Because of the wide range of responsibilities performed by the assessor-collector, most citizens deal with this county official more frequently than any other office.
The major tax duty of the assessor-collector, who collects property taxes, is the assessment (calculation) of taxes on each property in the county and collection of that tax as established by the Constitution and the State Property Tax Code. In addition, as an agent of the Texas Department of Transportation, the assessor-collector is responsible for the registration and licensing of motor vehicles owned by residents of the county.
Another duty of the county tax assessor-collector is that of voter registrar. In most Texas counties, a person would register to vote through the office of county tax assessor-collector. In a few counties, the commissioners court has designated the county clerk or an elections administrator to provide this function. The county tax office voter registration responsibilities include accepting applications for voter registration, issuing voter certificates, maintaining voter registration lists, verifying petitions for local option elections and submitting required reports to the Secretary of State's Office.
The county tax assessor-collector is also responsible for the collections of special fees imposed by the county and state on coin-operated vending machines, alcoholic beverage permits and registration and titling boats.

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Dick Murphy
Tax
Assessor - Collector
Kaufman County Annex
100 N. Washington
Kaufman, TX 75142
972-932-4331
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Dick Murphy was born in Dallas, grew up in Kentucky, received his B.A. from DePauw University in Indiana, and his M.B.A. from Rutgers in New Jersey. Returning to Dallas in 1960, Dick became a Certified Public Accountant, and in 1973, part owner and president of a small life insurance company, retiring in 2002.
Dick and Nancy Murphy moved to Kaufman County in 1973. With three children who were active in the Scurry-Rosser FFA, they have been ardent supporters of county-wide youth activities for over 30 years. Dick has been president of the School Board, a Director of The Kaufman County Junior Livestock Association, and the Municipal Judge for the City of Cottonwood. He and Nancy were among the founders of Country Bible Church and Nancy is the proprietor of the Tea Room on the square in Kaufman.
As Tax Assessor-Collector, Dick’s primary goal has been to ease the pain of tax payment and other dealings with the Tax Office. His accomplishments include arranging for tax payments by Debit/Credit cards via phone, internet or over the counter, expanding the Forney branch operations and the consolidation of Federal, State, County, School and City elections. His remaining primary goal is to improve the electronic communications between the Appraisal District and the Tax Office. Although both offices now use the same software vender, numerous communication problems are in process of being resolved.
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