Legal expenses in a lawsuit filed against the Scurry County Appraisal District (SCAD) are about to get more expensive for the plaintiffs.
Chief Appraiser Jacqueline Martin reported during a Tuesday meeting that the district’s legal expenses are expected to be more than $190,000 due to the Kinder Morgan lawsuit, while only $12,000 was budgeted.
“As of June 8, the total amount we’ve been billed was $190,697. You look at the budgeted amount that we have, which was $12,000, leaves a total of $178,697,” Martin told SCAD board members.
Martin added that the difference will be billed to local entities that the district serves.
“We’ll have the $100,000 that I’ll be billing them directly for, and then we’ll have money that will be coming in the form of resolutions, that I’ve got further down the line,” she said.
The board approved two resolutions asking local entities, including those suing SCAD and Kinder Morgan, for additional funds for attorney fees.
The board met in closed session for about 45 minutes to discuss the lawsuit with the district’s attorney. Upon return to open session, the board took no action on the item.
Board members also got their first look at the district’s 2021 budget.
According to the budget, district expenditures will increase from nearly $1.2 million to $1.23 million, a hike of about 3.06 percent.
Martin said the budget includes no pay increases for SCAD employees.
“It sure wasn’t for lack of performance. I tell you, they’re all wonderful,” she said.
“If I felt comfortable doing it in this climate, I would, but I just simply do not. I don’t believe that the entities will entertain much of an increase in terms of the employees.”
The board of directors took no action on the budget.
“It’ll go forward to the entities, and then you’ll actually adopt it at the August meeting,” Martin told the board.
In other business, the district voted to change retirement plans from Mass Mutual and 457 to John Hancock.
“It’s being moved into the same plan. Originally, the Mass Mutual just sat out there and there’s just a few employees that still have that, and then our current retirement is the 457 plan,” Martin said.
Martin added that John Hancock has several advantages over the current plans.
Martin presented the preliminary update of appraised values for the district.
“As far as our records stand right now, we’re looking at a difference between ’19 and ’20 of about 10 percent,” Martin said, noting that the difference could change based on the outcome of the pending Kinder Morgan lawsuit, in which the company is challenging its valuations, and valuations for other major operators.
“That’s where the record stands now, but again, there’s a lot of major operators, such as Kinder Morgan, and others, that have not been concluded at this point. So that could easily increase to (a) 15 to 20 percent loss from the current year.”
The board also approved bank balances and the investment report, bills payable from March through May and appraisal roll changes.