Oklahoma ad valorem forum, 02/2014, v.23 no.2

              Volume XXIII, Issue II February 2014
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
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“IAAO Zangerle Award Winner:
1997 and 2010”
Director’s Notes:
The County Officers and Deputies (CODA) meeting was held last week in Norman in some freezing
weather that finally returned to normal by the end of the week. We missed getting an opportunity to talk
with a number of county assessors and deputies who didn’t make it to the meeting because of the snow and
tough weather.
I had some informal discussion during the breaks with different counties on the newspaper articles coming
out of Tulsa on the Equalization Performance Audit, and the Ad Valorem Division had a good discussion with
State Auditor Jones and the County Assessors officers on the new audit. One thing that we discussed at our
session was the need for the counties to have a clear idea of our findings, and we are working on an exit
conference.
The Ad Valorem Division anticipates some better scores on the 2014 audit based on some of the progress
that has been made, but won’t show up on the audit until later this year. Our field assignments for 2014 are
included in this newsletter. We’ve made several changes to get all the counties covered.
As we discussed at the County Assessor break-out session, the statutory Progress Report to the Legislature
has gone to the Capitol. That report is a valuable collection of information about counties and the ad valorem
system as a whole. We always receive a number of questions about the report. Thanks to all the county
assessors for completing that report, and for a few that were late, we were able to finally get the information.
The Ad Valorem Division wants to send over the report to the Legislature with responses from all counties.
I thought that the breakout session also had a good discussion with the Oklahoma Tax Commission
Taxpayer Assistance Division on the agricultural permit issue. We appreciated Joann Kurjan and her staff
meeting with the group.
We’re looking forward to the Public Service Capitalization Rate Conference March 27th and 28th. It is
hard for me to believe that this is our seventh year in a row to have a cap rate conference. We continue to
improve our efforts in valuation of public service properties, and it is our anticipation that we’ll have a good
turnout at the meeting.
GIS Day at the Capitol is scheduled for March 27th next month. Call Troy Frazier or Troyce King, the GIS
representative, if you have any questions.
Reminder: The March 15 deadline for homesteads and business personal filings falls on a Saturday this
year. The Legislature enacted 68 OS 2011, Section 2802.2 adopted in 2010 to provide for extending that
deadline in such instance where the deadline falls on a weekend or holiday. Both postmarks and due dates