Officials who oversee Beeville public schools and Bee County government met behind closed doors for 10 hours on Tuesday but could not agree on how much the county should charge local school districts for tax collection services.

“It was awful,” said Bee County Judge David Silva. “We met with them from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and came away empty-handed.”

Beeville ISD Superintendent Dr. John Hardwick confirmed the mediation hearing failed to resolve the dispute between the two parties.

“We reached an impasse,” he said.

Silva said the county and school district will now square off in court.

“It is literally going to cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars — $300,000 to $400,000 — for a $7,000 difference,” he lamented, referring to the amount BISD would have to pay in additional fees for the county to collect its property taxes.

The school district filed suit against the county earlier this year after the county raised the tax collection rate from $1.50 to $1.98 per parcel — which amounted to an additional $7,000 or so — and commissioners prohibited the tax assessor-collector from collecting taxes for the four school districts at any other rate.

School officials said they were forced to file suit because the school district would be crippled financially if its taxes were not collected.

A district court judge ordered both parties to attempt to resolve the dispute through mediation before embarking on a civil trial.

Bee County commissioners say they the higher rate was recommended by a two-member ad hoc committee charged with studying the issue and coming up with a fair rate for tax collection services.