There may be established in the Department of Finance, a division of taxation, to collect taxes, the head of which shall be the city collector, unless the City Council shall appoint an alternate collection agency.
The City Council of the City of El Campo shall have the power, and is hereby authorized to levy and collect annual taxes in an amount not to exceed the maximum limits set by the constitution and laws of the State of Texas as they now exist or as they may be amended on each hundred dollars ($100.00) assessed valuation of all real and personal property within the corporate limits of the City of El Campo and not exempt from taxation by the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas.
All taxes due the City of El Campo shall be payable at the office of the Director of Finance, unless the City Council, by ordinance shall designate another governmental agency to collect the taxes due the city.
All delinquent taxes shall bear interest and penalty as provided by the state statutes as presently enacted or hereafter amended.
The collector of taxes for the city shall collect the taxes, sue for taxes, furnish notification to the taxpayer, and levy on personal property to satisfy a tax judgment in the manner prescribed by the Tax Code of Texas as presently enacted and as hereafter amended.
The tax levied by the city is hereby declared to be a lien, charge, or encumbrance upon the property upon which the tax is due, which lien, charge or encumbrance the city is entitled to enforce and foreclose in any court having jurisdiction over the same, and the lien, charge or encumbrance on the property in favor of the city, for the amount of the taxes due on such property is such as to give the state courts jurisdiction to enforce and foreclose said lien on the property on which the tax is due, not only as against any resident of this state of [or] person whose residence is unknown, but also as against nonresidents. All taxes upon real estate shall especially be a lien and a charge upon the property upon which the taxes are due, which lien may be foreclosed in any court having jurisdiction. The city’s tax lien shall exist from January 1 in each year until the taxes are paid, and the statute of limitations shall not apply. Such lien shall be prior to all other claims, and no gift, sale, assignment, or transfer of any kind, or judicial writ of any kind, can ever defeat such lien.
All persons or corporations owning or holding personal property or real estate in the City of El Campo on the first day of January of each year shall be liable for all municipal taxes levied thereon for such year. The personal property of all persons owing any taxes to the City of El Campo is hereby made liable for all of said taxes, whether the same be due upon personal or real property, or upon both.
The City Council or any other official of the city shall never extend the time for the payment of taxes or remit, discount or compromise any tax legally due the city, nor waive the penalty and interest that may be due thereon to any persons, firms or corporations owing taxes to the city for such year or years; provided, however, that this provision shall not prevent the compromise of any tax suit.