IS CITY STAFF ON DELINQUENT TAX FIRM'S PAYROLL? PUBLIC "NOTICE" A RINGING ENDORSEMENT OF LINEBARGER RENEWAL

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

If you didn't know any better, you'd think that the notice of a public hearing to enter into an agreement renewal with delinquent property-tax collections firm  Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP that will stretch out until December 2024 was written by that firm's public relations department.

The current contract with the firm will expire on December 31. If the city commission approves the second renewal, it will extend the current agreement for an additional year to December 31, 2024.

Only then – after exercising the second and final renewal option – city staff will use the upcoming year to prepare and solicit responses for a request for proposals (RFP) for ad valorem tax collection services.  

Under that option, no other tax collection firms were contacted or allowed to submit competing proposals.

Instead, the notice states that the "agreement to be considered"  is necessary for the delinquent taxes owed to the City of Brownsville to be collected in the most effective manner. It then heaps lavish praise on the firm and mentions no other options for the city commission to consider. 

"The Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP firm is fully qualified to provide this representation, being the largest delinquent tax collection law firm in the State of Texas, as well as the United States and having been engaged in this specialized legal service for more than 40 years. In addition, the Linebarger Goggan Blair and Sampson, LLP firm possesses infrastructure and technology, such as call center technology, that the City does not currently possess."

"Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP has represented City for at least the past 11 years with competence and professionalism, in the collection of delinquent property taxes. The specialized legal services required by this agreement cannot be adequately performed by the attorneys and supporting personnel of the City due to the high cost of implementing the appropriate infrastructure and technology and employing sufficient in-house attorneys and staff with the level of experience and competence necessary to perform these activities."

"Entering into the proposed agreement via a renewal is in the best interests of the residents of the City of Brownsville because the delinquent taxes will be professionally and competently collected  without the additional costs to the City of implementing infrastructure and technology, and employing in-house personnel or paying outside counsel on an hourly fee basis which would otherwise be required."

Really?  

That would be news to the Brownsville Independent School District, which opted to hire competing firm Perdue Brandon Fielder, Collins and Mott using the same criteria that the city uses to justify the one-year extension with Linebarger. They board of the BISD hired that firm after they found that a Linebarger "oversight" had resulted in the district missing out on an estimated $3 million from the state.

At that time, Linebarger representative John Guevara downplayed 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. 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.

It now appears that Linebarger has been chosen by the city's staff and city management for a simple "renewal" option that denies other firms a shot at the contract. Will the city commission exercise its discretion and insist on a competitive process to get the best deal for the city, or will the tail continue to wag the dog?