Oklahoma ad valorem forum, 03/2013, v.22 no.3

              Volume XXII, Issue III March 2013
The mission of the Ad Valorem Division of the Oklahoma Tax Commission is
to promote an ad valorem property tax system which is fair and equitable
to all taxpayers by implementing standard valuation methodology, tax law
conformity, and assessment administration compliance.
Oklahoma
Ad Valorem F O R U M
“IAAO Zangerle Award Winner:
1997 and 2010”
Director’s Notes:
New technology.
I saw some big time technology recently at the GIS Day at the Capitol by some of the vendors there. I was
proud that Oklahoma County continues to be one of the most visited booths at the GIS Day. Mike Morrison
had several people lined up to see the latest improvements to the county’s world class web site.
The week before Troy Frazier, Wade Patterson and I along with Gary Snyder and Doug Warr of CLGT, and
Scott Warren and Michael Challis of CCAP saw some really top flight new technologies at the GIS/CAMA
conference co-sponsored by IAAO.
Technology has exploded since many of us first got in the business. I saw a demonstration by the county
assessors’ office in Boulder, Colorado about how they use a variety of technologies such as computer programs,
aerial photographs and maps. These tools are used to plan their appraisers’ visual inspections and help locate
new construction. The field appraiser arrives at the site with maps, property record cards, draft measurements
on possible new improvements, and even some information on those improvements that might be covered
by trees. All of the information is on a tablet without any paper like several of our counties already do with
tablet technology. It is amazing how fast the technology is changing, and the best part is no trees had to die.
New technology improvements are great for the profession and the performance of the county assesors’
office. As the woman in charge of the operation said more than once, the technology gets us where we want
to be, but unless we’ve done the unglamorous work of double checking the base data, the technology can’t
get the major results that we want. You’ve got to start with the basics, which is good advice for anyone in
the ad valorem system.
We’ve worked this week with our field analysts on the first milestones on the 2013 Audit. The process
seems to have come together, and we are making good progress on the audit. We appreciate the assistance
from the county assessors and deputies as our staff starts its work on this year’s audit.
I’d also mention that we’ve gotten good cooperation from all of the software vendors in providing the
information we’ll need for the audit, and we appreciate the assistance from CCAP.
Public service activity has picked up with calls and questions about renditions. Discussions on intangibles
have continued for the last several weeks as we get closer to the deadline for submissions.
We’ll have a Capitalization Rate Conference later this month on March 28th and 29th. We’re looking
forward to hearing from interested parties. Public Service will post the draft study April 8th with a 10-day
comment period. We’ll post comments received on the web site. Our final study will be posted April 30th.