Grayson County Appraisal District
Appraisal Standards Review Follow-Up Report
July 14, 2008
The Honorable John Ramsey, Board Chairman
Ms. Teresa Parsons, Chief Appraiser
Grayson County Appraisal District
205 N. Travis St.
Sherman, Texas 75090-5922
Dear Chairman Ramsey and Chief Appraiser Parsons:
This letter constitutes the Comptroller's follow-up review of the Appraisal Standards Review (ASR) of Grayson County Appraisal District (Grayson CAD) originally released in December 2006. We commend the cooperation of Grayson 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 a total of seven recommendations, four of which were mandatory, to help Grayson CAD achieve accurate local value in the annual Property Value Study and improve operations. The Comptroller acknowledges the work Grayson CAD has performed during the past year. The CAD has completed recommendations 1, 2, 4 and 5. These completed recommendations have assisted the CAD in improving its staffing, management and appraisal practices.
We reviewed the implementation of the remaining recommendations and while work is in progress, Grayson CAD has not fully implemented mandatory Recommendation 3. Enclosed is more detail on what the CAD still needs to do.
The Comptroller's office will continue to monitor Grayson CAD operations and require quarterly reports until the CAD has implemented Recommendation 3.
This letter is available on our Window on State Government Web site at www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/proptax/cadreports/asr/grayson01/.
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, Bells Independent School District; Collinsville Independent School
District; Denison Independent School District; Howe Independent School District; Sherman Independent
School District; Tioga Independent School District; Van Alstyne Independent School District; Whitesboro
Independent School District; Whitewright Independent School District; Pottsboro Independent School
District; Sadler-Southmayd Consolidated Independent School District; Gunter Independent School
District; and Tom Bean Independent School District
Grayson CAD Board of Directors
Grayson County Appraisal District Appraisal Standards Review Follow-Up Report
What Remains to Be Done
The Comptroller's office will continue to monitor Grayson CAD's progress toward meeting the state's legal requirements. The following outlines steps Grayson CAD still needs to take concerning Recommendation 3.
RECOMMENDATON 3:
Revise the appraisal manuals to include IAAO standards for appraisal of real property, replace documents as needed to broaden the manual's scope and improve the timeliness of the data and develop a schedule for regular review and update of the manual.
In December 2007, the chief appraiser submitted a draft of a board resolution calling for broadening the appraisal manual and developing a schedule for regular manual updates and reviews. An adopted resolution was submitted in February 2008 calling for the chief appraiser to direct the review and update of the appraisal manual in conjunction with the biennially developed reappraisal plan.
In June 2008, the CAD submitted a revised appraisal manual. The manual included photocopies of the IAAO's Standard on Mass Appraisal of Real Property and the Standard on Ratio Studies. There is no evidence, however, the manual incorporates the requirements specified in the Standard on Mass Appraisal for data collection manuals.
The revised manual continues to be what the original ASR finding describes as "a collection of items from different sources that includes computer printouts, copies of dated and undated publications and copies of photographs." The computer software and Excel spreadsheet samples are the same screenshots from 2000 and 2001.
In order to complete this recommendation, the CAD needs to submit to PTD by Sept. 15, 2008, a revised appraisal manual that incorporates the requirements — not merely a photocopy — of the IAAO Standard for Mass Appraisal of Real Property, includes replacement documentation organizing the scope of the topics and updates the data collected in the manual.