Oklahoma ad valorem forum, 06/2012, v.21 no.6

              Volume XXI, Issue VI June 2012
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: Thunder Mania has hit the state with the Thunder basketball team in the NBA Finals. We’ve had some staff
wearing more blue than ordinary, and I heard several comments at 4-C about everyone’s take on the game. It
is nice to have everyone on the same side instead of divided on things like OSU-OU rivalry.
The State Board of Equalization was held Monday, June 18, 2012 with all abstracts except Adair approved.
At the meeting Gary Jones, State Auditor, expressed the need to stress timely submission of abstracts. The
Ad Valorem Division will meet with the County Assessors Association on the issue of amended abstracts.
The Board held Caddo County and Sequoyah County at Category 2 noncompliance. As I indicated at the
Board meeting, we felt that both counties have been working hard and making substantial progress, but there
are still some major elements left to complete.
The State Board also established the fair cash value for airlines, railroads, and public service corporations
for 2012. The Public Service Section worked really hard over the last few months to value some 249 companies
for this year. As you know after Board certification and the State Auditor and Inspector mail-out, the protest
period of twenty days will begin.
We told the State Board members that the Ad Valorem Division is working hard on the “test” audit and
will report its findings to the State Board at the December 2012 meeting. It will be a busy meeting because
we will be presenting both our regular audits on annual valuation and equalization as well as the new “test”
audit. It should certainly make for a busy fall.
We enjoyed seeing everyone at the district meetings. Please thank the district chairs for all their work; I
thought this year’s district meetings were really well done.
Finally, we appreciate all you do for your taxpayers and all the dedicated work of county assessors and
deputies across the state. It’s not an easy job, but ad valorem is an extremely important part of local government
in Oklahoma.
One of the major challenges that county assessors face today is explaining the system to people who
are not familiar with ad valorem or who have pre-conceived notions about the system. Explaining things to
people not familiar with ad valorem is a great chance to re-think things. The old answer regarding ad valorem
“We do it that way because it’s always been done that way” doesn’t always work. Most of the time, there are
some excellent reasons why something is done the way it is. Sometimes, however, there are some reasons
for change. We’re all working to pass the system on better than it was given to us.
Sincerely,
Jeff Spelman, CAE
Director, Ad Valorem Division