THE HARRIS COUNTY TAX ASSESSOR COLLECTOR BLASTS MAYOR ANNISE PARKER!

Harris County's Taxman Don Sumners

Annise Parker Mayor of Houston

Press Release: After repeated requests to the City of Houston for information about the calculation of the Proposition One drainage fees, Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Don Sumners must comment on Mayor Annise Parker’s proposal of limited exemptions for churches, schools and Harris County government.

The exemptions are part of the proposed ordinance, which was revealed Friday and is scheduled for a vote this Wednesday.

Sumners said:

“The mayor’s announcement that, all of a sudden, possibly $10 million of exemptions can now be granted out of the blue proves my point, that all the residents of Houston would have been overcharged by the proposed rates in the first place.

“The Harris County Tax Office’s public information requests were valid, and the Mayor should have responded with accurate information weeks and weeks sooner. If she had done so, the citizens of Houston would have known about the overcharges well before the overcharges were used to pay for these limited exemptions.

“Last week, representatives of Harris County, Houston Independent School District, Spring Branch ISD, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, former Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt and the Houston Pastors Council testified for State Senate Bill 714 by Sen. Dan Patrick. It would allow full exemptions for all churches, schools, charities and county properties. Passing this bill is the only way to prevent the City of Houston from taxing even the Harris County Hospital District and, in effect, the indigent patients it serves.

“I join with my predecessor in calling for the City to do the right thing in helping pass SB 714, as only state law can make these exemptions full and permanent.”