By Saerom Yoo

Parker County records reveal a delay in document filing was the culprit behind the time gap between Willow Park’s 2003 annexation of Willow Park Village and the first-time assessment of property taxes in the subdivision.

Records indicate the city submitted a plat outlining the annexation in February, 2004. But the property still was not taxable until the county clerk and appraisal district received the annexation ordinance signed by the council, because only the ordinance made the change official, Wayne Thompson, director of mapping for the appraisal district, said last Monday.

The annexation ordinance, available on the city’s Web site as well as the county clerk’s office and Web site, shows that the council signed the document in September, 2003, but county records state the ordinance was never filed with the county clerk’s office until April of this year – a gap of more than four years.

Councilman Ken Hawkins, in a letter to Willow Park residents written on June 25, said allowing citizens in the affected areas to participate in city elections demonstrated proper notification to the county of the annexation.

“As a result of that notification, Parker County authorities in the elections offices properly recorded the right for these citizens to vote in the Willow Park elections,” he stated.

Jina Osborn, deputy of voter registration from the county elections department, confirmed Tuesday that the subdivision was a part of the city, but County Clerk Jeane Brunson said the two were separate issues.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean the clerk has the information or the appraisal district has the information,” she said Monday.

Osborn said the elections department did not maintain records of when the subdivision became an official part of the city.

Brunson said the usual process for an annexation of a city – once the annexation is approved by the council – would begin with the city’s submission of the annexation ordinance and a plat, outlining the city’s changed boundaries, to the county clerk. The files submitted to the clerk are scanned and filed immediately, making the record official and permanent.

The clerk then would make copies of the documents and forward them to the appraisal district, which would apply the appropriate changes, such as assessment of property taxes, Brunson noted.

Hawkins wrote to the subdivision’s residents that a “… clerical error caused the recording of the annexation to disappear in a bureaucratic black hole.” However, the records system in the county clerk’s office is “basically fool proof,” Brunson maintained, claiming the documents could not have been lost in her system.

The state comptroller’s office also failed to receive notification of the annexation until this month, spokesman R.J. DeSilva said last week. After the reviewing process, which includes the evaluation of the businesses in the subdivision, the city sales taxes will be applied tentatively starting in October, DeSilva added.

Hawkins said the subdivision has about seven home businesses where the sales taxes would apply.

“The bottom line is that we’ll probably never know where the clerical error occurred,” Hawkins said this past Tuesday. “I’m pretty sure it was done by accident; I can’t find fault anywhere or anyone. It’s just an unfortunate circumstance more than anything else.”

The gap was brought to the council’s attention during the June 16 regular meeting when Willow Park Village residents Patricia La Posa and Betty Zigelhofer were unexpectedly billed more than $700 in property taxes, due to the city of Willow Park, for the first time.

Both women said they were unaware that their subdivision was a part of the city even though they have lived there for about two years.

Neither the city nor the county has the option of waiving taxes owed to Willow Park, as mandated by state law. Hawkins said it means the residents might also owe back taxes starting from 2004.

Hawkins said an informative meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, July 24 at 7 p.m. in the Willow Park Baptist Church.