Mayor target of tax probe

Is this retaliation? ’ MAYOR CLAUDE BROWN


Port Aransas City Attorney Mike Morris says he is investigating whether Mayor Claude C. Brown has been delinquent in paying property taxes and whether it would mean a violation of the city charter that could lead to Brown’s removal from office by the city council.

Brown, who hasn’t been charged with wrongdoing, said he never has been delinquent and that he will fight any attempt that might develop to remove him from office. He also questioned the motives of the Nueces County Appraisal District, which recently told him he had to pay more taxes than he expected on Port Aransas properties in which he has ownership or interests.

Brown said that the county has admitted to certain errors in dealing with his taxes, and he complained that he was informed that he owed taxes on some of his property even though he never received a bill for those taxes.

“Is this retaliation I’m getting from the appraisal district, just because I’m standing up for people getting taxed out of this town?” Brown said. “If it is, I’m pretty hot about it.”

Contacted for a response, the appraisal district’s public affairs officer, Vic Menard, provided a statement prepared by the organization’s chief appraiser, Ollie Grant. Grant’s statement emphasized that everyone has to pay their taxes properly, and when the appraisal district gets word that someone possibly hasn’t handled their taxes right, “the district must actively and expeditiously seek resolution.”

City manager Michael Kovacs said the investigation began after he heard Brown complain that the appraisal district recently asked him to pay more than $5,000 in taxes accrued over a two-year-period. The appraisal district requested the payment in June after removing homestead and over-65 tax exemptions for the previous two years worth of tax bills on a piece of property at 619 W. Ave. C, once owned by the 51-year-old Brown’s parents, who are deceased.

Kovacs said Brown complained to him about the situation during a break in a Port Aransas City Council goals workshop June 16.

“The mayor was upset about this and was talking basically to several of my staff and myself,” Kovacs said. “That’s when we realized, oh, my goodness.”

City employees “don’t go looking for charter issues,” Kovacs said. “But when they’re right in our face, we’ve got to look into it. The wording used to describe the problem was pretty eye-opening, because he did say … that someone turned him in.”

Kovacs said he brought the matter to Morris the next day, and they agreed that Morris should investigate whether Brown was delinquent in paying property taxes and whether that would represent a charter violation and what the possible consequences could be, should the Port Aransas City Council decide to pursue them.

On Monday, June 29, Morris told the South Jetty that he had not yet “fully determined” whether Brown was delinquent. He said he wasn’t sure when his investigation would be finished.

“In any case, the results would be communicated to city hall – the city manager and city council – before I would have any comment on it,” Morris said.

He said he is studying Article III, Section 6 of the charter.

In part, Morris said, he is looking at a portion of the city charter “that provides that a councilman while serving in office, shall not be indebted to the city.”

The charter allows the city council, under certain circumstances, to vote to remove a council member from office if there is a particular violation of the charter, Morris said. The action is called a forfeiture, and it means the council could determine that “the right of the office holder to hold the office no longer exists because of some violation,” Morris said. It would be up to the council to decide whether to take the action.

Records with the Nueces County Tax Assessor-Collector show that the owner of the property at 619 W. Avenue C is “Claude Brown et ux,” which means Claude Brown and spouse, said Amelia Figueroa, supervisor of collections at the county office. The reference is to Mayor Brown’s parents. The records show the ownership has been listed the same way at least since 2003, she said.

Mayor Brown’s father was Claude H. Brown. His wife was Lucille Brown.

Claude H. Brown died about 11 years ago, and Lucille Brown died in 2006, but the property remains in their names, because the probate process has not begun yet, the mayor said. He said he hasn’t started the probate process because he hasn’t had time to deal with it.

In 2007, the tax bill on the 619 W. Avenue C property totaled either $113.46 or $115.78, Figueroa said. Records were unclear on which amount is correct, but records are clear that the entire bill was paid on time, she said.

The amount that was paid was figured with homestead and over-65 exemptions, Figueroa said. Those exemptions had been in place since the mid-1980s, because the elder Claude Brown qualified for them, said Diana Vargas, director of records, exemptions and information at the appraisal district office.

Without the exemptions, the bill would have been $2,665.12 higher, Figueroa said. That includes $415.04 that would have gone toward City of Port Aransas taxes and $1,595.59 toward the Port Aransas Independent School District, she said.

In 2008, the tax bill on the 619 W. Avenue C property totaled $134.49 with homestead and over-65 exemptions, Figueroa said. That amount was paid, she said.

Without the exemptions, the bill would have been $2,594.25 higher. That would have included $282.02 for the City of Port Aransas and $1,573.82 for PAISD, Figueroa said.

The appraisal district allowed the exemptions for the past two years because agency officials didn’t know Claude H. and Lucille Brown had died, Vargas said. She said the appraisal district tries to monitor that kind of thing through probate records and obituaries. But, she said, the agency didn’t catch this one until being notified by phone from a tipster who did not provide a name.

The appraisal district checked out the tipster’s claim and found that Claude C. Brown’s last surviving parent, his mother, died Nov. 14, 2006, Vargas said. Lucille Brown, listed in an obituary as 83 years old when she died, never applied for the over-65 exemption, but she would have qualified, Vargas said.

The appraisal district removed the exemptions on June 5 and was preparing to mail a letter to Mayor Brown explaining the action, but district officials ended up speaking to him in person, Vargas said. That happened when Brown, by happenstance, visited the district offices to discuss another tax matter.

Brown said the appraisal district officials told him the exemptions were going to be removed, but that he wasn’t told that he was going to have to pay more 2007 and 2008 taxes on his parents’ old home.

Figueroa said the tax office mailed bills to Brown requesting payment for both years.

Brown said he received a bill for the extra taxes assessed for the 2008 year on his parents’ house, and he paid it. He said he never got a bill for the 2007 amount.

“I can’t pay if I don’t know I owe it,” he said.

Brown paid the $2,594.25 owed on the 2008 bill on Monday, June 29, Figueroa said.

The $2,665.12 owed on the 2007 tax bill was to become delinquent on Wednesday, July 1, if it was not paid by then, Figueroa said.

In an interview Monday, Brown said he planned to pay the bill in time.

Brown said he paid the exemptionslowered 2007 and 2008 bills and considered it proper because he didn’t see himself as being the person getting the exemptions, since the property was still in his father’s name.

“I really, truly didn’t believe that, until it was probated and put in my name, that I am truly responsible for it,” he said.

Brown said he used an old bank account belonging to his mother to pay the 2007 and 2008 tax bills – the ones with the exemptions – on his parents’ house. He said he is a signatory on the account.

Vargas said the tax code explicitly states that once a person dies, the family has to make the appraisal district aware of it, because the exemptions legally must end at the conclusion of that year.

In a June 30 interview, Brown said he had not told the appraisal district his parents had died because he didn’t know it was a requirement.

Brown said he consulted with a tax attorney on Tuesday, June 30. Based on that conversation, he said, he decided to sign a “payment agreement” at the tax assessor-collector’s office in which he promises to pay the 2007 amount. He said the agreement will prevent him from being declared delinquent.

Asked when he expects to pay, he said, “as quick as I can make some money and get it paid off. I don’t want to be in arrears and owe anyone anything.”

Brown said he is a victim of “bad economic times” right now, and his business isn’t making much money. As owner of Outlaw Services, he does crane work, demolition, welding, commercial diving, excavation and other work.

“As hard as it’s hitting me, I’ve put down everything I’ve got,” Brown said. “I’ve paid my dues as they’ve come to me.”

Brown said he has not been contacted by the city attorney regarding the investigation.

“Everything is done behind closed doors, behind my back,” he said.

“Rock on,” the mayor said, when asked about his reaction to the news of the investigation. “I don’t care. They’ve got their agenda to try to find some wrongdoing.”

Asked who might have an agenda, he replied, “Everyone that’s involved in it. Everyone who wants to claim this can jump on the bandwagon.”

Brown said anyone who tries to remove him from office “won’t have a leg to stand on.”
 



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