NEWS
Bowie Council fills board spots; addresses delinquent tax collection
By BARBARA GREEN
Bowie City Councilors filled spots on two of its boards and increased the penalty to defray the costs of collecting delinquent taxes at its Tuesday night meeting.
Tony Fidelie Jr.of Perdue, Brandon, Fielder, Collins and Mott LLP, a Wichita Falls law firm that collects delinquent taxes for the city discussed amending its contract in two areas.
• Setting an earlier date for the early turnover of business personal property moving from July 1 to April 1. Fidelie explained this is property used by a business to generate income such as inventory, furniture, fixtures, etc.
When taxes go delinquent on Feb 1 under Texas law those taxes can be turned over to an outside law firm for collection on July 1 if they remain unpaid. The tax code was recently changed to allow the earlier date, which Fidelie said allows the firm to get a “jump start” on those accounts and “hopefully get them collected before businesses go out of business or inventory is otherwise liquidated.
• Raise the amount used to defray costs from 15 to 20 percent. When taxes are turned over on July 1 a 15 percent penalty is attached.
If someone owes the entity $1,000, the 15 percent ($150) is added to the bill. The firm collects the full amount giving the entity $1,000 and keeping the $150 to pay its bills.
Fidelie said the law is set up so the taxing entity does not have to pay for collection services or the taxpayers who pay on time.
In 2001 the legislature changed the rate to 20 percent. Fidelie said they are working with their other customers in Montague County to make this change in 2017 to accommodate increased expenses most businesses experience.
Read the full story in the weekend News.
Mayor Gaylynn Burris and members of the Bowie Community Development Board presented White’s Magneto & Supply with the Texas Treasure Business Award from the Texas Historical Commission. Current owners Eddy and Gina Robinson accepted the award. Eddy was a longtime employee before buying the business in 2021. It was founded in 1948 by Albert E. Si White and his wife Sallie and has continued to evolve through the years to meet the needs of the greater Bowie area. (Photo by Barbara Green)
Less than a month before her trial for theft of property former 97th district attorney Casey Hall received an amended indictment changing it to theft by a public servant and adding a count of misappropriation of fiduciary/financial property.
The court’s legal filing also reported the pending March 17 jury trial was cancelled, but as of Tuesday no new date was stated. After the new indictment a motion was filed for a continuance as the state investigates some possible new allegations.
Hall was indicted last July on a single count of theft of property $2,500-$30,000, a state jail felony, related to a pair of allegations that she allegedly deposited a state voucher for an employee’s salary supplement into her personal account instead of the office account between May 31 and Oct. 4, 2022.
The two deposits were $9,116.97 each, which is $18,233.94. The vouchers were requested from the AG grant funds used for salary supplements in the DA’s office.
The amended indictment was filed on Feb. 11. Theft by a public servant is a third degree felony and misapplication is a state jail felony. A fiduciary includes a trustee, guardian or administrator who handles property he holds as a fiduciary or property of a financial institution in a manner that involves substantial risk of loss to the owner of the property or to the person for whose benefit the property is held.
Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.
By BARBARA GREEN
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One Bowie City Council member called the infrastructure facts presented by the public works director as “brutal,” as he outlined more than $20 million in estimated needs from the water plant to the old lake line that serves customers along U.S. Highway 81.
Councilors met for a workshop Tuesday night to discuss infrastructure problems and water rates that could help fund the costs. Public Works Director Stony Lowrance and Water Plant Director Jerry Sutton both made presentations, afterwhich finance director Pamela Woods offered rate suggested based on consumption that meter readings.
Sutton referred to a May 2024 inspection from Texas Commission on Environmental Quality staff where they found the raw water pumping capacity to be non compliant and directed the city staff to add one more pump. The plant “should be” doing 2,724 gallons per minute or 3,923,000 gallons per day based on TCEQ criteria, but it is doing 2,100 gallons per minute with 3,240,000 gallons per day, which is 80% of its capacity.
Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.
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