Four homes located on Lagood Drive—3700, 3701, 3704, 3705—and four homes located on James Ryan Way—10200, 10201, 10206, 10207— were not taxed River Place Municipal Utility District ad valorem taxes for 18 years due to an error. An estimated loss in the range of approximately $87,000 in taxes were not paid.
Error cost local utility district tens of thousands of dollars over 18 years
By LESLEE BASSMAN, Four Points News
During the Dec. 19 meeting of the River Place Limited District board of directors, members discussed Travis Central Appraisal District’s failure to include eight River Place homes in the former River Place Municipal Utility District’s tax rolls for the past 18 years. Therefore, the homeowners of these properties have not paid MUD ad valorem taxes since 2000, the year the parcels were annexed into the district, said Patrick Reilly, president of the River Place Limited District.
“A homeowner at the River Place Homeowners Association annual meeting came up to me and inquired about why he was being charged MUD taxes and one of his neighbors did not appear to be charged taxes by the MUD,” said Scott Crosby, board member of the River Place Limited District. “I went in and looked at several addresses on Travis County’s website and found that was in fact the case.”
He said he referred the matter to Reilly who said the district’s legal assistant, Suzanne McCalla, alerted Travis Central Appraisal officials.
Four of the homes are located on Lagood Drive—3700, 3701, 3704, 3705—and four of the homes are located on James Ryan Way—10200, 10201, 10206, 10207, Reilly said.
“The (MUD) annexed (these) homes in September of 2000,” he said. “Then, for some reason, TCAD never added them to the rolls. If we would not brought it to (Travis Central Appraisal’s) attention, (the homes) would never have been added to the rolls. (These homeowners) paid all of their other taxes but they were not paying River Place MUD tax.”
Although the River Place MUD had properly identified and taxed those homes, Crosby said he heard that “Travis County failed to properly bill the customers for it.”
“The situation is you don’t receive an individual bill from the MUD,” Reilly said. “You get (the MUD tax assessment) on your regular tax bill that you get from TCAD.”
Travis Central Appraisal (TCAD) has sovereign immunity and therefore cannot be sued for the error, the district’s attorneys said at the meeting.
Reilly said, moving forward, the homes will be on the tax rolls beginning with the 2018-19 fiscal year.
The current River Place MUD tax is 7.5 cents per $100 valuation of the home and land worth. Calculating the amount of tax lost is not straightforward as the homes were not constructed at the same time and Reilly declined to estimate any valuation since the funds lost could not be recouped.
Based on a home valued at $650,000, the River Place MUD tax would amount to $487.50 annually.
According to Travis Central Appraisal, the appraised value of the eight homes omitted from the River Place MUD tax rolls range from $726,000 to $893,000, excluding a lot valued at $272,000.
The error resulted in an estimated loss of approximately $87,000 in taxes not paid.
The board approved sending a letter concerning the issue to Travis Central Appraisal and including Austin City Council Member Brigid Shea on the communication as River Place is in her district. Additionally, letters will be sent to the homeowners of the eight addresses omitted for the district’s tax rolls, informing them of the situation.
“So, they were part of the district, meaning they got water and wastewater services,” Reilly said of the owners of the eight homes omitted from the MUD’s tax rolls. “They had access to our parks and trails (and) solid waste services. They received all of those benefits. Just that they never got taxed or paid the ad valorem tax from the district.”
TCAD officials could not be reached for comment prior to press time.