Canadian Valley Technology Center News
Visual Lease Releases Tax Data
Story posted on 09/15/2008 at 4:38 pm
CHICKASHA – Grady County Assessor Bari Firestone and officials with Holdenville-based Visual Lease Services announced recently that area schools such as Rush Springs will share in more than $1.9 million in additional tax revenue based on findings of a 13-month investigation into omitted oil company properties.
This includes various pipelines, compressors, rigs and two gas plants that were not reported by the oil companies to the county assessor’s office, according to information given to area school superintendents during a meeting at Canadian Valley Technology Center’s Chickasha campus.
A dozen independent districts, a handful of dependents and joint independents and the tech center agreed to pay Visual Lease a combined $258,000 for a one-year contract that would investigate omitted property.
The one-year contract began July, 1, 2007, and was renewed in July 2008 for a discounted rate of $40,500, Firestone said. School districts were asked to pay their share of the costs based on valuation of the schools in the county, their Emergency Medical Services and the Health Department.
Rush Springs’ actual increase will amount to a one-time windfall of roughly $29,000. That does not include a 20 percent penalty tacked on by the assessor’s office.
Rush Springs also will see an annual increase of an estimated $9,226 from now on as a result of the investigation.
The district initially paid roughly $11,000 to find out what its portion would be.
Firestone is unwilling to share the names of the oil companies, because the investigation is incomplete, and some protests are outstanding.
“I don’t want to vilify companies we are still trying to get cooperation with,” she said.
The oil companies have been notified by certified mail of the findings by Visual Lease Services, Firestone said. Each company has 10 days to notify Firestone of a protest. In the event she is not contacted, the protest period is considered over.
Those companies wishing to pursue a protest ultimately can take their case to the State Equalization Board and even district court. Firestone said most cases are already settled, and she does not anticipate many protests reaching court.
Dr. Earl Cowan, retired superintendent at Canadian Valley, helped spearhead the effort along with Grady County schools superintendents to hire Visual Lease Services. Cowan said he is thrilled with the findings.
“I’m happy with the results because I’ve been working on this project a long time,” he said. “We had quite a bit hanging out here. I was keeping my fingers crossed that nobody lost the money they put into this project.”
This includes various pipelines, compressors, rigs and two gas plants that were not reported by the oil companies to the county assessor’s office, according to information given to area school superintendents during a meeting at Canadian Valley Technology Center’s Chickasha campus.
A dozen independent districts, a handful of dependents and joint independents and the tech center agreed to pay Visual Lease a combined $258,000 for a one-year contract that would investigate omitted property.
The one-year contract began July, 1, 2007, and was renewed in July 2008 for a discounted rate of $40,500, Firestone said. School districts were asked to pay their share of the costs based on valuation of the schools in the county, their Emergency Medical Services and the Health Department.
Rush Springs’ actual increase will amount to a one-time windfall of roughly $29,000. That does not include a 20 percent penalty tacked on by the assessor’s office.
Rush Springs also will see an annual increase of an estimated $9,226 from now on as a result of the investigation.
The district initially paid roughly $11,000 to find out what its portion would be.
Firestone is unwilling to share the names of the oil companies, because the investigation is incomplete, and some protests are outstanding.
“I don’t want to vilify companies we are still trying to get cooperation with,” she said.
The oil companies have been notified by certified mail of the findings by Visual Lease Services, Firestone said. Each company has 10 days to notify Firestone of a protest. In the event she is not contacted, the protest period is considered over.
Those companies wishing to pursue a protest ultimately can take their case to the State Equalization Board and even district court. Firestone said most cases are already settled, and she does not anticipate many protests reaching court.
Dr. Earl Cowan, retired superintendent at Canadian Valley, helped spearhead the effort along with Grady County schools superintendents to hire Visual Lease Services. Cowan said he is thrilled with the findings.
“I’m happy with the results because I’ve been working on this project a long time,” he said. “We had quite a bit hanging out here. I was keeping my fingers crossed that nobody lost the money they put into this project.”
