posted May 30 -

Bee County commissioners agreed Monday to change the way the county charges for tax collection services.

Commissioners voted unanimously to rescind a flat rate of $2 per parcel for the four school districts and charge all area taxing entities a percentage-based fee according to the number of parcels of property they collect taxes on, the amount the taxing entities will receive in tax revenue and other factors recommended by the state comptroller’s office.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Susan Stasny said the percentage-based formula is fairer than the flat rate because some taxing entities have more parcels of property than others and a very low tax rate.

The county tax assessor-collector’s office collects taxes for all the other local taxing entities, including school districts in Pawnee, Skidmore-Tynan, Pettus and Beeville.

At $2 per parcel, the Beeville ISD would have paid the county about $25,000 for tax collection. Under the percentage-based rate, the school district will pay roughly twice that amount, Stasny said.

Commissioners also voted Monday to notify the four area school districts that the county will not honor any resolution they have passed that sets a fee for tax collection services.

Beeville ISD passed a resolution earlier this month calling for the school district to pay the county $1 per parcel of property for collection services. Under the $1 per parcel rate, the school district would have paid the county about $13,000 for tax collection. Skidmore-Tynan has passed a similar resolution calling for it to pay the county nothing for tax collection services.

Bee County Attorney Michael Knight told commissioners they are solely responsible for setting the rate for tax collection services by the county. If the other taxing entities don’t like the rate, they may negotiate for a lower amount or collect their own taxes, he explained.

County Tax Assessor-Collector Andrea Gibbud told commissioners at a meeting earlier this month that they must base their rate on the actual cost of collection services to the county, which she figured to be just over $3,000.

She said the flat rate fee of $2 per parcel is baseless. She said she will ask the county attorney to seek an opinion on the matter from the Texas Attorney General’s office.

Stasny said she is puzzled by Gibbud’s about face, noting that the tax assessor-collector told commissioners in a letter dated August 2007 that the “$2 fee is working well for Bee County.”

During their regularly monthly meeting on Monday, commissioners also voted to notify Gibbud that she is not to honor any of the school districts’ resolutions regarding fees, and designated County Auditor Susan Morón to charge the taxing entities the amount set by the Commissioners Court.

Gibbud was not at the meeting.

The Texas Comptroller’s office was called in several years ago to study the tax collection fees in Bee County and determine the actual cost for Bee County to collect taxes for all of the taxing entities.

The comptroller’s office issued a report to commissioners that revealed the county had overcharged the other taxing entities for tax collection services.

After learning of the overcharges, instead of reimbursing the taxing entities, the county charged each taxing entity a reduced fee of $2 per parcel of property for the last three years for the school districts and a reduced rate for all the other taxing jurisdictions.