From the Inbox comes this press release by Patricia Rodriguez:
Press Release: Mike Sullivan received his college degree on county time and the taxpayer’s dime.
As a Harris County resident whose family owns a real estate business, I am very well acquainted with the dramatic rise in property values and the subsequent increase in Harris County property taxes within the last year. I have also experienced how a property owner’s ability to lower their property bill is related directly with their ability to engage legal representation from a tax consultant company.
As our newly elected Mayor has expressed in a recent Houston Chronicle article concerning this phenomenon (” Drop in property values gives city bigger fiscal headache “By Mike Morris February 3, 2016 ), commercial property owners have used legal representation to lower their respective tax bills. This has helped create a inherently unfair system for the average Harris County property owners who represent themselves during initial protest hearings with the Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD). HCAD is now less likely to lower their property values and hence their property taxes increase unless they hire legal representation.
Yet in explaining the rise in property taxes, Tax Assessor and Collector Mike Sullivan cites general population increase in the county for the rise of property values and subsequent property taxes. Mike Sullivan ignores the simple fact that the recent population increase in the county has been uneven. Yet the increase in property values and taxes has been uniform throughout the county. He completely ignores the a inherently unfair system promulgated by HCAD in their property value assessments.
Harris County lacks a property tax payer advocate in it’s current Tax Assessor and Collector, Mike Sullivan. But to add insult to injury, it is a well known fact that Mike Sullivan who was elected with only a high school diploma and with little if any experience in government taxation, collection, and real estate valuation, has received his bachelors of science while supposedly working during county work time. In short, Mike Sullivan would jump on the light rail train on Main street and attend college courses at the University of Houston Downtown during normal county work hours. Mike Sullivan received his college degree in political science, on county time and the taxpayer’s dime. Keep in mind that the salary of the Harris County Tax Assessor and Collector was increased from $141,696 to $149,316 in 2014 (http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/houston/article/Commissioners-to-vote-to-raise-their-own-salaries-5194938.php_) and that it has been proposed to increase again in 2016.
As a Harris County Republican Party Chairwoman of Precinct 10, I believe it’s my duty to formally ask the Harris County District Attorney and the Harris County Attorney whether county official Mike Sullivan attending college while being paid for full time work by the county, was a legal activity. If such an activity would not be allowed for salaried full-time Harris county workers, why does it appear that it is allowed for Mike Sullivan? Needless to say, I do not believe Mike Sullivan should be the Republican candidate for Harris County Tax Assessor and Collector in this year’s November election. The residents of Harris County deserve better. In this time of skyrocketing property taxes, we deserve a qualified full-time tax payer’s advocate.
You can contact Patricia at:
Liz Theiss says
Texans continue to pay higher and higher taxes (rent) to live on and enjoy their property. The population growth is from open borders pushing this demand that in turn benefits businesses and big government while screwing property owners and responsible citizens. Glad I voted for the other guy…..
Ross says
It is not the role of a Tax Assessor Collector in Texas to advocate for taxpayers. Taxpayers are fully capable of doing that themselves. The role of the office is to efficiently collect the taxes as voted on by the various entities in the county, and to register voters and maintain the voter rolls.
Erich says
If “the role of the office is to efficiently collect the taxes as voted on by the various entities in the county, and to register voters and maintain the voter rolls” then it can just as easily be said that the role of the IRS is to efficiently collect the taxes as voted on by the Congress and signed into law by the President. Are you fully capable of advocating for yourself? Very few people are.
If it’s not the role of the Tax Assessor Collector’s office to advocate for taxpayers because “taxpayers are fully capable of doing that themselves,” then I assume you would also do away with the IRS’s Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS), whose role it is to be taxpayers’ voice at the IRS, and ensure that taxpayers are treated fairly and know and understand their rights? https://www.irs.gov/Advocate
Ross says
You are trying to conflate two entirely different things. The IRS taxpayer advocate exists to help taxpayers navigate the myriad of rules and regulations contained in the tax laws and the Code of Federal Regulations, which are far more complex than Texas property taxes and voter registration laws. The IRS advocate does not advocate to Congress for changes in tax laws or to the IRS for changes in regulations, which is what Sumners, et al are wanting the TAC office to do.
George Scott says
Erich, let me help you here. The tax assessor-collector does collect taxes. That is, of course, the reason he is elected. That position also serve many other official functions.
However, the tax assessor-collector is also a member of the Harris County Appraisal District as the representative of Harris County government because the commissioners appoint that individual to the Board.
As a member of the HCAD Board of Directors, Sullivan does indeed have authority to ensure quality control standards including the quality and performance of the District’s Taxpayer Liaison Officer and to review the performance of the Appraisal Review Board’s attorney – currently the County Attorney of Harris County.
As a member of the HCAD Board, Sullivan has been a potted plant. He’s done zero to ensure the legitimate rights of property owners to a fair process at both the informal and ARB levels.
Thus, you are not accurate when you that Sullivan has no role to advocate for taxpayers by imposing reasonable accountability standards on HCAD’s operations.
Not accurate means you are wrong.
Foolme says
What is the statute that defines the activities of the office holder? The legislature and Gov write the laws within the Constitution, while we all want fairness, using nonexistent law is like an Obama promise.
Fred Flickinger says
This article is truly unfair for several reasons.
First of all, Mike Sullivan is merely the messenger of increased property values. The tax issues discussed would require new laws in order to be changed. The County’s Tax Assessor Collector does not have the AUTHORITY OR ABILITY to change this.
Secondly, the County Commissioners voted to increase salaries throughout county government. Mike is not a County Commissioner and therefore did not have a vote on the matter. How can he or any other county employee possibly be held to account for this?
Lastly, I have attended several functions in the evening and on weekends where Mike was in attendance representing the county. This is not an 8 to 5 position. Although I know nothing about the degree or when it was obtained, I do not find flexibility in his daily schedule to be terribly unusual.
Don Sumners says
I hesitate to weigh in to this as I am Sullivan’s primary opponent, but some of the statements above defy common sense.
As to the statement that taxpayers are capable of lobbying for themselves, I guess they could but they are ill equipped to do so because they are not privy to the information readily available to the Tax Assessor-Collector regarding appraised values, tax incentives, TIRZ values and payments and tax rate calculations. For instance, how many taxpayers know that new property and TIRZ values are subtracted from taxable value before the Truth-in-Taxation calculation of the Effective Tax Rate. These reductions assure that a taxing government adopting the effective tax rate (supposedly the rate necessary to get the same tax collections as the year before) will always give the government an increase in property tax collections and reduces the published tax increase percentage below the actual rate. In 2015 that tax increase rate differential for homes was almost 2{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986},
The commentators comparison of the IRS taxpayers advocate position to the tax assessor-collectors advocacy has merit. Here again who is left to protect the taxpayers? The appraisal district is supposed to have an independent officer to hear taxpayer complaints but, the appointee is only part time, has no staff, and is only a pawn of the appraisal district. No taxpayer representation there, And, no one should expect an employee of any government to stick their neck out for the taxpayers when their bosses are constantly seeking more tax revenue.
Why even elect a department head whose only job is merely to bill and collect property taxes? The voters certainly did not elect Paul Bettencourt multiple times because he limited his property tax activities to being an administrator. From the comment of some I have to assume that they opposed Bettencourt’s actions encouraging fair property taxation and his promotion and passage of tax legislation to achieve such. Yesterday, Senator Bettencourt co-authored a Chronicle op-ed promoting the export of LNG, the regulation of which is under federal jurisdiction. Was this op-ed beyond his elected duties? I think not.
If the elected tax assessor-collector is not going to be an advocate for fair taxation, who is? Do you see anybody else at the local level doing it? Those objecting to the tax assessor serving as an taxpayer watchdog must be satisfied paying 10{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} property tax increases every year. But I doubt the rest of the taxpayers are satisfied with it. Do these pro Sullivan commentators believe that tax reform at the State Legislature has a chance with only opposition from elected local officials?
Today’s Houston Chronicle has an editorial criticizing the City of Houston’s abuse of TIRZs. But, where is the elected official out speaking against the city’s abuses? I did so as County Treasurer and the county awakened to the fact they were just throwing their taxes away in participating in many TIRZs and limited their participation in others. I have also criticized the city ignoring the purpose of TIRZ zones by diverting of hundreds of millions to zones like the Galleria and Memorial City.
I doubt that these commentators are aware that it was my efforts that secured the first increase in the City of Houston over-65 exemption in many years, or that I provided the analysis of the city’s drainage fee showing the city rate proposal would bring in substantially more than asked for. The result was Mayor Parker giving each homeowner an 1,000 sq. ft. exemption in calculating their monthly fee. All of you that think my actions were wrong, please calculate the savings you received and give them back to the city.
As far as the salary mention in the press release is concerned, I think the author’s intent was to point out that she expected a lot more from her tax assessor-collector for $160,000 than an administrator who refused to stand up for her. Her comment on Sullivan’s explanation of value increases was meant to show his lack of knowledge about what was happening in the real estate market. Of course, as an administrator he should not have even tried to explain it; the explanation is beyond his duties.
Kevin W. says
I intended to vote for Mr. Sumners until he repeatedly refused to answer my questions here. I admit that a lot of the discussion taking place regarding the proper role for the position divides my loyalties but given so many employees are allowed to flex their time to attend educational endeavors and some are actually sent on the clock to become more proficient, I think it might be fair to applaud Sullivan for getting a degree while working full time.
He certainly appears to put in more than 40 hours a week so it is a stretch to say he earned the degree on county time unless there is a statute that requires the position to adhere to specific hours. I’m still waiting to hear how we paid for the degree given the phrasing of the original post. Did the county pay for his degree or is this an attack based on how he spent his salary? Attacks like these do nothing for the betterment of the party and remind me of grade school antics. As such, an opposing candidate jumping on the bandwagon of such an outburst probably needs more seasoning before they are ready for the office. I mean it’s almost as bad as taking credit for the work of others or exaggerating one’s role in various needed changes.
Don Sumners says
Kevin: I have no idea what you are talking about. What questions did I refuse to answer? If you will let me know, I will be happy to respond. I am not the author of the press release, but I do not approve of Sullivan earning a degree in political science on county time. My opinion would probably be much different if Sullivan had chosen a degree program that would have benefited to his duties, such as accounting, finance or business administration. State law does not allow that employees be paid for hours not worked. Any paid schooling or training allowed must be related to the employees job responsibilities. Elected officials do have latitude as to time spent on the job. As far as seasoning goes, I am confused. I have 18 years in Harris County government and served 12 years in the Tax Office including two as tax assessor-collector. The important issue in the election is whether you think the tax assessor-collector should, in addition to being an administrator, act as an taxpayer advocate or watchdog as I have done, or should be just an administrator as Sullivan believes and has done.