Fannin County Appraisal District
Appraisal Standards Review Follow-Up Report
October 8, 2007
Mr. John Burnett, Board Chairman
Mr. Mike Shannon, Chief Appraiser
Fannin County Appraisal District
831 W. State Highway 56
Bonham, Texas 75418-8604
Dear Chairman Burnett and Chief Appraiser Shannon:
This letter constitutes the Comptroller’s follow-up review of the Appraisal Standards Review (ASR) of Fannin County Appraisal District (Fannin CAD) originally released in May 2006. We commend the cooperation of Fannin 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 nine recommendations to help Fannin CAD achieve accurate local value in the annual Property Value Study and improve operations. The Comptroller acknowledges the work Fannin CAD has performed over the last year. The CAD has completed recommendations 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. These completed recommendations have helped the CAD improve its staffing, management and appraisal practices.
We reviewed the implementation of the remaining recommendation, and, while work is in progress, Fannin CAD has not fully implemented recommendation 4. Enclosed is more detail on what the CAD still needs to do.
The Comptroller’s office will continue to monitor district operations and require quarterly reports until the district has implemented all recommendations. Fannin CAD must implement the recommendations within one year.
This letter is available on our Window on State Government Web site at www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/proptax/cadreports/asr/fannin01/.
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, Fannindel Independent School District;
Bonham Independent School District; Dodd City Independent School District;
Ector Independent School District; Leonard Independent School District;
Trenton Independent School District; Sam Rayburn Independent School District;
Savoy Independent School District; and Honey Grove Consolidated Independent School District
Fannin CAD Board of Directors
What Remains to Be Done
The Comptroller’s office will continue to monitor the CAD’s progress toward meeting the state’s legal requirements. The following outlines steps the CAD still needs to take.
RECOMMENDATION 4
Complete and adopt a biennial reappraisal plan as required by the Tax Code. The CAD has adopted a biennial reappraisal plan; however, the reappraisal plan does not comply with Property Tax Code Section 25.18.
The reappraisal plan submitted to the Comptroller’s office does not indicate reappraisal activities for real and personal property or explain how the CAD staff plan to accomplish the reappraisal or identify specific properties or areas to be appraised, either by physical inspection or by other means of identification.
The chief appraiser indicated that growth in the county was overwhelming and that in a stable market he would want dates and the flexibility to reappraise by high growth areas; however, the high growth markets have been designated in a remediation plan.
In order to remedy multiple-year appraisal data error, the CAD developed a remediation plan to inspect each property. The remedial plan outlined which ISDs the CAD will inspect, and in what year. The remedial plan points out the higher growth areas that received invalid values in the 2004 PVS. Those ISDs were reappraised in 2005, and values were found to be valid in the 2006 PVS.
A reappraisal plan that complies with Property Tax Code Section 25.18 should be developed and submitted to PTD no later than March 2008.