I live out of state, I received a notice of delinquent property taxes even though I know I paid my taxes. The law firm listed on the letter would not assist me clearing up the issue. My calls to Reeves county were only busy signals, then I would get voicemail, and resorted to mailing and emailing them, but they have not returned my inquires. I then found a site for Reeves County, and found they opened 9 different Accounts for my 2 properties, then applied the taxes I sent to any Account they wanted to, it looks like what they are doing is criminal in nature, there are Accounts with my same last name, but they are real people, and Reeves County is most likely billing them too, while my payments don’t go to the Accounts they should be, and they have a law firm threatening me by saying they will send a Constable, ruin my credit rating and foreclose on my property! I have hired a law firm, I would like to know if anyone else is having the same type of issue with Reeves county.
I payed my taxes and on the website, it has me as not having payed them and have charged me a late fee and interest. I have the canceled check and have tried calling them numerous times and just get a voice mail.
@wamayall and @William_Sweeney best practice is to send a check for payment that includes your owner number for the properties. Make sure sure to send the tax statement sheet or stub you received. Maintain a copy of both for your records. You may have Reeves county collecting for different entities, thus the multiple collections. Give it another month for Reeves to get out of their busy time, then contact them to resolve the issues.
It is very likely more accidental than nefarious. Reeves has been making some broad changes to improve their CAD systems. The law firm intro letter that talks about credit and foreclosure is the same ‘scary’ letter they send to anyone at the start of the collections process. I’ve handled probably hundreds of CAD errors that started with that letter and they were all resolved without much drama. I find that getting someone on the phone and being very kind, with a follow-up up email with all of your documentation can get it resolved pretty quickly. I hope it goes as well for you.
Thank you very much, james
Property taxes will be assessed separately for surface and producing minerals. Producing minerals will be broken down further to the RRC leases. So if 3 wells are drilled, each with a different RRC lease number, then 3 tax assessments will be included on the tax statement, even if the wells are located on the same tract of land. It is also possible that taxes are being assessed for a prior year year, whether unpaid at that time or for a new well which was valued later. Annual tax statement will list each well for only that year, and not prior years. Sometime separate statements are sent for each well. Taxes will be applied to the oldest unpaid statement, so if there is an underpayment for 2023, then that will be credited first. Gather all the statements and make a spreadsheet listing each statement on separate lines, with columns for account number, parcel id, RRC lease id, well name, tax year and tax due. Then compare your payment(s) and tax receipts. This way you can put together the evidence of your proper payment for all back taxes, whether you or your attorney sends to the CAD office.
The reason that the law firm will not help is simple. YOU are not the one paying them. You need to hire your own attorney.
There had been a problem about sending invoices for property I didn’t own and didn’t recognize. That seems to have been resolved.
Last year I filed a challenge to the valuation of the properties I did own. I spoke at length with the reservoir engineer who was generating the assessments. He based reserves on standard decline-curve analysis, and I could find no fault in his calculation. Prices used are defined by State law based on prior year averages. Again, there was no “wiggle room”. The discount rate for future cash flows (DCF analysis) was reasonable. Based on this, I dropped the challenge and advised my family members to do the same. The engineer was very professional in his assessment, and I thanked him for the quality of his work.
DEI at work! Tell ELON!
MAGA at work. Good luck with getting an answer
Kyndall, If someone at Reeves County would answer the phone, or return my voice mail and emails, I think it could be resolved.
I live out of state, but it is No accident to have opened 9 Accounts for my 2 properties, then apply the money I sent them however they pleased.
While Reeves County is NOT taking my Personal Information seriously by sending delinquent tax notices to people for property I own!
And Yes, the letter from their lawyer “scared” me, I did nothing wrong and I am being treated like a criminal.
I feel like Reeves County, with their lawyers behind them are extorting me, taxing me incorrectly, AND scaring me.
The law firm sends a form letter that back taxes are unpaid per records and that unless the taxes are paid or resolved with the county, then the foreclosure process can be started. The law firm has no detailed information about your accounts, at least at the time of the first letter. The language is blunt, but it gets your attention. This means that, at least on the records, you have taxes due for 2023 and prior years. If you paid 2024 taxes, that will have been applied to the oldest year unpaid taxes first. Sometimes the account numbers change and sometimes your name may be listed as Mary J and other times be Mary Jane. Also check the addresses to make sure they are all correct. Go to Reeves CAD site and look under your name for unpaid taxes for all years. Open boxes and print detail. The make spreadsheet as explained above, with separate lines for each well and each year. Compare to your checks for prior years and your past tax statements and paid tax receipts. If you recently inherited or purchased the minerals and/or surface, you will be responsible for all prior year unpaid taxes. In several past years, the Pecos-Barstow-Torah ISD sent separate bills from Reeves County, instead of combined, so look at tax authority as you may have paid ISD and not County. This way you can send the spreadsheet and scanned tax receipts to show you have paid all the taxes in full for all years.
In my experience the collections front line personnel are not familiar with mineral rights and you need to speak to the appraisal district and/or someone higher up at the collections firm. The collections firms send blanket threatening letters to every account that is delinquent in an attempt to to get payment.
In general you will have at least one account per well, and more if there are any wells that cross multiple jurisdictions (like two school districts for example). I’ve seen some wells have as many as seven accounts per owner in urban areas of Fort Worth.