Bowie Central Appraisal District
Appraisal Standards Review Follow-Up Report
January 20, 2009
The Honorable Robert Sheppard, Board Chairman
Ms. Dolores Baird, Chief Appraiser
Bowie Central Appraisal District
P.O. Box 6527
Texarkana, Texas 75505-6527
Dear Chairman Sheppard and Chief Appraiser Baird:
This letter constitutes the Comptroller’s follow-up review of the Appraisal Standards Review (ASR) of Bowie Central Appraisal District (Bowie CAD) originally released in December 2007. We commend the cooperation of Bowie 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, which in turn affect funding to public schools.
The ASR made four mandatory recommendations and six optional recommendations to help Bowie CAD achieve accurate local value in the annual Property Value Study and improve operations. The Comptroller acknowledges the work Bowie CAD has performed over the last year. The CAD has completed mandatory recommendation 3 and all of the optional recommendations. These completed recommendations have assisted the CAD in improving its staffing, management and appraisal practices.
We also reviewed the implementation of the remaining mandatory recommendations. While work is in progress, Bowie CAD has not fully implemented recommendations 1, 2 and 4. Enclosed is more detail on what the CAD still needs to do.
This letter is available on our Window on State Government Web site at www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/proptax/cadreports/asr/bowie01/.
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, DeKalb Independent School District; Hooks Independent
School District; Maud Independent School District; New Boston Independent School District;
Redwater Independent School District; Texarkana Independent School District; Liberty-Eylau
Independent School District; Simms Independent School District; Malta Independent School
District; Red Lick Independent School District; Pleasant Grove Independent School District;
Hubbard Independent School District; and Leary Independent School District
Bowie CAD Board of Directors
Bowie Central Appraisal District
Appraisal Standards Review Follow-Up Report
What Remains to Be Done
The Comptroller’s office will continue to monitor Bowie CAD’s progress toward meeting the state’s legal requirements. The following outlines steps Bowie CAD still needs to take.
RECOMMENDATION 1:
Revise the reappraisal plan to include specific details on items such as the properties involved in the reappraisal, costs, staffing, management and other details necessary to complete a successful reappraisal.
The CAD submitted Bowie Central Appraisal District Reappraisal Plan for Tax Years 2009 & 2010. The plan is 16 pages in length with a 25-page appendix that contains the 2009-10 calendars of events. The only significant difference between this plan and the one spurring the original recommendation is the expansion of the calendar of events.
While the plan discusses what departments handle various activities, it does not identify specific properties to be appraised within each cycle, define market areas or identify characteristics that affect values in market areas as referenced in USPAP Standard 6: Mass Appraisal, Development and Reporting.
To complete this recommendation, Bowie CAD should revise its reappraisal plan to identify properties to be appraised, define market areas and identify characteristics that affect the creation of value in that market area, and forward a copy to the Property Tax Assistance Division (PTAD) by the end of April 2009.
RECOMMENDATION 2:
Establish comprehensive, written ratio study procedures that allow for generally accepted appraisal practices for reappraisal and maintenance planning as recommended by the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) Standard on Ratio Studies.
Bowie CAD submitted Bowie Central Appraisal District Ratio Study Procedures that includes introduction, sales ratio study and methodology sections. Attached to the procedures is a copy of IAAO’s Standard on Ratio Studies. The introduction section discusses the integral role of ratio studies in attaining market value estimates. The sales ratio study section describes and defines terms such as level of appraisal, uniformity, mean and median. The methodology section describes sales data collection, adjustments to the sales price and statistical analysis. The procedures, however, do not list specific steps on how to accomplish these tasks, who handles them or how the information is used to improve the reappraisal process.
To complete this recommendation, Bowie CAD should detail each specific procedure in developing a ratio study, discussing who handles each task and what to do with the information after the ratio study is complete. A copy of the final procedures should be forwarded to PTAD by the end of April 2009.
RECOMMENDATION 4:
Develop and implement a plan and timeline for completion and integration of maps into the GIS.
This recommendation is in progress. Bowie CAD submitted GIS Parcel Development 5 Year Timeline. The timeline describes background and activities separated out for years one through five. It does not, however, have any corresponding dates to go with the years or a breakdown of time for each activity within each year.
To complete this recommendation, Bowie CAD should integrate the length of time for each activity and specific due dates for each activity into its current timeline and forward a copy to PTAD by the end of April 2009.