Tax Assessor-Collector Cheryl Johnson on Thursday declined to answer questions about why her office was closed the day before. Employees of the county tax office reportedly went to Gulf Greyhound Park for the day, most of which was spent in a Christmas celebration.

About 30 minutes into a county commissioners meeting Wednesday morning, County Judge Jim Yarbrough said he’d seen at least 10 people walk up to the locked tax office and then turn away.

People use the office to pay their property taxes and to renew their vehicle registrations.

On Thursday, Yarbrough said the closure was inexcusable this time of year.

He said that the commissioners court made it a point to complete the county budget by Sept. 1. That typically enabled the tax office to get property-tax bills out to taxpayers in the first half of October, but many tax bills still haven’t gone out, Yarbrough said.

Taxes aren’t due until the end of January. But getting the bills out early helps residents plan budgets.

It also brings cash into small governmental entities that might struggle without it, Yarbrough said. In addition to Galveston County, the tax offices collects revenue for 30 other governmental entities.

Yarbrough said he pays taxes on 35 separate pieces of property for himself and his family. So far, he’s gotten bills for only 18 of them, he said.

In addition, he fielded calls from many residents asking why they haven’t received theirs. Some have complained of getting two, Yarbrough said.

Wednesday’s session for tax-office employees apparently was billed as training. But Yarbrough said he’d heard that training was only a small part of what took place at Gulf Greyhound Park.

“My sources in the tax office told me there was a speaker” on a training-related matter, Yarbrough said. “But it was basically a departmental Christmas party.”

The judge said county funds apparently weren’t used to rent the facility.

Johnson was asked about the matter both by telephone and by e-mail.

She responded Thursday with an e-mail that didn’t address tax bills or whether the function was really a Christmas party.

“It is very disappointing to see a county judge continually attempt to make everything a partisan political issue in commissioners court,” it said. Yarbrough is a Democrat, Johnson a Republican.

“In this case, he appears to have no facts or any understanding of just how the many improvements in the Tax Office have come together over the last three years to actually improve the level of service we are able to provide Galveston County residents.

“This is just another example of political voices attempting to manufacture partisan issues for the purpose of disseminating their self-serving rhetoric. I will bring real facts — including a response to the judge’s inappropriate political attack — in the next scheduled session of Commissioners Court.”

Yarbrough said that, if the session were strictly for training, it should have been held at the county courthouse — and during a less-busy time for the tax office.

If it were a Christmas party, it should have been held in a way that employees could participate without closing the tax office, he said.