BASTROP COUNTY, Texas — According to the Austin-American Statesman, a report by McCreary, Veselka, Bragg and Allen law firm stated property owners in Bastrop County owe nearly $2-million in taxes and the county may never see all of that money.
The Austin Statesman reported about half of the money is unable to be collected due to different issues including bankruptcy, the people who owe the county money can't be located, or they have a legal reason as to why they don't have to pay.
The largest portion of these taxes that can't be collected is about $560,000, which comes from taxpayers who have signed a tax deferral affidavit, which under the state tax code, prevents collection of taxes assessed against a homestead, according to the Austin Statesman.
The Austin Statesman said the second largest amount of unpaid taxes is about $550,000, which stems from delinquent tax lawsuits. From July of 2015 to this fall, the legal firm McCreary, Veselka, Bragg and Allen has filed 865 delinquent tax suits seeking payments on 1,358 properties. A judgement was entered by a Bastrop County district court judge in 508 of those cases, impacting 842 properties. The judgements authorized the county to sell the properties so it can recover the outstanding taxes, penalties, interest and court costs, according to the Austin Statesman.
“Often, a property owner will pay the delinquent taxes prior to the sale date or enter into an acceptable installment payment plan,” the firm’s report read. “All installment payment plans are monitored for compliance. If a default is made on an installment payment plan, the property is again posted for sale.”
The Austin Statesman stated about $138,000 is owed in payment plans, and about $27,000 is owed by property owners who have filed for bankruptcy, which prohibits the firm from collecting the unpaid taxes.
Many property owners can't be located and this group represents about $153,000 in unpaid taxes, which are usually tied to mobile homes no longer in the county, according to the Austin Statesman.
“In some cases, the record owners are deceased and their heirs are unknown or cannot be located,” the report read. “The owners of these vacant and abandoned properties will be served with citation by publication and the properties sold at tax sales.”
The Austin Statesman said the amount owed accounts for a small portion collected each year. In the 2017-18 fiscal year, the county brought in $22.4-million in property tax revenue, which is about 60-percent of the county's budget.