Senate Bill No. 285
(By Senator Love)
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[Introduced March 11, 1997; referred to the Committee
on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section seven, article one-c, chapter
eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to duties of county
assessors; property appraisals; equalization; valuation
plan; and changing the three-year reappraisal cycle to a
five-year cycle.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section seven, article one-c, chapter eleven of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1C. FAIR AND EQUITABLE PROPERTY VALUATION.
§11-1C-7. Duties of county assessors; property to be appraised
at fair market value; exceptions; initial
equalization; valuation plan.
(a) Except for property appraised by the state tax
commissioner under section ten of this article and property
appraised and assessed under article six of this chapter, all
assessors shall, within three years of the approval of the county
valuation plan required pursuant to this section, appraise all
real and personal property in their jurisdiction at fair market
value except for special valuation provided for farmland and
managed timberland. They shall utilize the procedures and
methodologies established by the property valuation training and
procedures commission and the valuation system established by the
tax commissioner.
(b) In determining the fair market value of the property in
their jurisdictions, assessors may use as an aid to valuation
any information available on the character and values of
such the
property including, but not limited to, the updated information
found on any statewide electronic data processing system network
established pursuant to section twenty-one, article one-a of this
chapter. Valuations
shall may not be based exclusively on
such
the statewide electronic data processing system network, and
usage of the information on such files as an aid to proper
valuation
shall does not constitute an implementation of the
statewide mass reappraisal of property.
(c) Before beginning the valuation process, each assessor shall develop a county valuation plan for using information
currently available, for checking its accuracy and for correcting
any errors found. The plan
must shall be submitted to the tax
commissioner on or before the first day of December, one thousand
nine hundred ninety, for review and approval, and
such the plan
must shall be revised as necessary and resubmitted every three
years thereafter:
Provided, That after the thirtieth day of
June, one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven, the plan shall be
revised as necessary and resubmitted every five years thereafter.
Whenever a plan is submitted to the tax commissioner, a copy
shall also be submitted to the county commission of that county
and the property valuation training and procedures commission,
and that county commission and the property valuation training
and procedures commission may forward comments to the tax
commissioner. The tax commissioner shall respond to any plan
submitted or resubmitted within sixty days of its receipt. The
valuation process
shall may not begin nor
shall may funds
provided in section eight of this article be available until the
plan has received approval by the tax commissioner:
Provided,
however, That any initial plan that has not received approval by
the commissioner prior to the first day of May, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-one, shall be submitted on or by such date to the
valuation commission for resolution prior to the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-one, by which date all
counties shall have an approved valuation plan in effect.
(d) Upon approval of the valuation plan, the assessor shall
immediately begin implementation of the valuation process. Any
change in value discovered subsequent to the certification of
values by the assessor to the county commission, acting as the
board of equalization and review, in any given year shall be
placed upon the property books for the next certification of
values:
Provided, That notwithstanding any other provision of
this code to the contrary, the property valuation training and
procedures commission may authorize the tax commissioner to
approve a valuation plan and the board of public works to submit
such a plan which would permit the placement of proportionately
uniform percentage changes in values on the books that estimate
the percentage difference between the current assessed value and
sixty percent of the fair market value for classes or identified
subclasses of property and distribute the change between the two
tax years preceding the tax year beginning on the first day of
July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three. This procedure may
be used in lieu of placing individual values on the books at
sixty percent of value as discovered, or may be in addition to
such the valuation. If
such the procedure is adopted by a
county, then property whose reevaluation is the responsibility of the board of public works and the state tax commissioner shall
have its values estimated and placed on the books in like manner.
Such estimates shall be based on the best information obtained by
the assessor, the board of public works and the tax commissioner,
and the changes shall move those values substantially towards
sixty percent of fair market value, such sixty percent to be
reached on or before the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-three.
(e) The county assessor shall establish and maintain as
official records of the county tax maps of the entire county
drawn to scale or aerial maps, which maps shall indicate all
property and lot lines, set forth dimensions or areas, indicate
whether the land is improved, and identify the respective parcels
or lots by a system of numbers or symbols and numbers, whereby
the ownership of such parcels and lots can be ascertained by
reference to the appropriate records:
Provided, That all such
records shall be established and maintained and the sale or
reproduction of microfilm, photography and maps shall be in
accordance with legislative rules promulgated by the commission.
(f) Willing and knowing refusal of the assessor or the
county commission to comply with and effect the provisions of
this article, or to correct any deficiencies as may be ordered
by the tax commissioner with the concurrence of the valuation commission under any authority granted pursuant to this article
or other provisions of this code, shall constitute grounds for
removal from office.
Such tThe removal may be appealed to the
circuit court.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to change the three-year
reappraisal cycle to a five- year cycle.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
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