AT RIO HONDO ISD, DELINQUENT TAX CONTRACT BROUHAHA

10. Discussion, Consideration, and Possible Action to Approve a Contingent Fee Contract with Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins and Mott, LLP pursuant to Section 6.30 of the Tax Code, Said Contract Being for the Collection of Delinquent Government Receivables Owed to Rio Hondo Independent School District and Notice of Said Contract is Posted with the Agenda in Accordance with Section 2254 of the Government Code and to End Contract with Current Vendor. October 11 RHISD meeting agenda

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

How things change in two short weeks.

A few days after the board of the Rio Hondo Independent School District voted to award the delinquent property-tax contract to Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins and Mott, LLP and terminate its contract with current vendor Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP,  things fell apart.

Over at the Cameron County Tax Assessor's Collectors Office, Department director Tony Yzaguirre confirmed that he had received notice from the Rio Hondo ISD informing him tat the district would now have the new firm handling its delinquent tax accounts.

The vote was 4-0, board sources say. The minutes of the October 11 meeting, where the contract with Perdue was approved, are not yet available online in the district's website. But apparently, the four votes constituted a quorum since the other three members did not attend the meeting.

But just a few days later, a letter from the district informed both Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins and Mott, LLP and the county tax office that the contract was on hold due to unspecified legal "issues."

There has been no indication what these "issues" were, and the administration has not made any official public announcement on why it stopped the county and the new collector from conferring on the arrangements for them to take over the services of the collections.

"They mention something about problems with the way the agenda item was posted," Yzaguirre said. "So we are waiting for them to clear that up."

 
The Cameron County’s tax office had agreements with 38 taxing districts to offer service to their taxpayers. As of August, the city of Harlingen and the Harlingen, Los Fresnos and Rio Hondo school districts didn’t have interlocal government agreements with the tax office and collected their own property taxes.That changed when they inked an interlocal agreement with the county to collect their property taxes.

In Harlingen, the Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson law firm, which the four taxing districts contracted to collect their taxes, operates an office where taxpayers from Harlingen and the Los Fresnos and Rio Hondo school districts come to pay their taxes. That firm had assigned local attorneys to perform their collection of the delinquent taxes.

The county, then, will collect property taxes now, but as far as the delinquent-tax collections, it is up to the districts to decide who they want.

"We'll work with anyone they choose," Yzaguirre said Friday.

An interesting side note is that the Texas Local Government Code exempts the procurement of personal, professional, or planning services from competitive bidding or for the issuance of Requests For Proposals (RFPs).

Is it, as the district letter says, that "issues" have been brought up that has held up the new agreement with the Perdue delinquent-tax collections firm? Or is – as some allege – that representatives for vendor Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP, is twisting arms and promising "incentives" for the district to rescind a signed contract with Perdue?

After all, they say John Guevara, Linebarger's main representative, was once a Rio Hondo ISD board member and may have objected to the board rescinding a contract with his firm in favor of Perdue. Those "issues" will have to be resolved and until then, Cameron County and the new vendor will have to wait for them to be cleared.