The City of Whitesboro confirmed in a revised press release on Jan. 16 that the seemingly suspicious emails they received from Attorney General Ken Paxton on Dec. 15 were, in fact, authentic.
In the emails, city officials were alerted that after an investigation beginning in October 2025, the Attorney General has found the city to be in violation of a state law regarding property tax increases. As such, according to the law, the City must adopt a no-new-revenue tax rate (as opposed to the 51% increase it approved in October).
However, the emails the City received seemed suspicious, which raised concerns for City Administrator Phil Harris that this was a potential phishing attempt and that the emails were not authentic.
According to Harris, the City Attorney reached out to Paxton’s office upon receipt of the emails but didn’t get a call back.
“To be honest, we’re used to no communication from the Office of the Attorney General,” Harris said. Throughout Paxton’s investigation, the City has not been given any kind of analysis or update.
Last week, Harris was finally able to visit with Justin Gordon, General Counsel for the Texas Attorney General’s Office. In that phone call, Gordon confirmed authenticity of the emails but didn’t provide details about next steps.
“He gave us no feedback, no guidance. He just told us he couldn’t offer any legal advice,” Harris said.
So the City is now in talks with its attorney, Texas Municipal League (TML) attorneys and other Texas city managers to decide next steps.
“Without any further information, as far as I’m concerned, this (letter from the Attorney General’s office) doesn’t change anything,” Harris said.
Since news of the Attorney General’s investigation first broke in October, Whitesboro has been setting aside all revenue from the tax increase in a separate fund.
Once the City has more direction on what their next steps are to be, property owners will be made aware of what will happen with tax rates and payments. There are no details to share at this time.