Grady County districts will share $1.9M found in tax hunt
Grady County school districts will share $1.9M found in tax hunt

By Tony Thornton
Published: August 25, 2008

CHICKASHAGrady County school districts will share $1.9 million, thanks to a "bounty hunter” whose company discovered hundreds of oil and gas properties that weren't on the tax rolls.

Advertisement

School superintendents received that news last week during a meeting with county Assessor Bari Firestone, whose push to use the outside company swept her into office in 2006.

Firestone and the school superintendents who supported her campaign view her report as vindication.

"I'm just tickled pink,” said Alex School Superintendent Norvel Heston, whose district stands to receive more than $265,000 in back taxes from discoveries made by Visual Lease Services of Holdenville.

How will money be used?
Much of that money will reduce the district's bond debt, which means lower tax bills for other property owners next year, Heston said.

Firestone hired Visual Lease Services after taking office in January 2007. The company's $258,000 fee was paid by schools and the county based on each district's total valuation. Heston's district, for example, paid about $16,000.

The Alex, Tuttle and Ninnekah school districts will receive the most money, because the greatest number of omitted oil-field properties were in those districts, Firestone said. The county's general fund, health department and emergency management system also will benefit, she said.

"We've got pipelines that have been omitted for years and years. They've had a good deal for years. ... We're just trying to make it where everybody's paying their fair share,” Firestone said.

She said companies with newly discovered properties also must pay a 20 percent penalty for each year since 2005 that they failed to report the property.

By law, assessors can go back three years to collect on previously untaxed properties.

Surprising findings
Visual Lease Services owner Gary Mask said even he was surprised by the sheer magnitude of oil and gas properties that weren't previously taxed.

The company contracts with 35 counties to perform work beyond the expertise of most county assessor's offices. It sent inspectors throughout Grady County over the past year.

Its findings: Less than one-fourth of the county's 2,296 gas meters were being taxed. Each is worth, on average, $125 to $150 in taxes, Mask said.

One company, which Mask wouldn't name, accounted for 800 untaxed meters, he said. His employees also found 105 compressors.

"They even found two gas plants that weren't on the tax rolls. That's unbelievable,” said Earl Cowan, superintendent of Canadian Valley Technology Center.

Not a one-time payout
Cowan's school paid $33,708 of Visual Lease Service's fee, but stands to receive more than $211,000 from the last four years.

Firestone said of the collection letters that have been sent out, few companies protested. Other letters are being sent out this week.

Because the newly discovered properties stay on the tax rolls, schools can expect to benefit for years to come.

According to its contract, Visual Lease Services will receive a $40,500 annual maintenance fee to find other undiscovered properties.

The beneficiaries, mainly school districts, also will share that cost, Firestone said.

Mask said his company's first priority for Grady County is inspecting 291 oil and gas sites where his crews weren't allowed entry.


Toolbar sponsored by: David Stanley Ford
Bookmark and Share

Related Topics: Public Finance, Taxes


Comments

Thank you for joining our conversations on NewsOK.com. We encourage your discussions but ask that you stay within the bounds of our terms and conditions. Please help us by reporting comments that violate these guidelines. To review our rules of engagement, go to Commenting and posting policy.

Editor's note: It is not our intent to offer comments on crime or fatality stories.

Leave a comment. Log in below or sign up (it's free).

   
to everyone, i apologize. if any of you ever see a comment i make that is offensive or crude or talks about drugs, please click on 'report offensive langauge' to remove it. try to get the point across to the oklahoman that i am not welcome here. tell everyone you see on here, if they see me comment, to ban it. thanks
Pizzo, Oklahoma - Aug 25, 2008 12:28 PM
Report as inappropriate
I agree, Ron. And since the Oklahoman doesn't want to do it in this story, let's NAME the gas company with "meters worth, on average, $125 to $150 in taxes" ...
c, Oklahoma City - Aug 25, 2008 10:49 AM
Report as inappropriate
"...of the collection letters that have been sent out, few companies protested." No kiddin? The level of greed and outright avarice that these companies exhibit is only eclipsed by the fact they have willfully done this for years. These are not some fast buck operators who gouge you and move on , they have drained the state's potential for years.You can bet the apologists who usually play down the arrogance of energy companies will be silent on this one. And this is just one county! Can you imagine the hidden tax evasion that exists in the rest of Oklahoma's counties? I hate business regulation as much as anyone else but given free reign thieves, both corporate and individual, always figure out a way to "beat the system".
Ron, Oklahoma City - Aug 25, 2008 9:27 AM
Report as inappropriate