By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
The Val Verde County Tax Assessor Collector’s office has a new look.
The tax assessor collector’s office is located on the ground floor of the Alicemae
Fitzpatrick Courthouse Annex building at 309 Mill St. on the grounds of historic
courthouse square and is led by County Tax Assessor Collector Elodia “Loly” Garcia.
Garcia told Val Verde County Commissioners Court in late June she planned to remodel
her office over the Fourth of July weekend.
The office was formerly divided into two separate areas where staff helped customers
with local property taxes on one side and state vehicle registrations and license plates on
the other.
The office now has a consolidated, streamlined look, with varnished, dark wood counters,
and customers can go to any clerk station for help with either local or state taxes.
After the remodel was complete, County Tax Assessor Collector Elodia “Loly” Garcia
told The 830 Times, “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to County Judge Lewis
G. Owens Jr. for granting me approval to complete my goal of remodeling the tax office.
His support has been instrumental in making this project a success.
“A heartfelt thank you also goes to the IT department for their dedication and hard work
over the weekend (the remodeling was done); your efforts ensured a smooth and efficient
upgrade. I want to thank County Engineer Carlos Velarde for designing the floor plan,
which laid the foundation for this transformation, and the county maintenance department
staff for their excellent work in making and installing the new countertops,” Garcia said.
She added, “With the remodeling now successfully completed, my next step is to begin
renovations on the floor, continuing to improve our workspace for the benefit of all.
Additionally, now that all staff members are cross-trained, we’re able to provide multiple
services at once, greatly improving efficiency and enhancing the experience for everyone
who visits our office, because of this upgrade.”
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. told The 830 Times the renovation of Garcia’s office
was carried out entirely in-house by staff from the county’s buildings and maintenance
department and the information technology (IT) department.
He said the work was done on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the Fourth of July
weekend to minimize the impact to the public.
Owens said, “The cost of the renovation was around $15,200 and included labor for 11
persons for three days, lumber 2-by-6s, plywood and cable for the computers. This does
not include some new computers and printers.
“They built a lot of wood countertops in 16-foot sections, and then put them together over
the weekend. Also, Ram (Barrera, county IT director) told me that they put in more than
4,500 linear feet of cable,” Owens said.
“It was pretty impressive that they got it done. It was something else. Building
maintenance and IT did a really amazing job,” Owens said.
Owens said because the work done by the tax assessor collector’s office includes
collection of local taxes as well as taxes for the state, each clerk’s workstation includes
two different computers.
“Once this was all put in place, a person should be able to walk up, buy their (vehicle)
plates and pay their (property) taxes at the same station, making it very efficient,” the
county judge added.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com .
