Posted on 12/19/2002 8:44:23 AM PST by gubamyster
Dec. 18, 2002, 4:57PM
Six have unpaid bills ranging from 10 cents to $35,731
By STEVE BREWER
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
Some of the people so adept at spending your tax dollars are considerably less proficient at paying their own.
A recent Chronicle review of delinquent tax rolls turned up judges, state legislators, constables and other public officials owing tax bills from 10 cents to more than $35,000.
Some officials paid up soon after being questioned about the delinquencies. Others promised to do so soon, and some questioned the accuracy of the records showing their debt.
"How do public officials who owe taxes look a taxpayer in the eye when it comes to dealing with them on any matter, when they are delaying paying their own taxes?" asked Paul Bettencourt, Harris County's tax assessor-collector.
The Chronicle asked Bettencourt for the tax records of 260 elected and appointed officials, including those with Congress, the city of Houston, Harris County, the Texas Legislature, the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Houston Independent School District.
The vast majority of officials were up-to-date on their taxes, but six were listed as delinquent.
Of the six, Xavier Lemond owes the most. Lemond, the director of the county's Office of Community Services, owes $35,731 in back taxes. Almost $19,000 of that bill relates to a house Lemond owns at 5612 Kashmere, on which taxes have been owed since 1974.
Lemond also owns a home at 5606 Kashmere, on which he owes $15,545 in overdue property taxes. The rest of his debt, $1,234 in business personal property taxes, is on equipment in an office he once used at 440 Louisiana.
A judge ordered Lemond to pay his back taxes on the Kashmere homes in 1991, after he was sued by the county, but records show the bills remain unpaid.
Lemond, who runs the county agency overseeing federally funded social-service programs, said he was aware of his debt but didn't know he owed so much.
Lemond, a lawyer, said he bought the homes on behalf of a client shortly before he was sued in 1991. He said a deal to sell them for the client fell through, and he acknowledges the homes remain in his name.
"I have no explanation (for not paying the taxes)," he said. "I should have never put my name on them (the houses). I should have put them in the right name or bought them as some kind of trustee."
Lemond paid the overdue taxes on the Louisiana office after being called by the Chronicle and said he would resolve the problem with the Kashmere houses soon.
Like Lemond, Justice of the Peace Armando Rodriguez paid off part of his overdue tax bill after being questioned about it recently.
Records showed Rodriguez, who has served a precinct just east of downtown since 1973, owes $22,045 in taxes -- $20,097 on a house at 1474 Godwin, $1,588 on a house at 6211 Midvale and $360 on a vacant lot adjacent to the Midvale home. Taxes on the Godwin house date back to 1993. The debt on the Midvale property is from 2000 and 2001.
Rodriguez recently paid $2,000 of his bill and signed an installment agreement to take care of the rest.
Rodriguez said the house on Godwin was a rental property and that he has tried to pay some of the bill every year, which records confirm. But he said he now plans to sell the property and use the proceeds to pay off his taxes.
He said he also intends to sell the house on Midvale to his sister and pay off that bill entirely.
Other officials on the delinquent tax rolls include state Rep. Sylvester Turner, who is considering running for mayor of Houston; Houston Port Authority Chairman Jim Edmonds; Constable Jack Abercia; and Jay Aiyer, the former chief of staff to Mayor Lee Brown and now a Houston Community College System trustee.
Records showed the law firm in which Turner is a partner had not paid its 2001 business personal property taxes on computer equipment at its office at 1100 Louisiana. The firm owed $3,509, and Turner -- who said he was unaware of the debt -- quickly made arrangements to pay it off after being questioned.
Edmonds is hardly a major tax scofflaw, with his delinquent 2000 property tax debt of 10 cents.
"I'll pay that first thing," he joked recently. "I'll send it over in the morning and make sure to ask for a receipt."
And while four of the delinquent public officials had no qualms about their bills, two others are questioning whether they actually owe.
Abercia said he knows nothing about his $1,330 delinquency for business personal property taxes on a vehicle he owned in 1993. He guessed it may stem from a truck his son had listed in Abercia's name. The truck had been used in a tow service.
"I've never been delinquent in my taxes," he said. "I'll check this out."
Bettencourt's office also is assisting Aiyer, who owes $835 in business personal property taxes from 2000. The taxes are on equipment in an office Aiyer once occupied in the 9600 block of Bellaire. Aiyer said he moved out of that office in 1997.
No apology & seemingly no remorse over the unpaid taxes, only regret that his name has been associated with the delinquency.
no shock that bureaucrats who squander our money also can’t manage their own. The inmates are running the asylum.
It’s an Obamanation.
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