CDC puts off action on disputed tax bill
By BRENDA SOMMER bsommer@leader-news.com

It looks like it will be January before the City Development Corp. of El Campo decides to pay its property tax bill.

At the board's Dec. 3 meeting, directors tabled action on paying their property taxes after it was discovered they'd been billed twice for some of their land and buildings. The CDC has property in the Meisel and Blue Creek Industrial parks it uses to lure industry and jobs to the city.

The county appraisal district reissued the development agency's bill and CDC directors were to meet Monday to approve payment, but instead decided they needed more time.

"The tax information we have, I believe, conflicts with what the appraisal district has, so we have to have our attorney look into that," said CDC Executive Director Chandra Spenrath.

Since the board had a very light agenda for Monday's meeting, it decided to cancel the entire meeting and tackle the tax squabble in January, when it has a clearer picture of the situation.

The CDC is a city-created entity funded by a quarter cent of the city's sales tax dollars to promote economic development.