Big Bust at the Tax Office

Travis County Tax Assessor and Voter Registrar Bruce Elfant (Photo by John Anderson)

Travis County is still reckoning with the Department of Public Safety's bust at the tax assessor's primary and satellite offices last Friday afternoon that resulted in the arrest of seven people on various charges related to a suspected license plate forgery scheme. Tax Assessor-Collector/Voter Registrar Bruce Elfant briefed county commissioners on Tuesday, telling them he was "sickened" that the operation had occurred under his watch. Several other employees are on administrative leave, a measure Elfant said was put in place to protect the integrity of the investigative process, and not because those individuals were involved. The office has also implemented new fraud protections in conjunction with the county auditor's office, part of the road toward restoring public trust. Elfant said he was "determined to remove those who cannot be trusted with public dollars."