https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/paxton-orders-localities-halt-property-tax-hikes-launches-investigation

So certain localities ( La Marque, Odessa, Tom Bean and Whitesboro) have decided state law limiting property tax raises don't really apply to them. Paxton has told them to hold off on the greedy money grab.

Quote:

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The municipalities being investigated either submitted their reports late or not at all, according to the complaints filed. They also increased property taxes by up to 51%, well above the legally allowed no-new-revenue rate stipulated by state law.
After the leaders of the governments of La Marque, Odessa, Tom Bean and Whitesboro passed property tax increases that appeared to violate the law, taxpayers complained to the OAG, which launched investigations.

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Quote:

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The letters order the officials of each city to not implement the tax hikes and requests a range of financial information and documents be submitted to his office.

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So, if you think your local taxing authority is violating state property law, drop a dime on them.

Paxton would know, he's an expert on corruption.

Publicity stunt by the AG who is running for a bigger job
or
gross incompetence by the local TAC


I'll be curious to see which it is

I am guessing clerical error that the AG wants to exploit for his senate run

Sq 17 said:

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Publicity stunt by the AG who is running for a bigger job
or
gross incompetence by the local TAC


I'll be curious to see which it is

I am guessing clerical error that the AG wants to exploit for his senate run

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How is it a publicity stunt? I think it's pretty clear the AG's office believes there was a violation and they're investigating it.

Announcing investigations is a way of drawing publicity maybe it is impossible to conduct an investigation discreetly but the timing is IMO helpful in his goal to win the R primary

I did put it as a choice maybe the TAC were incompetent and broke the statutes

I Still think it's something less nefarious and it is good politics to slap around the local TAC because they are about as popular as HOA's

I like the proven "Paxton tax reduction plan", all you have to do is claim each property you own as your homestead.

Round Rock ISD also the year before last. Need to see if they are this year.

How far back can we go? That was the first year the updated law was in effect

I don't see how this is a publicity stunt. Local taxing authorities are as corrupt as they've ever been. Our county is terrible.

As usual your thoughts are wrong. The other three cities are arguing the new law doesn't apply to this year and starts Jan 2026.

Phil Harris, Whitesboro's city administrator, similarly said the city submitted its audit late. Harris said the city is raising taxes to hire four additional firefighters, pay for a water tower housing one million gallons, replace a computer system within the emergency department and $200,000 for road repairs.

The City Council approved increasing the tax rate from 38 cents to 58 cents for every $100 of taxable property.

The fact that, in 2025, "Whitesboro" is allowed to remain the name is impressive.

LOL even when Paxton does something to grant relief to citizens all you people do is ***** and moan.

BigRobSA said:

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The fact that, in 2025, "Whitesboro" is allowed to remain the name is impressive.

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well we allow Brownsville

Abrose White
Took me 10 seconds

La Marque city leaders have run that town into the ground. No money. They were going to impose their own property tax increase. Good for Paxton to step in and say "Hold on there!"

Scrooge Doogler said:

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Paxton would know, he's an expert on corruption.

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Paxton is awesome. Focus on all the Texas Republicans that are really Democrats. Now that is real corruption.

stallion6 said:

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Scrooge Doogler said:

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Paxton would know, he's an expert on corruption.

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Paxton is awesome. Focus on all the Texas Republicans that are really Democrats. Now that is real corruption.

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He is not awesome. He's just as swampy as any of them.

angus55 said:

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stallion6 said:

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Scrooge Doogler said:

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Paxton would know, he's an expert on corruption.

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Paxton is awesome. Focus on all the Texas Republicans that are really Democrats. Now that is real corruption.

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He is not awesome. He's just as swampy as any of them.

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You are clueless about politics. You probably think the Bush's are conservative. He is a staunch support of Trump and his policies. I can see you disagree if you are a leftist otherwise you are lost.

Now do Harris County where they abused an emergency provision in the law to avoid taking a massive tax increase to the voters.

Whitesboro filed their audit for FY24 in June 2025. The law became effective September 2025. Not sure how you can retroactively apply this law. However, I am unable to locate their Form 50-856 on their website. I also don't see some other required notices. Perhaps they are posted and I just couldn't find them....

They must be planning on issuing a lot of debt because their notice of tax rate hearing state that the no-new-revenue rate is $0.375661 and the voter approval rate is $0.688399. Very odd, which is why I looked for their Form 50-856 calculation. I did see an agenda that mentioned issuing 2025 debt but there are no minutes for that meeting so I didn't see how much debt they are planning on issuing. Their ordinance does state that the M&O tax rate is only increasing by 5.37% so the rest must be the I&S tax rate.

Granted, I have only spent about 10-20 minutes looking at their website, but I can't imagine things are going to go great for them with a detailed investigation. Good luck to them. Municipal finance is hard when you start needing things like water towers.

Bulldog73 said:

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https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/paxton-orders-localities-halt-property-tax-hikes-launches-investigation

So certain localities ( La Marque, Odessa, Tom Bean and Whitesboro) have decided state law limiting property tax raises don't really apply to them. Paxton has told them to hold off on the greedy money grab.

Quote:

---

The municipalities being investigated either submitted their reports late or not at all, according to the complaints filed. They also increased property taxes by up to 51%, well above the legally allowed no-new-revenue rate stipulated by state law.
After the leaders of the governments of La Marque, Odessa, Tom Bean and Whitesboro passed property tax increases that appeared to violate the law, taxpayers complained to the OAG, which launched investigations.

---

Quote:

---

The letters order the officials of each city to not implement the tax hikes and requests a range of financial information and documents be submitted to his office.

---

So, if you think your local taxing authority is violating state property law, drop a dime on them.

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This all relates to SB 1851 which was signed by the governor in May. It requires an audit in the next tax year (starting in 2026). It's completely inapplicable to this tax year and everybody except Paxton has recognized that. Except with how politics goes today, this guys word is the law to many. Despite the fact that we have actual laws that are the laws. And for those who think this is liberal cities run amok, research the cities accused of violating a law that doesn't apply yet.

BigRobSA said:

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The fact that, in 2025, "Whitesboro" is allowed to remain the name is impressive.

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There is a town near Fort Worth called White Settlement. I've always been surprised the name hasn't been changed. I've actually driven through Whitesboro on the way to a fishing trip. It's not much of a town.