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Committee advances reassignment of Aldine delinquent-tax accounts to Purdue after firmspresentations; broader debate over apples-to-apples metrics
Summary
After presentations from the city attorney and two vendor firms, the Budget & Fiscal Affairs Committee voted to advance a motion to reassign Aldine delinquent-tax accounts to Purdue Brandon; the committee recorded the advance as 10-1 and asked for more district-level and socioeconomic data before final council action on additional districts.
The Budget & Fiscal Affairs Committee advanced a motion on July 30 to send a proposed reassignment of delinquent-ad valorem tax accounts to full city council, including a plan to move the Aldine portfolio to the Purdue Brandon firm. Mayor Pro Tem Martha Castex Tatum moved the motion and Vice Mayor Pro Tem Amy Peck seconded; the committee recorded the motion as advancing by a 10-to-1 vote. Chair Sally Alcorn said Aldine can be placed on the council agenda tomorrow and that amendments to include other school districts would be prepared for subsequent council action.
Legal and vendor presentations: Rahat Huck of the city attorneys office reviewed the dual-vendor contract in place since 2014, explained the reassignment eligibility metric written into the 2019 contract (the comparison uses a seven-month window, July 1 to Jan 31), and presented the prong-1 numbers used for 2024 (Purdue at 17.2% vs. Linebarger at 15.6% under that metric). Huck emphasized the metric is prescribed in the contract and that other analyses (12-month cycles, penalty/interest treatment or account composition) could be presented as supplemental information.
Linebarger and Purdue presentations differed on emphasis. Tanya Erickson Wood of Linebarger described the firms broader services (health-and-safety lien management, vendor checks, litigations and tax sales) and highlighted that portfolio composition and exemptions (for example 65+ homestead exemptions) materially affect collection percentages. Mark Darlow of Purdue said Purdue has consistently outperformed under the contracts required seven-month metric and argued that reassignment of Aldine and several other districts could increase collections citywide; he said the citys delinquent-tax roll totals about $100.2 million and that reallocations could meaningfully increase recoveries.
Council concerns and vote: Several council members, including Letitia Plummer and others, said they wanted district-level breakdowns (socioeconomic measures, aged-account composition and exemption percentages) to ensure any reassignment is evaluated fairly. Councilmember Twyla Carter and others suggested considering alternative assignments (for example swapping HISD assignments) to test performance differences. Nonetheless, the committee voted to advance the Aldine reassignment and to authorize staff and the city attorneys office to prepare amendments for additional districts (Cy-Fair, Huffman, New Caney and Spring were listed in the motion for further consideration).
How vendors are paid: The committee was reminded that under state tax law the firms are not paid from city revenues but are compensated via penalties collected from taxpayers (a 20% penalty referenced by the city attorney), a statutory mechanism the firms and legal staff discussed in detail.
What comes next: The item will be considered at full city council; Aldine was cleared to go on the next council agenda and further amendments will be prepared for subsequent council action. Council members asked staff to provide additional district-level and account-composition data to inform final decisions.
