§ 68-2830. Monitoring valuations - Noncompliance guidelines and procedure.

A.  The Oklahoma Tax Commission shall monitor the progress of valuation in each county as it occurs each year.  Such monitoring may be conducted by periodic audits of assessments through visits to the county or through an analysis of assessment activity by means of a computer-assisted monitoring program.

B.  The Oklahoma Tax Commission shall establish guidelines for determining the extent of noncompliance with the applicable law or administrative rules governing valuation of taxable property.  Such guidelines shall establish three categories of noncompliance.  The categories shall be respectively denominated as Category 1, Category 2 and Category 3.  Each category shall represent progressive degrees of noncompliance.  Provided, if the Tax Commission finds that a county assessor is not annually valuing taxable real and personal property within the county as required by Sections 2817 and 2829 of this title, the Tax Commission shall certify that the county is not in compliance with such statutes and shall be required to take action as prescribed by this section for the appropriate category of noncompliance according to the guidelines established pursuant to the provisions of this subsection.  The Oklahoma Tax Commission shall be authorized to take action as prescribed by this section for each category of noncompliance as follows:

Category 1:  The Oklahoma Tax Commission shall notify the county assessor of the nature of the noncompliance and shall indicate the action required to correct such noncompliance.

Category 2:  The Oklahoma Tax Commission shall order the action to be taken in order to bring the county into compliance.  The Oklahoma Tax Commission is authorized to do any or all of the following:

1.  Impose a schedule of required actions by county officials to bring the county into compliance;

2.  Establish deadlines for bringing the county into compliance; or

3.  Impose changes in procedures in the assessor's office, if necessary, to facilitate continued compliance.

Category 3:  The Oklahoma Tax Commission shall notify the board of county commissioners and the county assessor of the affected county that the county is in violation of law or regulations relating to the valuation function for the administration of the ad valorem tax.  The Oklahoma Tax Commission shall conduct a conference, within thirty (30) days after such notice, in that county with the board of county commissioners, the county assessor and the county board of equalization, to formally notify the county of the extent of noncompliance and the measures necessary to correct it.  The Oklahoma Tax Commission is authorized to do any or all of the following:

1.  Impose a schedule of required actions by county officials to bring the county into compliance;

2.  Establish deadlines for bringing the county into compliance;

3.  Impose changes in procedures in the assessor's office, if necessary, to facilitate continued compliance;

4.  Place the county valuation function under the temporary supervision of a qualified Oklahoma Tax Commission employee;

5.  Require additional training for the assessor, deputies or members of the equalization board; or

6.  Provide written or oral reports to the board of county commissioners and the county board of equalization of the progress in regaining compliance status for the county.  Such reports shall be public records.

The Oklahoma Tax Commission shall periodically conduct a review of the extent of noncompliance in each county determined to be in Category 3 noncompliance.  When the Oklahoma Tax Commission determines that such a county is in substantial compliance with the applicable law or administrative regulations governing valuation of taxable property, the Commission shall so certify.

C.  The Oklahoma Tax Commission may request the Court of Tax Review to order a county determined to be in Category 3 noncompliance to reimburse the Oklahoma Tax Commission from the county assessor's budget as established in Section 2823 of this title for all costs incurred as a result of the assumption of the valuation function by the Commission.  The salary of the county assessor shall not be paid during the time that a qualified employee of the Oklahoma Tax Commission is supervising the valuation function in the county, but shall be restored as of the date the Commission certifies to the board of county commissioners that noncompliance has been corrected.

D.  The county assessor shall have the right to appeal an order issued by the Oklahoma Tax Commission to correct Category 2 noncompliance or to appeal a decision finding Category 3 noncompliance in the manner provided by Section 2883 of this title.

Added by Laws 1988, c. 162, § 30, eff. Jan. 1, 1992.  Amended by Laws 1989, c. 321, § 10, operative Jan. 1, 1992; Laws 1996, c. 323, § 1, eff. July 1, 1996.