The City Commission shall have the power under provisions of State law and this Charter to levy, assess, and collect an annual tax upon taxable properties within the City.
The City Commission shall have, in accordance with this Charter and law, the power by ordinance to regulate the mode and manner of making out tax lists, inventories and appraisements of property for taxation and to prescribe the oath that shall be administered to each person on such rendition of his property, and to prescribe the manner and form of assessments rolls, and to fix the duties and define the power of the City Tax Assessor and Collector, and adopt such measures as the City Commission may deem advisable to secure the assessment of all property subject to taxation within the City and to provide for the equalization of all taxes assessed. The Tax Assessor and Collector shall be under the supervision of the City Manager and shall be appointed[,] compensation fixed, and, when necessary, removed in accordance with this Charter and in particular Article IV (note that the Tax Assessor and Collector shall be considered the same as a Department Director).
For any ten (10) year period increasing the tax levy for the first, second, or third time and for an increase no greater than ten (10) per centum shall be authorized by ordinance passed and approved by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the City Commission.
For any ten (10) year period increasing the tax levy for the fourth or more time and/or for an increase greater than ten (10) per centum shall be authorized by ordinance passed by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the City Commission and approved by a majority of the qualified voters of the City who are property taxpayers voting at the election called for the purpose of authorizing tax levy increase. If for any ten (10) year period an amount equal to prior increase in the tax levy decreases the tax levy, then this prior increase in the tax levy shall not be counted as one of the three maximum increases allowed for the City Commission to authorize without approval from the qualified voters.
The City Commission shall appoint three residents as a Board for the purpose of equalizing assessments upon all property assessed for City purposes. These three residents shall be qualified voters; shall be real property owners; as far as practicable, shall be representative of ownership of the various types of building construction in the City and of the various economic levels of the City; and shall reside in one Board of Equalization section where the other two members shall not reside. The City Commission shall divide, as far as practicable the City into three nearly equal sections, each known as a Board of Equalization section with its north and south boundaries beginning at the far western City limits boundary and ending at the far eastern City limits boundary. If the City Commission after spending a reasonable time attempting to comply is unable to find a resident as previously required by this Charter to serve on said board, then the City Commission may appoint any resident at their discretion to serve on said board. The Board of Equalization shall act under such rules as may be prescribed by ordinance. It shall be the duty of such Board to examine and, if necessary, revise assessments as returned by the City Tax Assessor and Collector, to the end that all property within the City shall be assessed as fairly and equally as possible. Not less than one week before the first meeting of the Board of Equalization in any year, notice shall be given as prescribed by law. Notice of the first meeting of the Board of Equalization shall be held on June 1 of each year, or as soon thereafter as practicable. After such first meeting, the Board may adjourn from time to time, and a vote of adjournment to a particular time and place shall be sufficient notice of the meeting so held. Any person who may object or complain as to the assessment of his property for City purposes shall have the right to appeal to the Board of Equalization either in person or by authorized agent, and such appeal may be made either by personal appearance before the Board or in writing. The Board of Equalization shall have power to summon any property owner of the City before them, to take testimony under oath, and to require the production of books, papers, accounts and other evidence of the ownership and value of property within the City. Any person failing to appear before the Board when summoned, or failing to give or produce such testimony or evidence, shall be guilty of contempt and may be punished by the Board with a fine not to exceed two hundred dollars ($200.00). The assessment of property for the City purposes as revised or fixed by the Board of Equalization after the property owner has had an opportunity for hearing as provided by State law shall be final.
The City Commission shall have full power and authority to provide by ordinance for the seizure and sale by the City Tax Assessor and Collector of a sufficient amount of personal property of any delinquent taxpayer to pay all taxes due on said personal property by said delinquent to the City, together with all interest, penalties and costs, which seizure and sale shall be made without necessity of any writ and by virtue of the tax rolls of said City, which shall be sufficient warrant for said purpose, and such shall be conducted and notice shall be given in the same manner now provided by law for the sale of personal property by county tax collectors, and at such sale the purchaser shall acquire absolute title to the property sold.
The City Commission shall have full power and authority to pass all ordinances necessary to regulate advertisements and sales, by the Tax Assessor and Collector, of personal property upon which taxes may be unpaid, and to provide for the perpetuation of all proceedings with reference to such advertisements and sale; and to pass all ordinances necessary to enforce the collection of such taxes.
All taxes[,] excises and charges heretofore levied or made by the City and remaining unpaid, in whole or in part, at the time this Charter takes effect, shall remain subject to and governed by the laws of the state and the ordinances, rules and regulations of the City now existing applicable thereto.
All ad valorem taxes levied by the City shall become payable on the first day of October of each year for which such taxes are levied, and shall become delinquent on February 1st next following the year in which they are levied. All such taxes not paid before February 1st next following the year in which they are levied shall thereafter bear interest at the rate of six (6%) per cent per annum until paid; and in addition thereto, there shall be collected the following penalty thereon, to-wit: During the month of February 1%; during the month of March 2%; during the month of April 3%; during the month of May 4%; during the month of June 5%; and on an after the first day [of] July 8%; together with costs in the amount of $1.00 each year tax is cleared by redemption receipt. Interest, penalties and costs shall become a part of the tax collected in the same manner. In any case in which suit is brought for collection of delinquent taxes, there shall be charged and collected an amount equal to 10% of the taxes, penalties and interest due, as collection costs, and the same shall be secured by the lien securing the payment of such taxes.
All taxes due and to become due to the City shall be payable at the office of the City Tax Assessor and Collector, and no demands shall be required to be made upon any taxpayer, it being the duty of each taxpayer to attend at the Collector’s office and pay his taxes.
A lien is hereby created on all property, real and personal, in favor of the City for all taxes, ad valorem, occupation, or otherwise, assessed against such property. Said lien shall exist from the first day of January in each year during which the tax is levied until the taxes are paid; such lien shall be prior to all other claims, and no gift, sale, assignment, or transfer of any kind, of [or] judicial writ of any kind can ever defeat such lien, but the Tax Assessor and Collector of taxes can pursue such property and whenever found may seize and sell enough thereof to satisfy such taxes, or the City may enforce and foreclose said liens, by suit or otherwise, in any court having jurisdiction, and may cause all or pay part of such property to be sold to satisfy such taxes.
The City Commission may by ordinance provide that all taxes, either current or delinquent, due the City may be paid [in] installments.
The annual assessment of taxes made by the City of San Juan upon landed property shall be a special lien thereon, and all property, both real and personal, belonging to any delinquent taxpayer shall be liable to seizure and sale for the payment of all taxes and penalties due by such delinquent; provided that the homestead of such delinquent shall only be liable for the taxes, interest, penalties and costs due or accruing thereon.
All real property in the City upon the first day of January of each year and subject to taxation by said City, shall stand charged with a special lien in favor of the City for all taxes levied against the owner thereof during the year, superior to all mortgages and other liens thereupon, except the liens for taxes due other public taxing units authorized by law to levy taxes thereon and for which taxes lien is given by law on such property, and all persons purchasing the same after the first day of January of any year shall take the same subject to such lien, and the City may intervene in any suit for the foreclosure of any other lien and asserts its right or may institute an independent suit and make all mortgages and lien holders and subsequent purchasers parties for the purpose of enforcing its lien, or recovering personal judgement for its taxes, and said City shall be authorized and it is hereby made the duty of the City Tax Assessor and Collector to file the proper statement of the taxes in any court of bankruptcy administering the estate of any bankrupt taxpayer.
In all cases where a taxpayer makes an assignment of his property for the payment of his debts, or where his property is levied upon by creditors by writs of attachment or otherwise, or where the estate of a decedent has become insolvent and the taxes assessed again [against] such in whole, the amount of such unpaid taxes shall be a first lien upon all such property; provided that when taxes are due upon the estate of a deceased person the lien herein provided for shall be subject to the allowances to widows and minors, funeral expenses and expenses of last sickness, and such unpaid taxes shall be paid by the assignee when said property has been assigned, by the sheriff out of the proceeds of sale in case such property has been seized by attachment or other writ, and by the administrator or other legal representatives of decedents; and if said taxes shall not be paid, all said property may be levied on by Tax Collector and sold for such taxes in whosoever’s hands it may be found.
If it comes to the knowledge of the City Tax Assessor and Collector at any time after the levy of taxes for the year that any personal property subject to taxation in the City is about to be removed from the City, and the owner of such property has no other tangible property in the City sufficient to satisfy all assessments against him, the Tax Assessor and Collector shall, if said property has not been assessed, proceed at once to assess the same and he shall thereupon levy upon a sufficiency of such property to satisfy such taxes and and costs and sell the same as provided in section 6.07; and the ordinance levying taxes for the year and the assessment made upon such property shall be sufficient warrant for so doing and to vest title in the purchaser.
The City shall be authorized and it is hereby given the right to institute suit in any court in Hidalgo County having jurisdiction under the constitution and laws of the State at any time after taxes become due and are delinquent as herein provided, and recover personal judgement for the amount of taxes remaining unpaid by any person, firm or corporation, together with all interest, penalties, and costs, and if any part of such delinquent tax shall be due upon any landed or personal property, the City shall have the right in the same or any subsequent suit to have its lien thereon foreclose[d] and such property sold as provided by law for the foreclosure and sale of property under mortgage or other liens; provided that in all cases where lands are sold the owner shall have the right within two years from the date of the filing of the tax deed to redeem his land from the purchaser under such judgement as provided to SECTION 12, Acts 1937, 45th Leg., Ch. 506 p. 149-a, as amended, or as may hereafter be provided by the laws of Texas or by ordinance of the City and failing to do so, the title of the purchaser shall become absolute without further act or proceeding. The privilege of redemption shall constitute part of the judgment and deed made to the purchaser and in such cases need do not need [sic] be inserted therein.
The applicable provisions of the laws and Rules of Civil Procedure of the state relating to parties and process in suits for the collection of delinquent ad valorem taxes and the foreclosure of the liens thereof shall govern in such tax suits of the City.
In all tax suits in which service of process is by publication or posting, the case shall stand for trial at the same time and in the manner as provided by law or the rules of Civil Procedure in similar cases. The suit shall be held in all respects to be a proceeding in rem, and the court shall hear proof and render judgment in favor of the City against each parcel of land for the amount of the tax, interest, penalty, and costs legally chargeable against the same and shall foreclose the lien of the City thereon and condemn the land to be sold as under execution for the purpose of satisfying such judgment; provided, that for the purpose of foreclosing the lien of the City on all lands and lots where the owners thereof are alleged to be unknown, it shall not be necessary to institute a separate suit against each piece of property, and all such property may, if the City so elects, be embraced in one suit and judgment entered against each parcel and condemning the same to be sold as aforesaid.
It shall be competent in all cases to supplement the description contained in the assessment rolls with full proof of the identity of the whole tract or parcel of land therein assessed, and in suits to enforce collection of taxes by the City, such additional matters may be inserted in the petition and reference may be made to any map, plat or survey of said City or any addition or subdivision made thereto or to any deed or decree or other instrument describing the same, which shall be on file or of record in the General Land Office of Texas or in the office of the District or County Clerk of Hidalgo County, and such reference shall constitute part of such petition and all proceedings had in said suit.
In all suits for the collection of taxes which have been heretofore or which may hereafter be levied upon the tax rolls of said City a certified statement made therefrom by the Tax Assessor and Collector shall be prima facie evidence of the truth of all recitation and facts shown be [by] said rolls and shall be held to be sufficient proof (subject to rebuttal only by pleading and proof by defendant) of the following facts, viz:
(a)
That the person, firm or corporation therein shown to be a taxpayer was such and owned the property therein listed, and that such property was subject to taxation in said City and was rendered by such person, firm or corporation or by his or its agent at the value place[d] thereon in such rolls or was unrendered and placed on the unrendered rolls.
(b)
That the taxes due upon such property were duly and legally levied for the purpose shown in such rolls and that the same are valid and unpaid.
(c)
That all acts and proceedings required by law or by ordinance of said City in the manner for rendering, appraising and fixing the values of said property and the giving of all notices to such taxpayers have each and all been performed and complied with at the time and in the manner and form required and that all things that might be construed as conditions precedent to the lawful demand upon such taxpayers to pay the amount of taxes in such rolls shown to be due by him or them have been performed at the time and in the manner required by law, provided that in the event that defendant shall show that his property was voluntarily rendered by him, and that the valuation of the same was subsequently changed by the Tax Assessor and Collector or Board of Equalization without notice to him or his agent, or shall show that the said rate of’ taxation for any purpose was to any extent illegal, judgment shall thereupon be rendered against him for the proper amount due, based upon the value of his property as rendered by him and the amount of tax which is found to be legal.
In all suits for the collection of taxes the costs of such proceedings shall be collected in the same manner provided by law for the collection of costs in suits for taxes by the state and county.
When any property, real or personal, is sold to enforce the collection of taxes the City shall not become the purchaser thereof unless no one else is present who will purchase the same and pay the full amount due the City, including all costs and penalties, and it is hereby made the duty of the City Attorney or the person acting as such to attend all sales and bid therefore for the City, and upon such sale the officer making the same shall execute to the City or other purchaser proper evidence of the title and place the purchaser of personal property in possession thereof.
If the City Tax Assessor and Collector shall discover any property, real or personal, which was subject to taxation for any year heretofore and which from any cause has escaped taxation, he shall require the same to be listed and assessed according to the rate of taxation levied for the year or years it was omitted and enter the same as a supplement to his next roll, stating the year, and the taxes thereon shall be collected in the same manner as other assessments and be subject at [to] the same penalties; providing that such supplemental rolls shall be due at once upon the approval of such rolls by the rate of six per cent per annum, and may be collected by seizure and sale of suit as herein provided for the collection of other taxes.
The City Tax Assessor and Collector shall list all property which for any cause has not been rendered to him for taxation in such form as may be prescribed by the City Commission, such valuation hereon as he may deem just, provided same shall not be higher than rendered property of like character. If the owners of such property are unknown to the Tax Assessor and Collector he shall so state, and such assessment shall be sufficient warrant for the collection of taxes due upon said property by seizure and sale or suit as herein provided for the collection of taxes on other property.
No taxes due the City, shall ever be held to be barred by any City Ordinance of limitation and no irregularities in the time and manner of making or returning the City assessment rolls or the approval thereof shall ever be held to invalidate any assessment, and all taxes heretofore levied by the City Commission of said City and which are unpaid, are hereby continued in force and may be collected by seizure and sale of the property of the person owning the same or by suit as herein provided.
All property, real, personal or mixed, made taxable by the laws of the State Of Texas, which is situated in the City on the first day of January of each year, and all personal property owned and controlled by persons residing herein and taxable by law at the place where the owner or agent in charge may reside, shall be subject to taxation by said City for all purposes provided in this Charter.
The City Commission shall have the power to levy and collect an annual occupation tax on all occupations, callings, business and professions taxed by the State of Texas from time to time to the amount of one-half of occupation tax levied by the state, and shall have power by ordinance to provide adequate means for enforcing the collection of same.
All laws and parts of laws not in force providing for the levy and collection of taxes not in conflict with the Charter relating to the City are hereby continued in full force and effect.
If the City Commission shall fail, refuse or neglect to pass an ordinance levying the taxes for any year, the ordinance last passes [passed] levying taxes shall be considered in force and a failure to pass such an ordinance shall in no wise invalidate the collection of any taxes.