Local elected official loses home to unpaid property taxes?

The Advance News Journal discovered last week that a local elected official lost their home — unpaid property taxes, way past due.

We’re using “their” instead of “his” or “her” to intentionally conceal their gender.

By the way, all of this is still in need of fact-checking, but The Advance did get it from a reliable source, so we expect it to pan out as legit. Just need a copy of the physical document actually showing loss of property, courtesy of unpaid property taxes, before we call the elected official by phone to ask, ‘Hey, what gives? How could you run for public office when you can’t even pay your own property taxes?’”

Is that a fair question to ask of any elected official?

If you say no, you’re probably one of those elected officials juggling a past-due notice, although there can’t be that many, can there? Or can there? In all of Hidalgo County, the many municipalities, school districts, charter schools, other political jurisdictions do add up to hundreds of elected officials when all is said and done.

Not only that, but this politician who allegedly lost their home had been granted a 12-month reprieve, allegedly, by a Justice of the Peace, during which time the property taxes were supposed to be paid off, the tax slate wiped clean.

That plan would have saved the home from foreclosure, but they still failed to pay off the ad valorem tax liability. So the story goes.

While this was going on, the politician still found time to campaign for office. And win.

Like the person said who first told us this story here at The Advance, “Wouldn’t you think paying off your back taxes, with your home at risk of foreclosure, would be more important than running for office, which eats up both time and money?”

Yes, one would think, but sometimes, people do the strangest things.

Uh-Oh, Progreso

Speaking of strange, take, for example, the Progreso ISD school board president, Juan Jose Ramos, who got charged by Weslaco police last week with felonious possession of a cocaine, while getting hit with an additional misdemeanor charge — public intoxication.

If you’re going to drink and snort coke, allegedly, why not just stay home and watch “Trailer Park Boys” on Netflix? At least you’ll be in your element and won’t have to worry about the cops. Or bad publicity. Mug shots — not a good look, even if you do smile for the camera.

Back to the property tax issue — apparently, this public official in question, along with their spouse, is now renting their former home (the very one lost to property taxes). The gossip is, they’ve only paid one month’s rent and are now falling back on that old “squatter’s” rights, which some people in Texas have taken advantage of for decades.

During the last two state legislative sessions, though, significant changes were made to state law that now makes it harder for a squatter to take over a property — live in it while refusing to pay the rent, claiming they can’t — while now making it easier for the real property owner to legally evict them without racking up ridiculous legal fees in the process over an extended period of time (Senate Bill 38).

While starting to look into this story, the thought surfaced — how many other local public officials are behind with their property taxes? Home and/or business.

Check Property Taxes

New policy here at The Advance.

Every election — local, county, or state — after the filing process is complete and we know the names of the candidates, The Advance is going to run each candidate’s name through the ringer to see whose property taxes are paid up and who has fallen behind, if anyone.

Should have been doing this for years just as a matter of simple course and a service to the public.

Moving forward, with local elections planned for this November fast approaching, followed by primary elections next March, we will take a look at local taxes and let you know what we find.

Also, we’ll follow up with this story about the unnamed elected official referenced at the top of this story. Did “they” really lose their home to back taxes, and are they behind on the rent?

If true, we’ll also ask them the question, how did you get into this financial predicament? And when you successfully ran for office last election, weren’t you worried that someone from the opposition would point out your own personal financial foibles?

Unpaid property taxes are, after all, a matter of public record.