Loading...
OR 24 Appoints commissioners to serve as Board of Equalization ORDINANCE NO. 24 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF COPPELL, TEXAS, APPOINTING COMMISSIONERS TO SERVE AS THE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION; FIXING THE TIME FOR THE MEETING OF SUCH BOARD; SETTING FORTH CERTAIN PRO- CEDURES FOR THE CONDUCT OF HEARINGS BEFORE THE BOARD OF EQUALI- ZATION AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COPPELL, TEXAS: appointed to serve as the Board of ~qualization of th ty of Coppell, Texas, in accordance with Article 1048, Vernon~s Annotated Civil Statutes of Texas. Section 2: The meeting of the Board of Equalization shall be conducted in five phases. Each phase may require more than one session, however, each phase shall be referred to herein as the First, Second, Third, Fourth or Fifth meeting of the Board. Section 3: The first meeting of the Board of EqualiZa- tion for the City of Coppell, Texas, sha~ be held at~ '~ 7 o'Clock y~ M. on the ~ day of _ , Section 4: THE FIRST MEET~N~G~ ~ The First meeting of the Board shall be opened by the Mayor of the City with the City Secretary acting as Secretary to the Board. The Mayor shall have this Ordinance read to the Board and have the Oath of Office administered to the appointed Commissioners. There shall be nominations for Chairman of the Board who will be elected by a majority vote of the Board members. The elected Chairman of the Board will then assume the office and take charge of the meeting. The Board may appoint an ex-officio Secretary to the Board should it appear that the clerical duties of the office will require same. If appointed, the ex-officio Secretary will relieve the City Secretary of the duties of Secretary of the Board, and shall, during the term of appointment, act in the official capacity as "Secretary to the Board," until relieved by final adjournment of the Board or other orders of the Board. The ex-officio Secretary shall be paid for his or her services in amounts as may be mutually agreed upon between said Secretary and the Board of Equalization, subject to approval of the City Council. When the Chairman of the Board finds that the Board has qualified and is ready to enter upon its duties, he shall call upon the Tax Assessor and Collector to bring before the Board her Lists or Books for examination, correction, equalization, appraise- ment and for the purpose of considering any complaints that may be made at that time. In the event the Board determines that the values on the Lists or Books of the Tax Assessor shall be changed, the Board shall make such corrections so that the values of such properties are set at the proper figure. When the Board has made its examination and has determined that the value of such properties are correctly equalized, the Board shall adjourn to a date set for their'~econd meeting" which shall be not less than ten (10) nor more than fifteen (15) days from the date of ad- journment, such date to be fixed in the Order of Adjournment, and ~he Board shall cause the Secretary of the Board to give written notice to each owner of such properties appearing on the Tax Assessor's Lists or Books, which have been increased or raised in value over the value listed on the City's Official Tax Roll for the previous year or has been increased or raised in value over that rendered by a person rendering said property for the current years. Said notice shall also be sent to the owner of such pro- perties appearing on the Tax Assessor's Lists or Books for the first time. Said Notice shall state the increased value placed on such properties and that the owners may appear at such "Second Meeting" if they desire, to show cause why the value of said pro- perty should not be raised. Such written notice may be served by the depositing of same properly addressed and postage paid in the City Post Office or a U. S. Post Office near the City. The Board shall also direct the Secretary to publish in the official news- paper of the City Notice of this meeting of the Board of Equalization. Section 5: SECOND MEETING: At such Second Meeting, the Board of Equalization shall cause each person wishing to appear before the Board to fill out a "Protest Form," a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit "A." A separate Protest Form must be filled out and filed for each person wishing to appear before the Board. Any attorney representing any person or persons must fill out a separate Protest Form for each person he will represent before the Board. Each person given a "Protest Form" shall also be given a copy of Exhibit "B", attached hereto, entitled "INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILING PROTEST FORM AND GENERAL INFORMATION CONCERNING HEARINGS BEFORE THE COPPELL BOARD OF EQUALIZATION." As soon as all persons wishing to file "Protest Forms" have done so, the Board shall recess and meet in a non-public executive session for the purpose of scheduling the Protests for hearing. The Board will then reconvene the public session at which time it may, at its discretion, commence to hear protests and make any announcements with regard to the scheduling of other protests. Section 6: THIRD MEETING: The Third Meeting or phase of the Board's hearings shall be devoted to hearing the various protests filed with the Board. When all protests have been heard by the Board, the Board shall close the public hearings and recess to reconvene on call of the Chairman of the Board. Section 7: FOURTH MEETING: On call by the Chairman of the Board of Equalization, the Board shall reconvene for its Fourth Meeting or phase, at which time the Board will review and deliberate the various cases and make a decision with regard to same. The Board shall then direct the Secretary to notify all persons who have come before the Board of the decision of the Board with respect to their property. When the Board is of the opinion that the values on the Lists or Books of the Tax Assessor have been equalized, the Board shall by motion duly passed, approve said Lists or Books and return same to the Tax Assessor, directing her to make up therefrom a "General Tax Roll" and return said Roll together with the approved Lists or Books to the Board at its next meeting. The Board shall then recess until its next session to be called by the Chairman. Section 8: FIFTH MEETING: At the Fifth Meeting of the Board of Equalization, the Board shall receive from the Tax Assessor the "General Tax Roll" as made up from the approved Lists or Books of the Tax Assessor and if upon examination of same, the Board is of the opinion that the Tax Roll is correct in accordance with the approved Lists or Books of the Tax Assessor, the Board shall approve said "General Tax Roll" and upon finding no further business to come before the Board, adjourn for the year 1965. Section 9: Upon approval of the "General Tax Roll" by the Board of Equalization, the Tax Assessor shall present same to the City Council. Section 10: The fact that the Statutes of the State of Texas require that an Ordinance be passed fixing the time of the meeting of the Board of Equalization for the City of Coppell and the fact that it is necessary that said Equalization Board meet in the immediate future, creates an urgency and an emergency and requires that this Ordinance take effect immediately from and after its passage. Texas, DULY PASSED by the City Council of the City of Coppell, on the ,~" day of/~ , 1965. APPROVED AS TO FORM: ATTEST: ~diF~ secreta~ City Attorney CASE NO. PROTEST FORM information required by the Board of Equalization of the City of Coppell, Texas. 1. Name of Protesting property Owner: (Please print full name) 2. Address where all notices from the Board should be mailed. If Protesting Property owner is to be represented by an attorney, give said attorney's name and address: Protesting property owner acknowledges receipt of a copy of "Instructions for filing Protest Form and General Information Concerning Hearings Before the ~ ' "~."~ Board of Equalization." ~/~ Signature ~ · ~ ~ THE YEAR 1965 INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILING "PROTEST FORM" AND GENERAL INFORMATION CONCERNING HEARINGS BEFORE TH,E COPPELL, TEXAS BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 1. A separate Protest Form must be filed for each person wishing to be scheduled for a hearing before the Board. 2. Any attorney representing any person or persons must fill out a separate "Protest Form" for each person whom he will represent before the Board. 3. Upon filing the Protest Form with the Board of Equalization, the Board will take the protest under consideration and schedule a date on which the protesting property owner may appear to protest the valuation placed upon his property. 4. PROTESTING PROPERTY OWNERS ARE ADVISED: (a) That should their presentation to the Board last longer than thirty (30) minutes, the presentation will be recessed to another date for completion, which date may be then and there scheduled by the Board without further notice or may be set by the Board at a later date and written notice of such setting sent to the protesting property owner by mail. (b) That the Board may consent to hear two or more pro- testing property owners jointly and in such a case should their presen- tation last longer than one hour, the presentation will be recessed to another date for completion in the same manner as mentioned above. (c) That should any protesting property owner feel that his presentation will last longer than the time mentioned above, he should make such known to the Board at the time of the filing of the Protest Form and the Board will attempt to schedule his presentation at a special time in order to avoid the necessity of the above mentioned recess. (d) At your hearing, the Board is primarily interested in information which you can supply them which might alter their view with regard to the value placed on your property. You are advised that the Board has no authority to add property to the Tax List and there- fore will not be concerned with receiving information about property which you feel might have been left off of the Tax List. Any property known to you which is not on the Tax Assessor's List should be reported to the Tax Assessor directly if you feel same properly belongs on the Tax List. 5. The protesting property owner shall appear before the Board as scheduled or as called by the Board. The hearing will be conducted in an informal but orderly manner and any protesting property owner may present his own case before the Board or may be represented by his duly appointed attorney. 6. IN GENERAL THE USUAL HEARING BEFORE THE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION IS CONDUCTED IN THE FOLLOWING MANNER: The protesting property owner, upon being called before the Board, identifies himself and the property on which the valuation is being contested. As soon as the Board has located the property on its Plat Book or List, the protesting property owner will be given an opportunity to state to the Board his reasons why he feels the valuation of said property should be changed. After presenting his statement and other evidence, the Board will have an opportunity to ask questions and secure sufficient information upon which to base its decision. Thereafter, the Board will excuse the protesting property owner and take his case under advisement. When the Board has heard all of the protesting property owners, it will adjourn the public hearing portion of its meeting, review and deliberate the various cases and make its decision thereon. Afterwards each protesting property owner will be notified of the decision of the Board with regard to his property. 7. All "Protest Hearings" before the Board will be open to the public, however, in order to conduct the hearings in an orderly manner, the Board will not recognize persons in the audience for open comment, nor, will the Board tolerate open discussion among the audience while ~ hearing is in session. Only the protesting property owner presently before the Board and those appearing in his behalf will be heard. COPPELL BOARD OF EQUALIZATION FOR 1965