Commissioners Vote To Retain Outside Attorney For Tax Challenge Appeal

The Washita County Board of Commissioners voted Monday, June 15, to hire an outside attorney to represent the county in an appeal of a tax challenge suit brought by Ron Wollman of Kast Trust Farms.

Wollman challenged the 2018 assessment on his property, based on the fact that the Fair Cash Value decreased, but the Taxable Fair Cash Value increased, with no decrease in tax as a result. He also argued that two well sites need reclassification and a barn had been destroyed and not rebuilt.

The Washita County Assessor met with Wollman on April 25, 2018, to hear his protest, and on April 30, 2018, revised the assessment to reflect the damaged barn and reclassified well sites. The changes reduced the value of the property by $1,754.

Wollman appealed the assessor’s decision to the Board of Equalization, alleging he had never received a notice of valuation increase in 2008, based upon a 2004 remodel of the house, and acknowledged the assessor’s decision to adjust the value due to the barn and well sites. The Board of Equalization voted to affirm the assessor’s revised valuation.

Wollman appealed their decision to the Washita County District Court.

In the suit, Wollman challenged the 2018 valuation on the grounds that the 2008 valuation increase was improper. The 2008 increase in valuation was predicated upon a remodel to the home, which took place in 2004, and increased the total square footage from approximately 2.554 to 4,392. He argued that the increase was improper because it did not occur in the same year the improvements were made and that he did not receive a notice of the increase in valuation. He further claimed that Oklahoma law prohibits a valuation increase of more than five percent in any year.

District Judge Jill Weedon ruled in favor of the county. In her ruling, she wrote that the cap on valuation increase in any one year can be lifted in the case of a remodel.

“If any improvements are made to the property, the increased value to the property as a result of the improvement shall be assessed for that year based on the fair cash value.” Oklahoma Constitution, Article X, §8B.

Shel struck down the rest of Wollman’s argument on the basis that he failed to challenge the valuation for 10 years.

“Petitioner cites Frankenberg v. Strickland, 2015 OK 23, for the proposition that an increase in value must be made in the year the improvements were made to the property,” she wrote. “Had Petitioner raised this issue in 2008, it may have been a valid objection to the 2008 increase in value. However, this claim is not available ten years later.”

Wollman has filed a notice of appeal to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which the county commissioners decided to fight.