Commissioners get an update on tax collections from appraiser

By Susan Taft
staft@campcountynow.com

Jan Tinsley, chief appraiser with the Camp Central Appraisal District, had good news for Camp County commissioners at their March 11 meeting.
“We have collected slightly more than 90 percent of the total 2012 tax levy; $4,632,100.34 is what has been paid to Camp County since Jan. 1, 2012,” Mrs. Tinsley said. “This includes both current and delinquent taxes plus penalty and interest.
“We are working hard to bring in the delinquent taxes owed to the entities to lower the overall delinquency rate in Camp County.”
County Judge Thomas Cravey asked about appraised values for this year.
Mrs. Tinsley said ag and timber values are not in from the state yet, but the market value of land in several categories is down based on 2011 and 2012 land sales in Camp County.
“Residential improvement value is about the same based on sales for the same time period,” she said. “Several companies rendering commercial vehicles added quite a bit of value to the 2012 roll that could be rendered for appraisal by allocated mileage, which could potentially lower the overall value.”
Barbara Hill, with Linebarger law firm, also addressed the board. She said there are 170 pending lawsuits in court right now, at different levels. However, she said lawsuits are a last resort.
“Another factor is tax sales; they help a lot,” she said. “When people in the county know you will sell their property, they really don’t want to take that chance.”
Ms. Hill said most collections are done through letters.  This is followed with phone calls, and then by face-to-face visits. She will be in town in April to contact business owners who haven’t paid their taxes.
Commissioners also heard from Mike Reynolds, chairman of the Broach Park board, who talked about a grant he has submitted.
“The grant request is for $84,000 for five items,” Mr. Reynolds said. “This includes a new tractor with a front end loader and batwing finish mower to get the acreage looking better. It also includes security cameras. They are able to zoom into each entrance well enough to get a license plate. One at the concession stand will zoom close enough to get facial recognition. The others will pan out and cover all aspects of the park.”
Also included in the grant request are a new 20x60 shed, a second water well and pipe to loop the wells together. US Steel has donated pipe to build the shed.
Judge Cravey said it is great that these grant monies are available.
“I think it’s a great deal we can go after these grant monies and be able to make improvements to the park without having to do it out of budget funds,” he said.
In other matters, the court designed Judge Cravey a authorized official for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Project. Constable John Cortelyou applied for this grant.
“We’ve applied for a federal grant, administered by the state, to buy a police car for the sheriff’s office,” Constable Cortelyou said. “This is not a matching grant; it doesn’t cost the county anything.”
Judge Cravey said there is no guarantee the county will receive the grant, “but we have a good chance at it.”
In his report, Judge Cravey told the court about the East Texas Reception in Austin, hosted by the East Texas Council of Governments in February.
“We had over 200 in attendance. We invited state legislators, department heads at the state level and staff members. We tried to convey a message of what we thought priorities and needs were for the East Texas Region.”
The East Texas group presented a list of 12 priorities to elected officials in the ETCOG area. They were community and economic development, health and human services - with an emphasis on mental health, workforce training and education, emergency preparedness, criminal justice and law enforcement, water supply and policy, transportation, emergency communications, unfunded mandates, revenue caps, housing and environmental/air quality.
Judge Cravey also gave the commissioners the Brinson Benefits Purple Card results for last year.
“With this advocate program, the employees have a hotline for any insurance-related concerns,” he said. “It keeps them from having to deal with an insurance company. They put in over 67 hours on behalf of Camp County with 50 inquiries for Camp County employees. They audited claims of over $20,000 and they recovered over $8,000 of that. That is money that either goes back to the employee to the county since we are self-insured.”