Small Town News

Tax mixup costs fire departments

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Hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars due to the Dripping Springs fire department were apparently misdirected to Kyle over the course of several years due to a clerical error, emergency services officials said this week.

Based on the 2010 values and rates, Kyle's Emergency Services District (ESD) No. 5 took an extra $93, 000 last year, while ESD No. 6, the taxing arm of the North Hays County Fire Department, lost about $77, 000 and the Dripping

Springs-area ambulance service was shortchanged about $25, 000, estimated Hays County Tax Assessor-Collector Luanne Caraway.

While it's unclear how long the tax money has been going astray, it's possible that the mix-up began in 2008, when the Northwest ESD

No. 5 changed its name to ESD No. 6. Staff in the Hays County Appraisal District office apparently miscoded a number of properties, said Hays County Chief Appraiser David Valle.

"It was a mix-up," Valle said. "I've personally apologized to the ESD

board members."

At least 465 properties in ESD No. 6 with an assessed value of $ 110 million, including Salt Lick Restaurant and a number of homes in the upscale La Ventana subdivision, were incorrectiy paying property tax to ESD No. 5, Caraway said.

However, it's possible that there are more incorrectly coded properties that haven't yet been discovered, said ESD No. 6 Board President Bob Love.

"To this day we don't know how much money we're talking about," Love said. "We don't know how far

back it goes or when it started. No one's told us anything about how much we're due. It's becoming somewhat frustrating."

Love noted that Valle has attended several ESD board meetings and worked with commissioners to fix the error.

The mix-up may have escaped notice for several years. Last summer, Jennifer Rodriguez, an attorney and commissioner on the ESD No. 6 board, was comparing tax bills with her neighbors in La Ven-tana and noticed that some of the bills had an assessment from ESD No. 5.

Commissioners brought the problem to the attention of the Appraisal District. While Valle said his office has corrected the issue for 2011, state code only gives taxing entities until June 1 to challenge the appraisal role, meaning ESD No. 6 likely has little chance of getting any back-taxes returned for previous years. Valle said his office only researched the error for 2010, and he's not sure how much money was sent to the wrong department over the years.

Since ESD No. 5 actually charges a lower rate than ESD No. 6 and its ambulance service, the homeowners caught up in the mix-up actually benefited from the error, to the tune of about $15 per year on a $150, 000 home.

However, the 16, 000 properties in ESD No. 6 may have been paying a slighdy higher tax rate over the last three years because of the missing properties on the tax rolls.

The sprawling North Hays County Fire Department covers 281 square miles, including the property-rich slice of the county around Dripping Springs, full of gentiemen's ranchettes featuring half-million dollar homes.

The lost money doesn't represent a huge percentage of the emergency district's $2.2 million budget, but it's not spare change, Love noted.

"There's a lot we can do with a $100, 000," Love said. "That's two paid firefighters. But it's really more of the principle. Taxpayers pay tax dollars for

fire protection, and they expect that tax dollar to go to the right entity."

With increasing costs for personnel and fuel, Love said the district likely wouldn't lower its tax rate of 7.95 cents per $100 of property valuation, one of the lowest in the county. However, the extra income could help the district avoid a tax increase.

Beth Smith, the Kyle-area Justice of the Peace who serves as board president of ESD No. 5, said the lost revenue wouldn't make a huge impact on the Kyle Fire Department's $1.5 million budget.

Last year, the fire department constructed a new $3.6 million station, and has been adding more personnel to keep up with sharp residential growth.

"It was nothing that we panicked about," Smith said. "They'll have more money to work with and we'll have a litde bit less. We may have to trim a little something from the budget here and there."

Smith added,"I guess it was an honest mistake on the appraisal district's part. We were just as surprised as anyone else."

"There's a lot we can do with a $100, 000. That's two paid firefighters. But it's really more of the principle."

- Bob Love, Board President of ESD No. 6



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© 2011 The Free Press Buda, Texas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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