The county assessor has the responsibility to appraise
and assess the real and personal property within the county
for the purpose of ad valorem taxation. Also, the county
assessor is required to compute the ad valorem taxes due on
all the taxable property. By law, the county assessor appraises all the taxable real and personal property according to
its fair cash value for which the property is actually being
used as of January 1 of the taxable year, and assesses it at no
more than 35 percent of its fair cash value. The formula used by the county assessor throughout the ad valorem taxation
process includes:
Fair Cash Value x Assessment Rate = Assessed Value
Assessed Value x Millage Rate = Tax Bill
Property subject to ad valorem taxation is as follows:
Real property - land and buildings
Business personal property - equipment and inventory belonging to a business establishment.
Public utility property - electrical utilities, pipelines, and transportation facilities such as railroads.
The county assessor only computes the taxes owed by the public utilities since by law the State Board of Equalization
is responsible for appraising and assessing public utility property.
Constitutional law limits the assessment rate to 35 percent. The rate applied by the county assessor is much lower
and within a range permitted by the State Board of Equalization.
The county assessor carries out the process up to
computing the amount of taxes due. Ad valorem taxes are
collected by the county treasurer, who also prepares and
sends out the tax bills.
A system of checks and balances comes into play before
the ad valorem taxes are computed. That is, once the county
assessor has appraised all the property and applied the assessment
rate to come up with the assessed values of all the
taxable real and personal properties within the county, the
county assessor prepares an assessment roll and delivers it to
the county board of equalization. Oklahoma law empowers the county board of equalization with the duty to equalize and
certify the assessment roll. A duty which requires the board
to ensure all the taxable real and personal property within the
county is appraised at its fair cash value. Once the assessment
roll has been equalized and certified by the county board of equalization,
the county assessor must have a total assessed valuation certified by the
state board of equalization.
Lastly, the county assessor receives the certified millage rates from the county
excise board and then computes the ad valorem taxes.
In carrying out ones duties, the county assessor is required by law
to build and maintain permanent records on the taxable real property and
the tax exempt real property within the county. Information entered on
each record includes the properties legal description, taxable classification, owners
name and address, and the homestead exemption status of the owner. The exemption amounts
to a $1,000 or less reduction in the home's net assessed value. Heads of households
who qualify for the homestead exemption, and whose household income from all sources is
$20,000 or less are entitled to an additional homestead exemption. An additional $1,000 or less
is subtracted from the home's net assessed value.
Another duty of the county assessor is to administer the personal property tax
and the
personal property exemption. Heads of households are entitled to a $100.00 reduction in the
net assessed value of their household personal property. Heads of households who were honorably discharged from
the U.S. Armed Forces are entitled to an additional $200 reduction. If you are a veteran your personal property exemption amounts to $300*.
*In 2000, Blaine County voted to abolish the tax on household goods and
livestock employed in support of the family.
