TAX DELINQUENT SWEEPSTAKES HELD AT BISD AT NOON TODAY

VI.A. Presentations regarding RFQ #23-169 Delinquent Ad Valorem Tax Attorney Services as required on the specifications of the request for qualifications.

VIII.A. Discussion, consideration, and possible action on awarding RFQ #23-169 Delinquent Ad Valorem Tax Attorney Services and authorizing contract negotiation. The contract will be valid for one year, upon Board approval of the said contract, with the option to renew.

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

"Round and round she goes..."The tax delinquent contract potentially worth millions to the winning company will be awarded during today's specially-called meeting of the Brownsville Independent School District meeting.

And according to some inside sources, the one-year deal may not go to Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP, which traditionally has landed the biggest accounts in the Rio Grande Valley and Texas, but to up-and-coming competitor Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins and Mott‚ LLP.

Both companies will make their presentations before the board at a specially-called meeting at noon (12) today and the awarding of the contract is the only action item after the board conducts deliberations in closed session.

Both companies have butted heads for the BISD contract before, with Perdue – at the last go-round in 2021 – pointing out that Linebarger had cost the district millions.

The last time that the board of the Brownsville Independent School District addressed the multi-million delinquent tax contract, they heard Linebarger representative John Guevara downplaying the district's possible loss of an estimated $2.4 million due to the firm's failure to file taxable value audits with the Texas State Comptroller for the years 2011-2014.

The Texas Education Agency partial results of four years placed the total nearer to $3 million.

The BISD superintendent then – Dr. Sylvia Hatton – was alerted by Linebarger competitor Perdue, in 2019 to the failure of Linebarger to file the taxable value audits in May 2020. They estimated that the BISD could lose some $2.4 million as a result.

In a nutshell, when the FY taxable values are audited years later, any miscalculation that results in the loss of taxable value revenues are made up by the Texas Education Agency's Foundation School Program.

Guevara at first denied the failure of his firm to perform the audits.

Perdue representatives warned that unless the district timely filed a taxable value audit with the Texas Comptroller's Office, it stood to lose millions in funds from the state for the years 2015. The deadline to recoup the funds was June 2019. When Perdue's reps visited with Hatton and other BISD officials, they were told that the BISD had already hired Linebarger to perform the audits which at first they had asserted had been done.

The board was considering RFQs for the 2020 collection services. The delinquent tax contract is no small potatoes. It is estimated to have earned Linebarger some $800,000 a year for the last five years for a total of some $4 million during that time.

And apart from the financial considerations, there is always the political angle. Linebargers's generous contributions have swayed many school boards and other governmental entities to go their way by hiring local politicians as lobbyists in their areas. At state level, they actively lobby top state officials and ply them with generous campaign contributions.

And with the political season in full swing, and candidates eyeing a run for office, the awarding of the lucrative contract depends which company will be more generous to elected officials and others seeking office. Or perhaps there is some horse trading going on with members delivering a vote on behalf of one of the firms for a vote on another topic later, such as the board counsel contract.

"We usually give to both candidates running for office," said a representative for one of the firms. "We won't fund the entire campaign for any one candidate, but sometimes we do support both candidates in a race to be safe."