A new ruling declaring waste water lines for oil and gas as exempt from ad valorem taxes has resulted in the loss of tax money to counties and especially to schools. On Thursday, Jan. 26, the Woods County Tax Roll Corrections Board met at the courthouse in Alva to handle a list of tax corrections. Many of them were for the change in status of waste water (often called saltwater) lines. The corrections related to those lines, approved for four years of tax rolls, resulted in over a half million dollars in lost taxes to Woods County. More than half of that was designated for schools.

Members of...