Dusty, I did realize you were only reporting the newest excuse from Reeves County about erroneous bills. And it is a valid concern that someone might pay twice. This is the third year of erroneous bills from Reeves County and my frustration just boiled over with the excuses and with all the wasted time dealing with it. No end in sight. I have not heard of another tax district anywhere with so many problems.
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We had a very similar situation that you described. We paid a 2020 bill July 2022. A few days ago we received what is clearly a duplicate billing for that same bill we paid for 2020. As I write this, I am preparing a letter along with check copy, first billing last summer, and the recent billing. In the letter I will ask that they direct staff to correct the record such that we are not in arrears. This is on top of what we saw for my wife’s brother where he was billed a huge amount for wells he had no interest in! (After he sent a letter with documentation for that mess, he has not heard back from the tax office.)
I think the moral of the story is to document everything and throw nothing away.
Regards,
Steve
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The problem with checking the website is that the property search function has been offline for weeks.
My newest supplemental had 6 invoices, 1 for 2020 and the others for 2021. Three have already been paid, which I was able to verify with the tax office. I still have 4 they have been assessed but haven’t ever been billed for 2021 and 7 total that started production in 2020 for which I haven’t been assessed or billed. So this could continue for years until they get it straight.
I also called them. The woman who answered and helped looked up every well and verified that I had indeed paid the taxes on them back in August. She also said that they are in the process of crediting the accounts that were paid.
She then said that I could check (in about a month) by using the QR code (right under 'Pay By Phone" )on the new bill.
She said to check with the QR code (while on phone with her, which I did) and all 6 of wells were there, listed separately with the amounts due. She said just to keep checking with the code and when it has been credited, it will show zero due. Again, she said it should take about a month for the accounts to be credited but to call back if the accounts aren’t showing zero in a month or so. She also said that is the reason for no penalties for a year. They know they botched it and are trying to fix.
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I just called Reeves county. They looked up my bill and agreed I had paid it on July 18, 2002. She said just throw the bill away. I am keeping it.
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Well I paid my tax bill even though I’m in suspense with no answers on how to get into pay status. My bill said that it would go up in cost every month I was late. I was late one month because I got the bill late and not having any money was hoping I would be back in pay status (by a miracle, I guess). I have no way to know if I am being billed correctly either. How would one know?
So we went through the new supplemental bills and they were all paid last year, but we found several where the current bill is significantly lower, so we will be filing for a refund. As tempted as I am to also file for the ones a penny lower, I will resist that temptation. We also found one that is higher than what we paid last year.
If you did not keep the bills from last year, check to see if you have the receipts. If you have neither, I think (emphasis on the think) the Tax Office can print a duplicate.
We also found one well listed twice on the current bills so will have to try to get that removed.
My suggestion is to be proactive. If you get in the cycle of getting past due notices and then the collection law firm gets involved, it is hard to get out of. Send everything certified mail and keep your green cards. Keep copies of all the enclosures you send with your letters. In short, document everything. These mistakes on top of mistakes by the Reeves Tax Office/CAD/Capitol will take a long time to work themselves out.
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It is inconceivable Reeves would compound its (two?) bizarre errors by mailing delinquency notices or turning any accounts over to collectors … but this is Reeves County. Could somebody meet with the tax collector and/or assessor, to ask if they have an action plan or timetable to straighten out (1) wildly inaccurate bills mailed late last year, and (2) duplicate supplementary bills mailed late February 2023? I would seek such interview but I live 1,000 miles away. When Reeves mailed those duplicate “supplemental/Corrected” statements Feb-2023 they enclosed a succinct 230-word explanation that “these bills are correct” when in fact they were double-billed duplicates for us … some of my family partners were writing checks to pay these duplicate supplement bills when I intervened. Inasmuch as Reeves County Tax Office sent its erroneous “Dear Property Owner” letter last month, can we ask them to now send a plain-English explanation of what is going on, and whether delinquency notices will compound their past mistakes? I’ve tried to search Reeves websites including my online tax records but the website is not working (website even has misspelled words).
Received supplemental invoices for 12K last month. Thought them legit and paid them. This past week, a letter came in from Rosemary Chabarria Reeves County Tax Assessor-Collector stating that the invoices had been paid last year and returned the check which accompanied the supplemental invoices, along with “Paid” receipts. There are a number of producing wells in Reeves County in our portfolio so it was easy for us to be confused regarding whats been paid for which year, etc. We will definitely be more diligent the next time invoices arrive from Reeves County!
Roy- You may be correct that they will straighten things out and not turn it over for collection, but I am skeptical, especially if you have taxes due on wells that are now inexplicably higher then when they were billed last year.
I got a tax bill in March, as discussed here. Today i got a notice of new assessment and taxable value which is almost three times what it was in 2022–and the value is more than the income! What’s going on with the tax office?
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You have received the 2023 Notice of Appraised Value from the Reeves CAD. It is not from the Reeves Tax Office. You can access the detail for appraisal valuation is available on the CAGI (Capital Appraisal Group) website. The valuation is always more than income because it is an estimate of the sales value of the minerals, using a production decline curve, average oil and gas prices for prior year, with present value of estimated long term income. This is similar to the way that the property taxes on your house are based on the current market value of your house. Generally, I find that the taxes will be around 5% of the valuation. In 2022, oil prices were very high and so that affects the valuation. You have until mid-May to protest the well valuations. Be sure to verify the royalty decimal on the valuation and to review the 2022 oil and gas prices to make sure that one or more months are not greatly overstated.
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