The city shall have the power to levy, assess and collect taxes
of every character and type not prohibited by the Constitution and
laws of the State of Texas and for any municipal purpose. The city
ad valorem property tax rate for any one year shall never exceed one
dollar and seventy-five cents ($1.75) per one hundred dollars assessed
value of taxable property.
(Amended at election of 5/7/94)
There shall be a tax assessor-collector, appointed by the city
responsible for the assessment and collection of all taxes levied
by the city. He/she, and all employees under him/her, shall be bonded.
(Amended at election of 5/7/94)
All property, real, personal or mixed having a situs within
the corporate limits of the city on January 1st of each year, not
expressly exempted by law, shall be subject to taxation by the city
for such year. The council shall prescribe the mode and manner of
making renditions, tax lists, assessments and tax rolls. Every person,
partnership, association or corporation which holds, owns or controls
property within the limits of the city shall, between January 1 and
April 1 of each year, file with the city tax assessor-collector a
full and complete sworn inventory of such property held, owned or
controlled within said limits on January 1 of such year. The council
may prescribe by ordinance the mode and manner of making such inventories
and penalties for failing or refusing to submit the same. The city
tax assessor-collector shall review all renditions made to him/her
and determine the value of the property rendered and fix the value
thereof for tax purposes. If the city tax assessor-collector fixes
a value higher than that shown on the owner’s rendition, he/she
shall give written notice thereof to such owner at his/her last known
address by depositing the same, postage paid, in the United States
mail, notifying him/her of such change and advising him/her that he/she
may appear before the board of equalization to protest such change.
In all cases where no rendition of real and personal property is made
by the owner thereof, the city tax assessor-collector shall ascertain
the amount and value of such property and assess the same and such
assessment shall be as valid and binding as if the property involved
had been rendered by such owner, provided that if the city tax assessor-collector
shall assess any such property which has not previously been assessed,
or if he/she shall assess any such property at a higher valuation
from that shown on the last preceding tax roll, he/she shall give
notice of such assessment, or such change in assessment, as above
provided.
All assessments of real property, whether rendered by the owner
or assessed by the city tax assessor-collector, shall list the value
of land and improvements and describe such property sufficiently to
identify it, giving the name of the last known owner thereof. The
city tax assessor-collector shall assess all property which has been
omitted from assessment in prior years upon a current supplemental
assessment roll. The taxes upon such supplemental assessments shall
be due at once and if not paid within sixty days thereafter shall
be deemed delinquent and shall be subject to the same penalty and
interest as other delinquent taxes for such year. If the ownership
of any property should be unknown to the city tax assessor-collector,
he/she shall enter that fact in the record.
In addition to the powers granted by this section, he/she shall
have the same power as county tax assessors and collectors in Texas
to make reassessments, all at the same value and tax rates as such
property should have been assessed and taxed for past years and indicating
the year or years for which it is assessed.
(Amended at election of 5/7/94)
The council shall each year prior to June 1 appoint a member
to the board of equalization as required by state law. The member
of said board shall be a qualified voter and a property owner within
the city and shall be well informed of property values within the
city. Three members will constitute a quorum for the transaction of
business. Said board shall choose from its membership a chairman,
who shall preside at all meetings of the board, and a vice-chairman
who shall act in the chairman’s absence. Members of the board
shall receive such compensation as may be provided by the council.
The board of equalization shall convene as soon as practicable
after June 1 and shall give public notice of its time and place of
meeting. The board shall adjust assessed values and, in addition to
the powers herein granted, shall have all the powers of a county commissioner’s
court in regard to the equalization of assessed values of property
for taxation. Whenever the board shall find it necessary to increase
the rendered or assessed value of any property appearing on the assessment
rolls, it shall give immediate notice to the owner of such property,
or the person rendering the same, and provide said owner an opportunity
to appear and show cause why the value of such property should not
be changed. The notice herein required may be served by mailing the
same to the last known address of the owner, postage paid. The board
shall have the same powers to subpoena property owners of the city,
witnesses, books, and records as are granted by the laws of the state
to the county board of equalization and shall have the power to administer
oaths and to punish for contempt as provided by ordinance.
The board shall be governed by such rules and regulations and
shall have such additional powers as may be prescribed by ordinance,
but it may adopt such further rules and regulations of its own which
are not in conflict with any ordinance, this Charter or the laws of
the State of Texas. The board shall cause a record of its proceedings
to be made and such record shall be preserved to the same extent and
in the same manner as other tax records of the city. Immediately upon
completion of its work, the board shall certify its approval of the
assessment rolls and forward the same to the council. The council
shall thereupon consider and approve the assessment rolls of the city
for that tax year.
(Amended at election of 5/7/94)
All taxes due to the city shall be payable at the office of
the city tax assessor-collector. Ad valorem taxes shall become due
and payable on the first day of October in each year, shall be paid
before the first day of February thereafter, and, if not so paid,
a penalty shall accrue and be added thereto and be enforced and collected
in the same manner as such original taxes; such penalty and collection
to be provided by ordinance as designated by the city.
(Amended at election of 5/7/94)
All property, real, personal and mixed, situated in the city
on the first day of January of each year shall stand charged with
a lien in favor of the city from said date for the taxes due thereon.
The liens provided herein shall be superior to all other liens, except
liens for state and county taxes, regardless of when such other liens
were created. All persons purchasing any of said property after the
first day of January in any year shall take same subject to the liens
herein provided. In addition to the liens herein provided, the owner
on the first day of January of any year of property subject to taxation
by the city shall be personally liable for the taxes due thereon for
such year. The city shall have power to sue for and recover personal
judgment for taxes without foreclosure or to foreclose its lien or
liens or to recover both personal judgment and foreclosure. In any
such suit, where it appears that the description of any property in
the city assessment rolls is insufficient to identify such property,
the city shall have the right to plead a good description of the property
to be assessed, to prove the same and to have its judgment foreclosing
the tax lien or for personal judgment against the owner for such taxes.
(Amended at election of 5/7/94)
The city tax assessor-collector shall not be required to make
separate assessments of joint or conflicting interests in any real
estate. The owner of any such interest may furnish to the city tax
assessor-collector at any time before April 1 of each year a written
description of any parcel of land in which he/she has an interest
less than the whole, showing the amount of his/her interest therein,
and the city tax assessor-collector may thereupon assess such interest
as a separate parcel.
The city tax assessor-collector may receive the taxes on part
of any lot or parcels of real estate, or an undivided interest therein,
but no such taxes shall be received until the person rendering the
same shall have furnished the city tax assessor-collector a full description
of the particular part of interest on which payment is tendered.
(Amended at election of 5/7/94)
The city shall be entitled to counterclaim and offset against
any debt, claim, demand or account owed by the city to any person,
firm or corporation who is in arrears to the city for taxes in the
amount of taxes so in arrears, including all penalties and interest,
and no assignment or transfer of such debt, claim, demand or account
after the said taxes are due shall affect the right of the city to
so offset against the same.
(Amended at election of 5/7/94)
Except as otherwise provided by law or this Charter, the council
shall have the power to provide by ordinance for the assessment and
collection of all taxes and to make such rules, regulations and mode
of procedure to enforce the collection by and payment to the city
tax assessor-collector as it may deem expedient and shall provide
such penalties for the failure to pay such taxes as it may deem expedient.
(Amended at election of 5/7/94)
