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