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City to negotiate school district, county
By KOSAKU NARIOKA
The city may soon negotiate with the school district and the county about two tracts the city previously acquired for drainage improvement.
At a Oct. 14 workshop, Deer Park City Manager Ronald V. Crabtree said about 10 years ago, the city acquired the two tracts through a tax sale, forgiving the owner the taxes due to the city in exchange for taking possession of the land, but the taxes due to the Deer Park Independent School District and Harris County “remained outstanding,” and one of the two tracts was scheduled to be considered at a tax sale recently.
“We were able to get that postponed, but it brings us to the point that we need to present to you tonight that we are subject to losing either of these two properties,” the city manager said at a workshop in October.
At the end of discussion in the workshop, Mayor Wayne Riddle asked the city manager to contact the school district and the county officials to see how they can settle the issue of outstanding taxes due on the two tracts.
The two properties subject to sale is an 8.6 acre tract located east of Bonnette Junior High School and a smaller tract south of Pasadena Boulevard and west of Center Street.
Earlier this year KSA Engineers conducted a study to determine suitability for use of the tracts as detention facilities to improve drainage conditions in the adjacent areas, the city manager said in a memo to the council.
While the tract adjacent to Bonnette Junior High was found to have some value for drainage improvement purpose, the tract south of Pasadena Boulevard and west of Center Street was found to be of no value because pipelines run through the property, Crabtree said.
Jim Fox, city attorney, said the attorneys that represent the school district and the county were trying to sell the property based on the same judgment against the former property owners that was received by the city, the county and the school district.
“They are attempting to resale the property based on the taxes owed to them also, which they are entitled to do,” the city attorney said.
“Given the fact that we are interested in storm water and retention purposes, it would seem reasonable to think that the county and the school district would be receptive to a negotiation, at least, with the city and perhaps even forgiving of those taxes,” councilman Charles Garrison said. “I just think that we need to pursue that and get a clear title. Based on what you have told me, it didn’t seem like a real smart move at that time to take title while there were still other taxes.”
The city manager said, though, had the city not acted as it did in 1998, it would be without the property and with little tax coming in.
“We do have a position right now that gives us the opportunity to go forward with negotiations as you say with the two entities to try to resolve this issue,” he said.
He added he would directly talk to the officials at the school district and Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Sylvia Garcia’s office rather than their attorneys.
At a Oct. 14 workshop, Deer Park City Manager Ronald V. Crabtree said about 10 years ago, the city acquired the two tracts through a tax sale, forgiving the owner the taxes due to the city in exchange for taking possession of the land, but the taxes due to the Deer Park Independent School District and Harris County “remained outstanding,” and one of the two tracts was scheduled to be considered at a tax sale recently.
“We were able to get that postponed, but it brings us to the point that we need to present to you tonight that we are subject to losing either of these two properties,” the city manager said at a workshop in October.
At the end of discussion in the workshop, Mayor Wayne Riddle asked the city manager to contact the school district and the county officials to see how they can settle the issue of outstanding taxes due on the two tracts.
The two properties subject to sale is an 8.6 acre tract located east of Bonnette Junior High School and a smaller tract south of Pasadena Boulevard and west of Center Street.
Earlier this year KSA Engineers conducted a study to determine suitability for use of the tracts as detention facilities to improve drainage conditions in the adjacent areas, the city manager said in a memo to the council.
While the tract adjacent to Bonnette Junior High was found to have some value for drainage improvement purpose, the tract south of Pasadena Boulevard and west of Center Street was found to be of no value because pipelines run through the property, Crabtree said.
Jim Fox, city attorney, said the attorneys that represent the school district and the county were trying to sell the property based on the same judgment against the former property owners that was received by the city, the county and the school district.
“They are attempting to resale the property based on the taxes owed to them also, which they are entitled to do,” the city attorney said.
“Given the fact that we are interested in storm water and retention purposes, it would seem reasonable to think that the county and the school district would be receptive to a negotiation, at least, with the city and perhaps even forgiving of those taxes,” councilman Charles Garrison said. “I just think that we need to pursue that and get a clear title. Based on what you have told me, it didn’t seem like a real smart move at that time to take title while there were still other taxes.”
The city manager said, though, had the city not acted as it did in 1998, it would be without the property and with little tax coming in.
“We do have a position right now that gives us the opportunity to go forward with negotiations as you say with the two entities to try to resolve this issue,” he said.
He added he would directly talk to the officials at the school district and Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Sylvia Garcia’s office rather than their attorneys.
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