Wednesday morning the Woods County Equalization Board had their last hearing of formal appeals on 2019 tax assessments. Before starting that hearing, they held the annual reorganization of board officers. Joe Shirley immediately made a motion that officers remain the same with Chris Olson seconding. The motion carried. Bob Seivert remains as chairman of the board.

Woods County Assessor Renetta Benson called Jerry Wisdom with Total Assessment Solutions Corp. who represents the county in the negotiations. He was put on speaker phone.

Meanwhile Woods County Clerk Shelley Reed attempted to call Noland Williams of KE Andrews, representing Targa. The call to Williams went to voice mail. Reed tried calling his office, but Katie Andrews who answered was working from home. She said she would email Williams.

Shirley suggested the board accept the current valuation of Targa property and close the meeting. Wisdom recommended the board wait 15 minutes for Williams to respond to messages.

As that time neared an end, Andrews called back to check that Reed had received the affidavit she sent regarding Targa. She then said she forgot to let Reed know that Williams would not be available to speak with them. His only presentation was the affidavit sent earlier.

There was a short delay as Reed took cellphone photos of the affidavit and sent them to Williams. After going through the paperwork, Williams said the main reason Targa gave for their request to lower the tax valuation of their property was the loss of production. However, the company showed a 143 percent increase in revenue over all of their properties from 2018 through 2019. Williams said he believed most of that increase was from properties in West Texas and New Mexico.

Targa’s West Oak facility in Woods County showed a decrease in throughput from 351.6 million in 2018 to 330 million in 2019. Average barrels per day decreased from 21.6 to 20.1 in 2019. Williams said while oil pricing caused some loss of revenue, two-thirds of contracts are fee based.

Williams further stated that impairment due to the drop in oil prices was misleading because that occurred in 2020, not in 2019.

Williams said assets of West Oak remained the same except for a project started to add some lines which was not completed before Jan. 1, 2020. Due to depreciation of asset values or obsolescence, he recommended the 2018 valuation be decreased by 12.5 percent for 2019, a normal accounting percentage.

Olson commented that Targa was citing their income stream as a reason for lowering the valuation when ad valorem taxes are actually based on assets, not income. He said, “We do not adjust farm values due to decreased production in one year.” He said some of the farmers sitting around that table had very expensive combines, but the county doesn’t adjust their taxes if they have a bad wheat crop. Seivert agreed that was an “excellent analogy.”

Shirley made a motion to accept the current assessment for 2019 which includes the 12.5 percent decrease, and the motion was passed unanimously.

The assessed value remains at $161,059,803. It had started at $184,067,869 but was reduced for obsolescence during informal protest.

If Targa chooses not to accept this assessment, the next step will be a court hearing.

Woods County Excise Board

The same three members then met as the Woods County Excise Board. They acknowledged the transfer of appropriations from the sheriff’s part-time to personal services account in the amount of $5,000.

They approved and signed temporary appropriations for fiscal year 2020-2021 for Woods County, Woods County Health Department, Alva Public Schools, Waynoka Public Schools, Freedom Public Schools, Northwest Technology Center, Town of Freedom and Town of Dacoma.