Alva Review-Courier -

The Woods County Equalization Board had four hearings for formal appeal scheduled for their June 30 special meeting. Board Chairman Bob Seivert presided with members Chris Olson and Joe Shirley present. Also attending were County Clerk Shelley Reed and County Assessor Renetta Benson.

The tax agent for SemGas LP sent a letter stating they wished to withdraw from the hearing.

As the meeting began, Benson called Becky Elliott of TASC (Total Assessment Solutions Corporation), who consults with Woods County on tax assessments.

Tall Oak Midcon, LLC

Tall Oak Midcon, LLC provided written information about their acquisition of Tailwater Energy assets in eight Oklahoma counties including Woods. The assessor’s valuation for Woods County property is $19,707,049 while Tall Oak says the total market value is $2,545.797.

Olson said the inventory appeared to show pipeline and meters in the county. He said he assumed they do oil and gas reserve studies before making the purchase, and Elliott agreed.

“So they’re purchasing the pipeline and the operating meters with the knowledge that at some point in time these properties are going to pay off,” said Olson. “If they lie idle for a while they’ve got a meter charge regardless of if they use it and a transportation charge if you do use it on that pipeline.”

Elliott said the market value Tall Oak claims is not supported by any paperwork. “They won’t provide us the information for the whole sale,” she said.

“If I add this up right, they want to reduce from$19,707,049 to $2,525,797,” said Shirley. “And they won’t give us the paperwork. I move we turn this down until they provide us with the paperwork so we have some way to determine this.”

Olson seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously.

Targa Pipeline Mid-Con West OK

Again no one was present from Targa Pipeline. They sent four pages, including a two page letter, to support their request that total market value of Woods County assets be reduced to $41,800,000. However, Woods County places the market value at $268,365,874.

“Their only reason to reduce that is they aren’t making any money, they aren’t transporting anything?” asked Shirley.

“They’re talking utilization but they’ve never given us anything to do our own utilization off of,” said Elliott. “All they give us is numbers but we don’t know what’s in that number. We don’t know where they’re coming up with those.”

“If they have a pipeline across my property and they don’t use it, but it’s still there and it’s still good, they still have to pay tax on it right?” asked Shirley.

“They do,” said Elliott. “The only way they can get out of paying taxes on a pipeline they’re not using is to return the rights to the landowner.”

“Until they can give us that kind of information, I’m not interested in going any farther with this,” Shirley said.

“We offered them a 19 percent reduction in value. They still won’t take it,” said Elliott. “They say they want 50 percent but if you do the math they really want like an 82 percent reduction.”

Shirley made a motion to turn down the appeal to change the market value.

Olson said, “As an equalization board, we have to treat everyone equal. That includes the farmer, the city house market, the people that pay taxes on pipelines and processing centers. We have to treat everybody equal. The other people in our area do not ask for a reduction just because they’re not making any money.

“We cannot in all good judgement lower one entity and not another. Their basis here is the loss of production in the arena of oil and gas and they may not get it this year, but they do know the reserves are out there and they plan on keeping their pipe in place and their easements in place so that they can recover that when it does happen. That’s not a basis for us to adjust their taxes.”

“Well said!” Seivert commented.

“Put that on record, and I’ll agree with Joe, I’ll second his motion,” said Olson.

“You know, you’re absolutely right. We have consistently, throughout the six years I’ve been on this board, required documentation if a Joe Blow homeowner comes in and wants an adjustment or wants to discuss it. We ask of him something to support his desires. So I concur,” said Seivert. He called for a vote and the motion passed.

4 W Holdings

Steve Ward of 4 W Holdings arrived for his hearing. Benson explained Ward has the mini-storage units located on US64 next to the Lite-N-Nite.

Ward said, “4 W was a partnership between myself and Cory Washburn until Dec. 31 of last year. I bought Cory’s estate out. During that time we didn’t know where to price it. We had an official appraisal done by Katie Ohm. Her valuation is $258,500.”

Woods County lists the fair cash value as $429,170. Benson explained that she used the sale of storage units in Enid on which to base her valuation.

Ward said Enid values are different because it costs less to build in Alva. He said they acquired the land for $12,000 and paid $18 per square foot for the buildings and concrete.

“Whatever he paid for half of it, you double that, that’s what he ought to pay taxes on. That’s the way I look at it, said Shirley.

“If I buy a piece of equipment, first thing you ask me is what did you pay for it. If I bought it in Iowa, it’s cheaper there than what it is here, but that’s what I paid for it, and that’s what you’re going to tax me on,” added Olson.

Ward said he paid $120,000 in the purchase from the Washburn estate but he also took on about $18,000 in debt.

“It’s hard to argue with that logic considering it was a recent transaction,” said Seivert.

Shirley made a motion to accept Ward’s proposed valuation.

There was a little more discussion about Enid versus Alva values. Olson seconded, Shirley’s motion, and it passed unanimously. The 4 W Holdings valuation will be lowered to appraised value of