Unpaid taxes

Some elected officials don’t appear to be paying their part of the taxpayer money they are spending.

A company owned by Odessa City Councilman Benjamin Velasquez is being sued by the Ector County Appraisal District, which collects property taxes for the county’s taxing entities. The city he helps govern is among the parties to the suit, along with Ector County, Odessa College and the Ector County school and hospital districts.

The lawsuit claims that Stellar Media Inc., with Velasquez listed as its president, owes more than $20,000 in back property taxes, some of which dates back to 2003.

Velasquez was appointed to the District 5 seat of the Odessa City Council in May 2009 after no one else filed to fill the seat of Michael Sanchez, who died March 18.

Velasquez on Wednesday said he was the sole owner of Stellar Media. He also said he did not believe he had unpaid taxes on the property located on Crane Avenue that houses his radio stations. “Honestly, I think there is an error, and I don’t believe I do,” he said by phone.

Velasquez at first said he owned the property at 1319 Crane Ave., but later said he wasn’t sure if he owned it and that “the appraisal district has trouble keeping records.”

He referred questions to his attorney, Roy Bell, who did not immediately return phone calls for comment.

Velasquez on Tuesday night said he didn’t know anything about a lawsuit and would have to look into the matter.

However, records show Velasquez twice being delivered notices from the Ector County Sheriff’s Office that Stellar Media was being sued by the appraisal district. Record indicate the notices were delivered to 1319 S. Crane Ave, where the radio stations are located. One occasion was in 2007; the other in 2008.

The property could be subject to foreclosure.

“We filed a lawsuit against Stellar Media Inc.,” appraisal district attorney Mark A. Flowers said. “We are working to take that to judgment and, ultimately, foreclosure if necessary.” Flowers added that the lawsuit would be dropped if the taxes and costs are paid.

According to the appraisal district, Stellar has been sued for failing to pay on four parcels on South Crane Avenue, with $14,093.51 of that in property at 1319 S. Crane Ave., the location of Velasquez’s two radio stations. It shows taxes for that property as overdue for 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2009.

Stellar radio station KQLM is shown to owe $5,091.32 for another account at the same address, which is due for 2003 and 2004.

Stellar is shown to owe $8,488.98 for property at 1315 S. Crane Ave.  The appraisal district lists payment overdue for every year since 2004 on that property.

Stellar owes another $180.85 from a separate account at the same address.

The lawsuit also says that Stellar forfeited its corporate charter Feb. 11, 2005, because it didn’t pay its franchise taxes. Bridget Swonke of the Texas Secretary of State’s office confirmed this.

Swonke said that, since then, Stellar Media has not been considered an active company.

Though shareholders in companies are considered private information, she said Velasquez was listed as the company’s president as of the time of its forfeiture.

According to court records, Judge Jim Bobo appointed an attorney ad litem on Jan. 11, 2010, to represent “Stellar Media Inc., the unknown shareholders, successors and assigns of Stellar Media Inc., a dissolved corporation.”

The order says that “there are certain defendants in the above numbered and entitled cause who were served with process by means of citation by posting and have not appeared or answered, either in person or by attorney.”

Flowers said Gary L. Bridges, Stellar Media’s attorney ad litem, was appointed to make sure that due process was followed for the defendants. The lawsuit also carries a mechanism that forces the defendants to pay court expenses, if the defendants lose the case.

Efforts to reach Bridges were unsuccessful.

The Federal Communications Commission lists Stellar Media Inc. as the licensee on both KQLM-FM and KOZA-AM. The licenses are shown to run through Aug. 1, 2013.

A court date for the lawsuit has not been set.

“Procedurally, the next step is to take a judgment,” Flowers said. If the appraisal district wins, the property could be put up in a tax foreclosure sale.

Though no other candidates have been sued, Velasquez, who faces challenger Roy Hunton for his District 5 seat, is not the only participant in the May 8 municipal elections who has gotten behind on property taxes.

>> A search of Ector County Appraisal District records shows that Cathi Echols, one of three candidates for the District 3 council seat, hadn’t paid 2009 taxes on the home she owns with husband, Randy Echols. Records showed they owed $1,847.48.

When reached, Cathi Echols said she was unaware that the taxes hadn’t been paid, and it was her understanding that her mortgage company would take care of payment.

“I’m glad you brought that to my attention,” she said.

Within an hour, Cathi Echols called back and said she had discussed the matter with people at her mortgage company, who took responsibility for the error. Appraisal district records show that a lending company paid the 2008 taxes on the property.

>> Odessa College trustee Richard Abalos wrote a check for $11,016.85 Tuesday afternoon after being contacted by an Odessa American reporter about his unpaid property taxes. Abalos said he had not paid his property taxes as of Tuesday morning because he just hadn’t gotten around to it.

“I’ve had the money for a long time, I just haven’t gone down there to pay it,” he said. Abalos — who suffered serious injuries when a horse fell on him last year — said he’d had some difficulties in the past few months, due to the accident, but that was no excuse.

“I could have had my wife go down there to pay it, but I didn’t,” Abalos said. Abalos called the OA Tuesday afternoon to report he had paid.

>> Ector County Independent School District school board candidate Richard Herrera owes $2,910.13 for his 2009 property taxes. Herrera said he and his wife usually pay their property taxes but miscommunication over who was mailing the payment in led him to be late on his taxes.

“She’d thought that I had mailed them off, and I thought that she had done it, so now it is getting done,” Herrera said.

>> Odessa College trustee Sandra Shaw, who is not seeking re-election this year, owes property taxes for 2007, 2008 and 2009. Attempts to get in touch with Shaw have been unsuccessful.

>> Current Ector County Hospital District director Abraham Torres is not seeking re-election to the board, but he said he is looking at paying his nearly $3,000 in back property taxes, some going back to 2001. He is working with the appraisal district to resolve some of the tax questions.

His personal home is paid up, and he said most other properties in question are lots he owns that people put mobile homes on and failed to pay the taxes themselves. His business Alatore LLC is paid up until 2008.

“I’ve paid about $12,000 since January and have tried to resolve taxes for the past couple years. If I am found liable at the end of the day, I will pay them,” Torres said.

Staff writers Roy Waggoner, Dianna Wray, Laura Dennis and Gene Powell Jr. contributed to this story.


ON THE NET
>> Ector County Appraisal District: www.ectorcad.org