Surfside taxpayers petition for rollback

The Facts
By KENT HOLLE kent.holle@thefacts.com
November 8, 2022

SURFSIDE BEACH — Village taxpayers will get a second stab at putting the property tax rate before voters.

City Council will consider a petition calling for a rollback election during a special meeting Wednesday, the second time a group of residents have placed signatures before the village. It seeks to overturn council’s decision in September to maintain the 2022-23 tax rate at 33.46 cents per $100 of appraised value, about 10 cents above the voter-approval rate.

The adopted rate is almost a dime more than than the voter-approval rate of 23.92 cents, allowing it to be challenged at the ballot box. The petition is required to put it on the next regular November election during the same tax year, according to the Texas Comptroller’s Office, though it’s not clear how that would work in Surfside since the statutory election day would be today.

Surfside Mayor Greg Bisso told The Facts he would prefer not to comment on the resolution until the meeting Wednesday. It is not known how many valid signatures are on the latest set of petitions.

Alderman Bob Petty said the city rejected an earlier petition because it contained signatures of people who are not registered Brazoria County voters.

“That was a couple of weeks ago, but they did it wrong,” Petty said. “We had a city council meeting and told them the right way to do it if they want to do it, but the way they turned it in to us, it didn’t follow the law, so it had no value. So we brought in the city attorney to address why we couldn’t do anything with it, but we also helped them get the information to do it correctly.”

Petty said he had not seen the new petition and did not know if the one to be presented to the council Wednesday would meet the qualifications that had been missed the first time around and would not find out until the meeting, when and if they receive it.

“I’m not sure if they took our advice and went and did it properly and turned something in. I have not been told,” Petty said.

If the petitions are accepted and an election called, a simple majority voting in favor of the rollback would force Surfside Beach to cut the tax rate to the voter-approval level.

This spike in values translates to a tax increase for property owners despite the rate staying flat. The approved rate will increase village revenues by 51.90 percent and raise taxes for maintenance and operations on a $100,000 home by about $16.13, according to the village’s agenda item preceding its vote on the rate.

Since the average home in Surfside Beach is valued at about $370,000, the increase will amount to about $60.

In the meetings prior to passing the rate, council members argued the village needed the increased revenue to address decades-old problems with its water and sewer systems, funding for the recently added emergency medical service and to cover higher costs from inflation.

Petty indicated a reduction in the tax rate from that voted on by the city would necessarily result in fewer services.

“That means we’re going to have less to spend and we’re not going to have as many players in that location in the EMS or police or whatever, because we can only hire people that we can pay,” he said.

The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 1304 Monument Drive.