Kilgore ISD agrees to settlement offer in 2016 tax revenue lawsuit

KILGORE – Six years after its filing, a lawsuit alleging improper collection of tax revenues against Kilgore ISD has reached a preliminary settlement, according to the district. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit requested relief and a refund of taxes totaling $4 million that were collected after the district repealed the local optional homestead exemption in 2015 when the Texas Legislature was working to make the exemption mandatory. According to our news partner KETK, the district said in its statement that Kilgore ISD taxpayers should soon expect to receive “first notices containing information regarding the class action settlement details.”

In 2018, after a judge ruled in favor of the residents suing the district on their claims for declaratory relief, Attorney General Ken Paxton said he was glad the court recognized the district’s attempt to take money away from homeowners without their consent.“Local governments cannot simply ignore laws they do not like,” Paxton said at the time. “My office will continue to stand up for homeowners in these districts and voters across the state.” Paxton said the Legislature paid for the tax breaks in the state budget to provide a property tax reduction to Texas homeowners “with no downside to school districts.” “Nevertheless, some school districts chose to reduce or repeal their local option homestead exemption and assess homeowners a tax rate that violated the law,” Paxton said.

Kilgore ISD said taxpayers can expect notices about the settlement from the plaintiffs’ attorneys, and Superintendent Dr. Andy Baker said they are ready to put the lawsuit behind them.n“This has been an ongoing challenge for our district and our community for many years,” Baker said. “We are looking forward to getting this behind us so that we can now direct all of our focus on the many great things happening in our district.”