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HomeMy WebLinkAboutContract 31884 CITY RY CCN RACTENO. 3 2 4 CONTRACT FOR THE COLLECTION OF DELINQUENT TAXES AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS DELINQUENT REVENUE This Contract is made and entered into by and between the City of Fort Worth, on behalf of itself and on behalf of the collector of taxes authorized by the City of Fort Worth to collect its ad valorem taxes, acting herein by and through its governing body, hereinafter called City, and Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP, 309 West 7th Street, Suite 1300, Fort Worth, Texas 76102 hereinafter called Attorneys. SECTION A DELINQUENT PROPERTY TAXES SERVICES I. City agrees to employ and does hereby employ Attorneys to enforce by suit or otherwise the collection of all delinquent property taxes, penalty and interest, on behalf of the City and on behalf of the City's collector of taxes, within the City and owing to City, provided current year taxes falling delinquent within the period of this contract shall become subject to its terms on the first day of July of the year in which the same shall become delinquent except that suits resolved before the first day of July must include current year delinquent taxes, which are also subject to the terms of this contract, but not include accounts with delinquent tax installment agreements or accounts of over-65 homeowners who have filed deferments or abatements of taxes. II. Attorneys are to call to the attention of the collector or other officials any errors, double assessments, or other discrepancies coming under their observation during the progress of the work, and are to intervene on behalf of City in all suits for taxes hereafter filed by any taxing unit on property located within its geographical limits. III. City, by and through its designated tax collector, agrees to furnish delinquent tax data via magnetic computer tapes or other computer readable media to Attorneys on all property within the geographical limits of the City of Fort Worth. Attorneys will furnish at their expense, all necessary paper stock, envelopes and postage for statement mailings and will assume responsibility for having penalty and interest correctly computed on statements before they mail such statements to property owners. Sample statement should be prepared and information copies supplied to the City's designated tax collector at least two (2) days prior to any mass mailing conducted by Attorneys. IV. Attorneys shall send out collection letters on behalf of the City Attorney in February of each year for the collection of delinquent Business Personal Property taxes. r, r', ,, N V. Attorneys agree to file suit on and reduce judgment and sale any property located within the City against which a tax lien would prevail provided, City, by and through its designated tax collector, will furnish the necessary data and information as to the name, identity, and location of the necessary parties, and legal description of the property to be sold. Attorneys agree to sue for recovery of all costs as provided by Texas Property Tax Code Section 33.48. VI. Attorneys agree to make progress reports to City on request, but not less than quarterly, and to advise City of all cases where investigation reveals taxpayers to be financially unable to pay their delinquent taxes. Attorneys will consult with City and through guidelines to be developed and mutually agreed upon by the Attorneys and the City, will recommend and establish installment payment agreements with delinquent taxpayers demonstrating a sufficiently sever financial hardship situation. SECTION B MISCELLANEOUS DELINQUENT REVENUE SERVICES VII. City further agrees to employ and does hereby employ Attorneys to enforce by suit or otherwise the collection of all Hotel/Motel taxes, delinquent paving, weed, demolition and other special assessments, including but not limited to assessments owed to Public Improvement Districts created by theCity owing to the City. VIII. City agrees to furnish delinquent assessment data via magnetic computer tapes or other computer readable media to Attorneys on all delinquent assessment accounts within the taxing jurisdiction, as directed by the responsible City department. This data will contain the name of the owners of the property, the property description and the total amount of principal, interest and sales tax due, if applicable. IX. Attorneys agree to file suit on and reduce to judgment and sell any property located within the City against which an assessment lien would prevail, provided City will furnish the necessary data and information as to the name, identity, and location of the necessary parties, and legal description of the property to be sold. Attorneys agree to sue for recovery of the costs as court costs and attorney fees as provided by law. Attorneys are to call to the attention of the City any errors or other discrepancies coming under their observation during the progress of the work. All collection procedures performed by the Attorneys will be provided at no cost to the City. 2 Attorneys will file, when necessary, injunctions to enforce the payment of delinquent hotel/motel occupancy taxes. X. Attorneys agree to make any progress reports required by City on request, but not less than quarterly, and to advise City of all cases where investigation reveals taxpayers to be financially unable to pay their delinquent assessments. Attorneys shall deliver all progress reports to the Finance Department of the City. Attorneys will consult with City on any installment agreement to be entered into between City and the delinquent owner of the property. SECTION C COMPENSATION XI As allowed by law, City agrees to pay Attorneys as compensation for all services provided under this Agreement as follows: (a) fifteen (15) percent of the amount of all 2002 and previous years delinquent taxes, penalty and interest collected and paid to the collector of taxes during the term of this contract; and (b) twenty (20) percent of the amount of all 2003 and subsequent year delinquent taxes, penalty and interest collected and paid to the collector of taxes during the term of this contract. All compensation above provided for shall become the property of the ATTORNEYS at the time payment of the attorney fees are made to the collector. The City shall pay over said funds monthly by check. SCOPE OF SERVICES XII. Attorneys agree to meet or exceed all requirements and services to be provided as set forth in the Performance Measurement Appendix attached as Exhibit A. Attorneys and City agree that City shall add additional performance measures for bankruptcy actions by July 1, 2005 and once developed , such performance measures shall be included in Exhibit"A" and incorporated herein for all purposes. In addition, City may revise the Performance Measures each year during the term of this Agreement. XIII. With respect to personal or real property tax accounts in bankruptcy, Attorneys will file proofs of claim within the specified time periods, aggressively pursue all methods of collection, and monitor the bankruptcy with respect to payment of personal property taxes, whether through a plan or reorganization, wage-earners plan, family farmer plan of adjustment and reorganization, 3 or by way of liquidation. Attorneys will notify City's designated tax collector when a bankruptcy claim is dismissed or discharged and advise who to bill and the amount due. XIV. Upon request and after consultation with City, Attorneys will provide legal assistance and/or representation to challenge Tarrant Appraisal District valuations as appropriate. XV. Upon request Attorneys will provide legal advice regarding proposed legislation and general bankruptcy issues. SECTION D MWBE XVI. Attorneys agree to meet the city's MWBE goal of 20% of the base bid value of this Agreement. Attorneys shall, during the term of this contract, provide City with quarterly reports detailing their progress towards meeting the requirement for MWBE participation. City shall have a right of access to any and all books, records and documents which relate to MWBE Attorneys and MWBE sub-contracts in order to audit and verify the information contained in the quarterly reports. Attorneys shall include in all MWBE sub-contracts a similar provision allowing City access to sub-contractor's books,records and document for these purposes. SECTION E CONTRACT PERIOD XVII. This agreement shall be effective upon execution, however, Attorneys shall not begin performance of this Agreement until notified by the City Manager. The City Manager shall notify Attorneys to begin performance of this agreement on or before October 1, 2005. This Agreement shall continue for a period of three (3) years from the date the City Manager notifies Attorney to begin work. At the end of the initial contract period, City shall have the option to exercise two separate one-year extensions of the contract under the same terms and conditions as the initial contract period. 4 SECTION F TERMINATION XVIII. On termination of this contract, Attorneys shall have six (6) additional months to reduce to judgment all suits filed prior to the date of termination. Attorneys shall represent City and shall handle to conclusion all suits in which trial court judgments are obtained during the period of this contract and which are appealed by any party. Attorney fees collected during this six (6) month period on accounts in litigation shall be payable to the Attorneys, provided such litigation has been reduced to final judgment by Attorneys during this period. Further, Attorneys shall have six (6) months from the termination date to bring administrative closure to call existing payment agreements and twelve (12) months for bankruptcy plan agreements and be entitled to compensation, when collected, related to the completion of said agreements, provided such agreements where entered into prior to the termination date of the contract, and provided that the terms of the payment agreement are met by the taxpayer. If the taxpayer violates any payment agreement or bankruptcy plan agreement, and legal action is required to collect the account, any such payment agreement, or bankruptcy plan agreement shall be transferred to any new delinquent tax attorney. XIX. City, acting by and through its governing body, shall have the right to sooner terminate this contract for cause, giving thirty(30) days written notice of such intention, with a statement of the cause or reasons for such termination, after giving the Attorneys a reasonable opportunity of explaining or rectifying the same. In case of such early termination, Attorneys shall be entitled to receive and retain all compensation due up to the date of said termination. SECTION G EXECUTION XX. This contract is executed on behalf of the City by the City Manager who is duly authorized by its governing body to execute this instrument by order heretofore passed and duly recorded in its minutes. cw— WITNESS the signatures of all parties hereto in triplicate originals, this a1 day of Tarrant County, Texas. THE CITY OF FORT WORTH LINEBARGER, GOGGAN, BLAIR % SAMPSON, LL / By. �- \ Charles Boswell, City Manager Stevk Meeks, Manag' g Partr 5 { C a�� 44 ATTEST Contraot AUthoriaatiox rate Marty Hendrix, ity Secretary Approved as to Form and Legality: David Yett, City Attom!/ 6 Delinquent Tax Collection Scorecard I. Delinquent Tax Collections Points available 75 Benchmark(Average of Previous Years Collection Rates) 78% A. Collections 2004 Taxes turned over on 07/01/05 Measurement $Turned Over $0 $ Collected $0 $ Remaining $0 Collection Rate 0% Projected as % of Benchmark 0% B. Collections Subsequent Delinquent Taxes turned over 07/01 Measurement $ Turned Over $0 $ Collected $0 $ Remaining $0 Collection Rate 0% Projected Annual Collection Rate 0% Projected as %of Benchmark 0% TOTAL PROJECTED ANNUAL SCORE - II.Assisting with Council Strategic Goals A. Properties Foreclosed as a % of Properties Referred (Maximum of 20 per month, completion within one year from date of referral) Points available 25 A B C D E Date Sent to Firm 7/31/2005 7/31/2005 7/31/2005 7/31/2005 7/31/2005 Title Work Done 1 point 1 1 1 Suit Filed 1 point 1 1 Judgment 1 point 1 Sheriff Sale 2 points 2 or Payment 5 points 5 or Payout Agreement 5 points 5 5 5 5 2 1 Points 18 Attorneys'Notes: r7 III. MWBE Compliance Summary Points Points Available Scored I. Dollars Collected as Percent of Dollars Turned Ove 75 0 II. Assisting with Council Strategic Goals 25 0 TOTAL SCORE 100 0.0 III. MWBE Compliance Y/N Y/N Delinquent Miscellaneous Revenues and Hotel Taxes Collection Scorecard I. Hotel Taxes #of Accounts/Lists Turned Over 0 #of Accounts/Lists Acted Upon 0 Action Rate 0% Attorneys' Notes: Amount Collected Amount Hotel $ Delinquent as of 01/31/05 Remaining Hotel 1 Hotel 2 Hotel 3 City of Fort Worth, Texas Mayor and Council Communication COUNCIL ACTION: Approved on 5/17/2005 DATE: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 LOG NAME: 13DELTAX05 REFERENCE NO.: C-20744 SUBJECT: Award of Professional Services Contract for Collection of Delinquent Taxes and Liens RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the City Council: 1. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a three year contract with the law firm of Linebarger Goggan Blair and Sampson for the collection of delinquent property taxes; and 2. Authorize the contract to begin June 1, 2005 and expire May 31, 2008, with two one-year renewal options. There is no cost to the City as all costs are borne by the law firm and recovered as provided by the State Property Tax Code. DISCUSSION: The City has contracted with the joint venture law firm of Perdue, Brackett, Flores, Utt and Burns for the collection of delinquent property taxes and other miscellaneous delinquent revenues since January 1, 2001. This contract expired on December 31, 2004. The contract has been extended on a month to month basis since that time. In accordance with the City Council's directive, staff issued a Request for Proposals on April 7, 2005, for attorneys and/or law firms to collect delinquent property taxes for the City of Fort Worth and to assist as requested in the collection of delinquent hotel/motel taxes, bankruptcy claims and other miscellaneous delinquent accounts. The deadline for receipt of the proposals was April 21, 2005. The City received proposals from two firms: 1) the Joint Venture of Perdue, Brackett, Flores, Utt and Burns (Perdue JV); and 2) the Law Firm of Linebarger Goggan Blair& Sampson (Linebarger). An evaluation team composed of staff from Law, Finance, Internal Audit and the M/WBE Office reviewed the submissions and conducted interviews with both firms. Evaluation criteria included collection rates, qualifications and experience, completeness and quality of the response, M/WBE compliance and staff and technology resources. The team discussed the responses with the City Attorney and City Manager on May 6. Based on the evaluations and interviews, staff recommends negotiating and executing a three year contract with Linebarger Goggan Blair& Sampson based on the following: Linebarger scored 88 out of 95 points on the evaluation criteria mentioned above, compared to the Perdue JV's score of 83.7. Linebarger has extensive qualifications and experience collecting for clients similar to the City of Fort Worth and currently collects for nine of the ten largest taxing entities in Texas. Logname: 13DELTAX05 Page 1 of 2 Linebarger has a Fort Worth Office of 33 experienced professionals with impressive credentials and proposes creating a dedicated five person Fort Worth Collection Team to enhance collection efforts. The Fort Worth Office has strong technology resources and is online with the County Tax Office, County District Clerk and various bankruptcy courts throughout the nation. The Fort Worth Office collects for 28 taxing jurisdictions in Tarrant County and consolidating the City's collections with one firm should enhance collection efforts. FISCAL INFORMATION/CERTIFICATION: The Finance Director certifies that this action requires no material expenditures of City funds. All costs are borne by the law firm and recovered from the delinquent taxpayer as provided by the State Property Tax Code. TO Fund/Account/Centers FROM Fund/Account/Centers Submitted for City Manager's Office by: Richard Zavala (Acting) (6222) Originating Department Head: Jim Keyes (8517) Additional Information Contact: Skipper Shook (8519) Lognarne: 13DELTAX05 Page 2 of 2