Whitesboro city officials have walked back a claim that a property tax rate violation notice emailed last month from the Texas Office of the Attorney General was fake.
The letter from Attorney General Ken Paxton was dated December 15, 2025, and stated that the City of Whitesboro had not complied with a new state law known as Senate Bill 1851 tying city tax rates to audit compliance.
Cities that fail to comply with the new transparency requirements are not allowed to raise their taxes and must adopt a no-new-revenue property tax rate.
State Rep. Shelley Luther (R–Sherman), whose Texas House district includes Whitesboro, alerted city officials and the OAG back in September that their proposed 61-percent property tax increase violated the new law.
But Harris and city council members dismissed Luther’s concerns and adopted the huge tax rate increase.
On January 13, Luther posted a copy of Paxton’s notice on Facebook.
This letter and determination was sent to the City of Whitesboro. AG Ken Paxton and the Office of the Attorney General have found that Whitesboro is indeed in violation of the law. We are in communication with the OAG, and waiting for more information and developments to be released. Please stay tuned.
The next day, Luther added:
The City of Whitesboro received the letter from the OAG on December 15th, and allegedly decided it was fake. Instead of contacting the OAG immediately to confirm authenticity, they ignored it.
My office received the letter directly from the OAG yesterday, and posted it online because the citizens of Whitesboro deserve transparency, especially when it concerns their hard-earned dollars. We appreciate AG Ken Paxton and his team for siding with the taxpayers.
Responding to Luther’s posts, Whitesboro City Administrator Phil Harris originally told KXII that city officials had received Paxton’s letter via email on December 15 but had “determined… those emails and attached documents were not authentic nor from the Attorney General.”
“We looked on the Attorney General’s website, we looked on Facebook…and we’re not seeing anything…that’s why I don’t believe that the letter is authentic,” Harris said.
Harris put out a news release on January 15 claiming the city believed two “suspicious” emails containing the AG’s letter were “phishing” scams.
On Friday the 16th, Harris released a revised statement adding that the emails received by the city “were confirmed authentic by the General Counsel of the Attorney General’s office.”
Harris’ news releases note that Whitesboro officials are “aware of the position” stated in the AG’s correspondence and are “reviewing the matter with legal counsel, the Mayor, and City Council.”
“The City will provide additional information as appropriate,” Harris added.
Whitesboro was one of nearly 1,000 cities investigated by Paxton’s office for possible violations of the new transparency law.
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