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Arts of Collin County Commission faces lawsuit
By Jessica Rush, jrush@acnpapers.com
A lawsuit filed May 17 against the Arts of Collin County Commission and the Collin Central Appraisal District alleges that the taxpayers have been "scammed" out of property taxes from the 124 acres of land dedicated to a future arts park in Allen.
Jack Lagos, a longtime political watchdog in Plano, filed the suit on behalf of the Taxpayers and Teachers Association of Collin County. According to court documents, Lagos thinks the land donor, Briar Ridge Investments, still has the title on the land but is claiming a tax-exempt status to avoid paying the taxes.
Lagos is asking for the court to order the defendants to pay all back taxes that are owed and dissolve the ACC, among other requests.
Collin County Appraisal District records show the Arts of Collin County owns three tracts of land in Allen that total about 120 acres. Lagos argues that the land has never actually been gifted or sold to the ACC and that the title policy conveying the property to the ACC is a "sham." Lagos also claims that Briar Ridge took federal income tax deductions for charitable contributions on 124 acres of land even though the Gift Agreement only included 100 acres of land.
It's a claim that has Briar Ridge representative Charles Nies up in arms.
"He's a liar," Nies said about Lagos. "We have not claimed any donation on our tax return for any of the land we donated to the ACC. We have not taken any deductions for federal tax income."
Nies, who is also the secretary of the ACC Board of Directors, did say that the board approved Briar Ridge to sell up to 12 acres of land to developers for construction that would support the arts park theme and facility. This land could be set aside for hotels, restaurants and retail establishments as a way for Briar Ridge to get some benefits out of the investment, since the firm is not taking any tax deductions.
Appraisal records indicate Briar Ridge purchased the tracts of land in November 1991. The tracts were then transferred to Janice Brittingham, who is listed as the president of Briar Ridge, in August 1993. Nies explained why the investment company chose to donate the land to the ACC in September 2005.
"The Arts of Collin County representatives came to us at that time and said they identified that property as being perfect," Nies said. "It was not land -- at that time -- that we thought would be sellable for a while. It had a great deal of environmental value. We had purchased 2,500 acres of land for the Twin Creeks Development, and we wanted to give some land back to the community."
The confusion about the land changing hands comes from one particular tract of 68 acres that shows an inconsistency in the chain of title, where the land was given directly from Briar Ridge to the ACC Commission in September 2005; however, a correction shows the land was actually transferred from Brittingham to the ACC Commission. Lagos mentions the transactions in his lawsuit.
Collin County Chief Appraiser Eugene "Bo" Daffin, who is also a defendant in the case, said that the mistake happened when some of the information in their system was not transferred correctly, and not all of the parties (Brittingham) were in the system at the time the land was given to the ACC Commission. The deed history item showing the transfer from Briar Ridge to the ACC Commission is voided, and a corrected version shows Brittingham transferring the land to the ACC Commission.
In order to rectify the chain of title, a default date of 1899 is used to help correct the error, Daffin said. Lagos mentions the unusual date and accuses the appraisal district of using the date to "bypass the computer's security system" in a supposed cover up.
Additional defendants in the case include former Collin County Chief Appraiser Jimmie Honea and former ACC Commission Board of Directors President George "Robbie" Robinson. Robinson could not be reached for comment as of press time. A message left with Lagos' attorney, Raul Loya, was not returned.
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