Armstrong County Appraisal District
Appraisal Standards Review Follow-Up Report
March 31, 2009
Mr. John Ballard, Board Chairman
The Honorable Joe D. Reck, Chief Appraiser
Armstrong County Appraisal District
P.O. Box 835
Claude, Texas 79019-0835
Dear Chairman Ballard and Chief Appraiser Reck:
This letter constitutes the Comptroller’s follow-up review of the Appraisal Standards Review (ASR) of the Armstrong County Appraisal District (Armstrong CAD) originally released in December 2007. We commend the cooperation of Armstrong CAD’s board, chief appraiser and staff in conducting this follow-up review.
CADs play an integral part in setting property values because they have the statutory responsibility for determining local property values, in turn affecting funding to public schools — a critical part of the state’s tax and education policies.
The ASR made two mandatory recommendations and six optional recommendations to help Armstrong CAD achieve accurate local value in the annual Property Value Study and improve operations. The Comptroller acknowledges the work Armstrong CAD has performed over the last year. The CAD has completed three of the six optional recommendations. These completed recommendations have assisted the CAD in improving its staffing, management and appraisal practices.
We also reviewed the implementation of the mandatory recommendations. While work is in progress, Armstrong CAD has not fully implemented recommendations 1 and 2. Enclosed is more detail on what the CAD still needs to do.
This letter is available on our Window on State GovernmentWeb site at www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/proptax/cadreports/asr/armstrong01/.
I hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.
Sincerely,
Susan Combs
Enclosure
cc: Superintendent and Board of Trustees, Claude Independent School District; Clarendon Independent
School District; Groom Independent School District; and Happy Independent School District
Armstrong CAD Board of Directors
Armstrong County Appraisal District
Appraisal Standards Review Follow-Up Report
What Remains to Be Done
The Comptroller’s office will continue to monitor Armstrong CAD’s progress toward meeting the state’s legal requirements. The following outlines steps Armstrong CAD still needs to take.
RECOMMENDATION 1:
Develop written professional appraisal processes and a detailed procedure manual that provides local procedures and practices for each property type the CAD appraises.
The CAD provided Armstrong County Appraisal District Policies, Procedures, Operations that includes many of the operation functions of the CAD, but does not include any information on how to prepare an appraisal on any type of property.
The CAD should complete an appraisal manual that addresses how to perform appraisals on each type of property appraised in the CAD. It should include all applicable schedules, photographs and property classifications with instructions on how to use each.
To complete this recommendation, the CAD must complete an appraisal manual and submit a copy of it to Property Tax Assistance Division (PTAD) by the end of June 2009.
RECOMMENDATION 2:
Analyze options to integrate the mapping system with the appraisal system and develop procedures to update information when the CAD makes changes to property records.
Armstrong CAD provided a copy of the contract with the third party vendor hired to develop and implement a mapping system in connection with its appraisal system. The contract period is from May 1, 2008 to April 30, 2011. The CAD also provided a status letter indicating the project is on schedule.
The CAD did not provide procedures for updating the mapping system information when changes are made to property records.
To complete this recommendation, the CAD should develop mapping procedures and provide a copy to PTAD by the end of June 2009.