The group known as Maverick County Concerned Tax Payers continue to seek a response from the county as to miscalculations in the current tax rate, this time by creating a tax rate rollback petition.
“We are asking all registered voters to go and sign the petition for the rollback election. Once we have the signatures, we’ll take them to the county clerk’s office, they’ll go over and make sure the names are correct, and they’ll call for an election to rollback the taxes,” said a member who chose to remain anonymous.
The group says according to their calculations the rate should be 41 cents per 100: a 13 cent difference from the current 54 cents per hundred, which would mean savings for many.
“If this election takes place, and the tax payers of Maverick County approve it, then those like us that paid taxes in October because of the 3 percent discount that they gave us, we should get reimbursed for that difference,” the group member said. ”On a $50,000 home, the difference is $65 more, businesses the same thing, you’ll get reimbursed. Everybody, that paid in October will get reimbursement. It’s very important that the tax payers and voters sign the petition.”
The group is encouraging Maverick County citizens to stop by one of three locations where they can sign the petition: Panchito’s Supermarket at 1580 Eidson Road, Danny’s Restaurant at 2647 N Veterans Blvd., and The Roma Apartments at 452 Washington Street, or call phone number 210-920-5404 for more information. Stamped envelopes will be available at both locations, and those who wish to mail the forms themselves can send the documents to P.O. Box 5116 Eagle Pass, Tx. There will also be people throughout the county asking for others to sign the petition.
“We just need the tax payers of Maverick County and registered voters to sign the petition so we can have this rollback election. It’s very important because we figured the county commissioners, aligned with the county judge are trying to collect more money than they’re entitled to by law and the property tax code. It’s not that they maliciously did it, it’s just the calculation they used to come up with the tax rate is incorrect.”
Less than 30 days are left for the tax payer drive to collect enough signatures to force an election on reducing the Maverick County tax rate. Registered voters in Maverick County can take just seconds to fill out a single line with the date, signature, printed name, residence address and date of birth on the Tax Rate Rollback Petition form obtained from the Texas Comptroller.
The group began asking questions in the fall when they noticed approximately $3 million in sales tax revenue had not been used in calculating the tax rate for the 2016-2017 fiscal year.
Ethelvina Felán, one of the groups most outspoken members, has been a primary player in the investigation.
“We’re scratching our heads wondering what is it exactly that they approved and how they came up with the numbers for the tax rate they adopted when we had actually gone up there and told them to their faces, ‘Hey this is supposed to be the actual approximate percentage rate’ and they still ignored us, and they still wanted just to get their own numbers,” said Felan in a previous interview. “We as Maverick County citizens have a right to know the truth. Why is it that they’re trying to hide all this? What is it that they’re hiding? Another corruption?Look at how many of those elected officials are sitting in prison right now. Whenever we go out somewhere, they find out where we’re from and they’re like oh, you’re from that corrupted city. It’s embarrassing. We need to put a stop to that.”
Two of the group’s remaining concerns include the current year’s tax bills, which they say are missing information and therefore do not follow Tax Code Section 31.01 which states “Taxing units that levy the additional sales tax must show on tax bills the amount of additional property taxes the taxpayer would have paid had the additional sales tax not been adopted; and if an estimate can be provided on the total amount of additional property taxes that the tax payers would have paid had the additional sales tax had not been adopted because the half-cent additional sales tax adopted for property relief was reduced from property taxes but not shown on tax bills.