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Highland Village hears collection report: low tax delinquency, texting and skip-tracing boost recoveries
Summary
Council heard private contractors report low delinquency rates, explained why much of the remaining balance is deferred or uncollectible, and described tactics—letters, calls, skip-tracing and text messages—that lifted collections for court fines and utilities.
A contracted collection firm presented data to the Highland Village City Council on February 24 about the city’s delinquent tax, court-fine and utility accounts, emphasizing low delinquency rates, targeted outreach and legal limits on collecting from elderly or deferred accounts.
The firm said the city’s 2023 original tax levy was a little north of $16 million and that “everything but 1.21% was collected” before July 1, when unpaid accounts are turned over to private counsel. The presenter said $193,000 was turned over for 2023 delinquencies and that the firm collected about 73.4% of the balance in the 12 months that followed. “We’re doing a really good job this year. We’re on pace to go beyond what we did last year,” the presenter said.
Why some accounts remain unpaid: the firm told the council that about 66% of the $180,000 remaining on the all-years delinquent roll is tied to homestead deferrals or accounts held by people 65 or older or with disabilities; those accounts are protected from active collection under state law. Additional chunks of the roll are in bankruptcy, judged uncollectible or in payment arrangements. “By law, we cannot collect or do collections activities on accounts that are in deferral,” the firm said.
Court fines and utilities: Sarah Thompson, introduced by the firm, said court-fine turnover totaled $560,722 across 1,287 cases; full and partial payments amounted to $132,639 (346 cases), a 23.66% collection rate, and an additional $265,532 was recorded as resolved through reductions, dismissals or other adjustments. For utility accounts, the firm reported $462,517 in turnover across 1,407 accounts, with $27,451 collected on 155 accounts (a 5.94% near-term collection rate) and a higher overall liquidation percentage after resolutions and adjustments.
Collection methods: the presenters described a multi-step outreach approach—skip tracing to update addresses and phones, mailed letters, call-center outreach and an expanding text-message program. They reported 4,762 letters, 5,056 verbal contacts and 2,227 text messages for court collections and said initial texting pilots produced strong response rates. The firm said it operates multiple call centers in Texas (about 418 employees statewide, roughly 250 in call-center roles) and that it does not offshore those jobs.
Costs and fees: presenters and councilmembers clarified that the collection services cost the city nothing; statutory penalties and interest (1% monthly interest, 12% penalty by July 1) apply to delinquent taxes, and an additional collection-related penalty (about 20%) is added only when a private firm is engaged; that additional fee is borne by the delinquent taxpayer and is paid to the law firm.
What the council asked for next: members requested clearer breakdowns by real property vs. business personal property (the firm agreed to provide that split) and asked staff for longer trend data (10 years) on delinquency and turnover.
The presentation concluded with an offer to provide quarterly or ad hoc reports and with council thanks for the information. The council did not take formal action on the presentation itself; follow-up data and a requested decade-long trend were the next steps.
