by ANDY SEVILLA
Kyle Council Member Becky Selbera’s years of delinquent property taxes were settled Friday, after she paid the whole bill, with help from a peer on the dais, Hays County records show.
The elected official’s full tax payment comes on the heels of a Hays Free Press investigation which uncovered Selbera’s position on the city council was compromised and in peril due to monies owed to the city.
Elected officials in Kyle may “not be delinquent on any indebtedness to the city,” the charter states, and “if any member of the council ceases to possess any of the qualifications of office… his/her office shall, upon such face being determined by the council, immediately become vacant…”
Selbera had not paid six years of property taxes on a .095-acre tract of land out of Abstract 220 of the Z Hinton Survey, which she co-owned with her ex-husband, Jesse H. Perez, according to the property’s deed. A 1995 divorce decree however awarded ownership of the property solely to Selbera.
Despite the property’s deed on-file at the Hays County Clerk’s office, Selbera said last week that she did not own the property, and therefore was not in conflict with the city charter’s requirements.
On June 28, however, Selbera’s $1,810.25 property tax bill was paid in full – $1,400 in cash and $410.25 with Council Member David Wilson’s credit card, according to a tax assessor-collector official.
In January, a District Court Judge found Selbera and Perez responsible for the delinquent property taxes, after Hays County, representing itself, Kyle and other entities, sued the council member and her ex-husband last year.
Selbera’s tax troubles, however, run deeper. In August 2012, Hays County, representing itself, Kyle and other entities, sued the council member and her six siblings over delinquent property taxes on two Kyle properties they have own collectively since 1998.
Tax records showed Monday that Selbera and her siblings owe $3,370.40 on their property at 501 W. Thiele, and $757.25 on their property at M E Moore, Block 1, Lot 2,3,4 and 5.
