DeSoto’s long‑time outside collections counsel presented the city council with annual results for delinquent property tax and municipal court fines and fees, describing outreach, payment arrangements and litigation activity that staff say support continued collections while offering relief options to qualifying homeowners.

Pamela Pope Lee of Lombardo, Goggin, Blair & Sampson LLP introduced the firm’s collection work on behalf of DeSoto and said the firm provides tax collection, fines and fees representation, litigation and bankruptcy representation and community outreach. Karen Bishop, the firm’s client liaison for delinquent property tax accounts, and Sophronia Johnson, who oversees fines and fees collections, gave the program details.

Bishop said the firm reported a base turnover for tax year 2024 of $1,027,385 and that 990 accounts were turned over for that year. She summarized the city’s delinquent tax roll, noting the greatest share of dollars is concentrated in higher‑dollar accounts and that 54% of accounts were considered collectible and subject to active outreach, citation and suit where necessary. Bishop said staff and collectors negotiate payment arrangements, offer homestead payment arrangements of up to 36 months in appropriate cases and advise taxpayers about exemptions administered by the Dallas Central Appraisal District.

Johnson described the fines and fees collection program and the firm’s operational work: mailing notices, skip‑tracing returned mail, providing address updates to marshals, and a call center that handles routine citizen contacts. She said the firm placed 5,389 cases for first‑time collections during the 12‑month window the presentation covered and reported routine skip‑tracing and more than 35,000 mailed collection letters across the program. Johnson also said fines and fees collections since the program’s start in 2007 total more than $9.4 million.

Council members asked for the presentation materials to be posted online for the public and raised questions about whether municipal code enforcement abatements appear in municipal court referrals, and whether the firm handles hotel/motel tax delinquencies (the presenters said motel/hotel tax is handled separately). Council members also asked for clarification about the period covered by the two separate reporting frames (tax turnover vs. fines and fees year windows) and requested the slides be made available to the public.

The presentation was informational; no council action was taken at the meeting. Staff said they would post the slides online and that residents should contact the municipal court administrator with questions about specific citation types.