Maverick Cnty. v. Felan

551 S.W.3d 229
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 11, 2018
DocketNo. 04-17-00393-CV
StatusPublished

This text of 551 S.W.3d 229 (Maverick Cnty. v. Felan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maverick Cnty. v. Felan, 551 S.W.3d 229 (Tex. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

Opinion by: Patricia O. Alvarez, Justice

This appeal stems from the adoption of the 2016 tax rate by the Maverick County Commissioners' Court and the subsequent discovery of an inadvertent error in the rollback tax rate calculation. In the underlying lawsuit, Appellee Ethelvina I. Felan filed a petition seeking an election to roll back the 2016 tax rate. Felan also filed a petition for writ of mandamus and injunction seeking to compel the government officials of Maverick County to hold the roll back election. In this appeal, Appellants2 challenge the trial court's order denying their plea to the jurisdiction and motion for summary judgment. We reverse the trial court's order denying the plea to the jurisdiction and dismiss Felan's underlying lawsuit against Appellants.

MAVERICK COUNTY TAX RATES AND THE APPLICABLE TAX CODES

After preparing a budget sufficient to pay its debts and meet its maintenance and operation needs, a local taxpaying unit adopts a property tax rate to support that budget. See TEX. TAX CODE ANN. § 26.05(a) (West Supp. 2017). The Texas Constitution requires local taxing units to apprise taxpayers of tax rate proposals and afford taxpayers the opportunity to "roll back" or limit property tax increases. See TEX. CONST. art. VIII § 21 (a). Maverick County is a taxing unit pursuant to chapter 26 of the Texas Tax Code and article VIII, section 21(a) of the Texas Constitution. See TEX. TAX CODE ANN. ch. 26; TEX. CONST. art. VIII § 21 (a).

A. Adopting a Tax Rate under Texas Tax Code Chapter 26

Before a local taxing unit adopts a tax rate, the tax assessor (or other designated officer or employee), calculates the "rollback tax rate" and the "effective tax rate" based on formulas set forth in the Tax Code. See id. §§ 26.04(c), 26.041. The rollback tax rate places a cap on the tax rate a local taxing unit can adopt in any given year. See id. § 26.04(c). The effective tax rate is the rate at which the properties on the tax roll must be taxed so that that amount collected in the current fiscal year will equal the revenue collected in the previous year. Id.

After the tax assessor calculates the rollback tax rate and the effective tax rate, these rates are delivered to the local taxing unit and published with an explanation of how the tax rates were calculated, the fund balances, a schedule of debt obligations, and anticipated tax revenue. See id. § 26.04(e). The local taxing unit then adopts a tax rate for the current year sufficient to fund both the unit's debt service and the maintenance and operating procedures. See id. § 26.05(a). If the adopted tax rate exceeds the rollback tax rate, the qualified voters may petition for an election to determine whether to reduce *232the adopted tax rate for the current year to the rollback tax rate. See id. § 26.07(a).

B. Procedure Undertaken by Maverick County Commissioners' Court

Pursuant to calculations and recommendations made by the Maverick County tax assessor, the tax assessor published, in a newspaper of general circulation in Maverick County, the proposed effective rate and rollback rate and how each was calculated. Additionally, public hearings were held on August 25, 2016, and September 1, 2016, at which taxpayers were urged to attend and express their views and any concerns regarding the proposed tax rate. On September 12, 2016, the Maverick County Commissioners' Court approved a 2016 rollback tax rate of $0.586535 per $100.00 of property value and an effective tax rate of $0.542309 per $100.00 of property value. The Commissioners' Court adopted a tax rate for 2016 of $0.586535 per $100.00 of property value. See id. § 24.07(a). This resulted in a 2016 adopted tax rate equal to the 2016 rollback tax rate.

Shortly after the 2016 tax rates were established, the tax assessor discovered that $3 million in sales tax revenue was not included in calculating the 2016 rollback tax rate. Although the proper statutory formula was applied, the calculations were in error due to the tax assessors' failure to reduce the current debt rate by the total amount of the sales tax revenue. The tax assessor immediately notified Commissioners' Court. On September 29, 2016, the Commissioners' Court rescinded the 2016 adopted tax rate, but did not adopt a new tax rate. Maverick County was thus left without an adopted 2016 tax rate.

Understanding the importance of a taxing unit's ability to sufficiently budget to pay its debts and meet its maintenance and operation needs, the Legislature set forth an adopted rate for any taxing unit that failed to adopt a tax rate by the specified deadline. See TEX. TAX CODE ANN. § 26.05(c) (providing if no tax rate is adopted by a taxing unit before the required date, the adopted rate "is the lower of the effective tax rate calculated for that tax year or the tax rate adopted by the taxing unit for the preceding tax year."). Because Maverick County failed to timely adopt a tax rate, and Maverick County's 2016 effective tax rate was lower than the 2015 adopted tax rate, Maverick County's 2016 effective tax rate became the 2016 adopted tax rate. See id. As previously noted, the 2016 effective tax rate was $0.542309 per $100.00 of property value.

On October 3, 2016, the Maverick County Commissioners' Court ratified the 2016 adopted tax rate of $0.542309 per $100.00 of property value. The 2016 rollback tax rate, adopted by the Commissioners' Court on September 12, 2016, remained unchanged, despite the discovery of the erroneous calculations.

C. Proceedings before the Trial Court

On December 22, 2016, Felan filed her petition seeking an election to roll back the tax rate. On February 21, 2017, Felan also filed a petition for writ of mandamus and injunction seeking to compel Maverick County officials to properly calculate the 2016 rollback tax and hold the requested roll back election.

Appellants filed a plea to the jurisdiction and motion for summary judgment asserting that Felan's failure to timely file an injunction pursuant to section 26.04(g) of the Texas Tax Code deprived the court of jurisdiction to consider her claims. Felan filed a competing motion for summary judgment. The trial court denied Appellants' plea to the jurisdiction and summary judgment and granted summary judgment in favor of Felan.

On appeal, Appellants raise three issues:

*233(1) Because the statute required the petition be filed prior to the Commissioners' Court's adoption of the tax rate, the trial court was without jurisdiction to hear the request for an injunction;
(2) Felan's delay in seeking relief prevented the roll back election from being held pursuant to Tax Code section 26.07 ; and
(3) Felan failed to meet her evidentiary burden to prove the validity of her roll back petition after the Commissioners' Court found the petition invalid.

We first address Appellants' plea to the jurisdiction.

PLEA TO THE JURISDICTION

A. Standard of Review

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Bluebook (online)
551 S.W.3d 229, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maverick-cnty-v-felan-texapp-2018.