn’t care about this community as a whole.

Respectfully,

David R. Saucedo
Maverick County Judge