by ANDY SEVILLA
Kyle Council Member Becky Selbera owes six years of property taxes on land she and her ex-husband purchased in 1985, Hays County documents show. This new information compounds Selbera’s tax troubles; as reported by the Hays Free Press last week, Selbera was named a codefendant in at least two lawsuits for back taxes on other property in Kyle.
Selbera could face removal from her elected office as Kyle’s charter prohibits elected officials from being indebted to the city.
In a September 2012 Hays County tax lawsuit against Selbera — where she was identified as Rebecca S. Perez, aka Rebecca Perez, aka Rebecca Selvera — the 207th Judicial District Court found on Jan. 18, 2013, that Selbera and her ex-husband, Jesse H. Perez, are responsible for property taxes owed since 2007 on .095 acres of land out of Abstract 220, Z Hinton Survey in Hays County.
Tax Assessor-Collector records showed Tuesday that Selbera owes $1,810.65 in taxes for that property, though that figure could climb to $1,865.67 if paid in July.
Elected officials in Kyle may “not be delinquent on any indebtedness to the city,” according to the charter, and “if any member of the council ceases to possess any of the qualifications of office… his/her office shall, upon such fact being determined by the council, immediately become vacant…”
Selbera has served as a council member for the past decade.
Hays County sued Selbera and Perez to collect back taxes for itself, Kyle, Austin Community College, Hays County Emergency Services District No. 5, Plum Creek Water Conservation District and the Plum Creek Groundwater District.
Selbera did not return calls Monday, but remitted a fax to the Hays Free Press on Tuesday stating she does not own the property in question.
“This is to notify you by fax that what you stated (in a voicemail), ‘that my (ex) husband and I bought some land in 1985,’ that statement is not true,” Selbera wrote. “If we had any property together it would have been listed in our divorce. That property that you question actually belongs to both of my daughters and not myself.”
However, Selbera and Perez’s 1995 divorce decree states the council member was awarded a .095-acre tract of land out of the Abstract 220, Z Hinton Survey in Hays County.
The property deed shows Selbera and Perez bought the property in February 1985 from her parents, Reynaldo Selbera, Jr. and his wife Anita Selbera. County records show the elected official remains the owner.
The property is valued at $8,080, tax records show.
An August 2012 tax lawsuit against Selbera and her siblings alleges the council member and her family owe $4,265.60 in property taxes for years 2011 and 2012 on two other properties.
In that case, Selbera told the Hays Free Press she no longer owned the two properties. Selbera said she signed over ownership to her father on a piece of paper, though she is unaware of where he left it. She does not have a copy of the document. Selbera’s father passed away in March 2013.
The deeds, however, state that Selbera and her siblings – Mary S. Martinez, Reynaldo Selbera, III, Hope Selbera, Olga S. Flores, Silvia Selbera and Alicia S. Reyna – were sold the two properties by their parents in 1998 for 10 dollars “and other valuable consideration including the love and affection we have for our seven children.”
The properties named in that lawsuit are 501. W. Thiele, valued at $67,380, and a second property at M. E. Moore, Block 1, Lots 2, 3, 4 and 5, valued at $14,000.
Kyle is owed $805.51 in back taxes on that case.
Selbera and her siblings were also sued by Hays County in 2002 for back taxes owed on the same properties named in the August 2012 lawsuit. That case was settled in 2004 after the county received a $567 payment, records show.
Kyle’s website lists Selbera’s legal residence as 301 W. Thiele, a property her late father owns. It, too, is in property tax delinquency. County records show that $2,584.34 is owed in back taxes for that property.
Assistant Kyle City Attorney Cody Faulk said his office is investigating Selbera’s property tax situation and its correlation with elected officer requirements per the city’s charter. He said his office would be updating and making a recommendation to the city council in the coming days.
The next regular council meeting is July 2.
