I received a letter today to fight the appraisal on my land.
I am not an accountant or a lawyer!
I have too give them a written affidavit with my evidence
I think I did this when I filled out the complaint form!
I have a conference call on the 9th of September at 9:50 am…
How do they expect regular land owners to fight these increases,do they have buyers ready too jump on the land?
I don’t know what to do except call them and look like a jerk with nothing to say except I don’t want to pay the increase.
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Have a location or legal description of land in Reeves County?
AB# 3874 Blk: 7 Section 14 E 1/2 of Ne 1/4 of NE1/4 Section 14 Block 7, H&Gn Ry .co.survey. Reeve’s county Thank you
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Hello Here is contact info for the fantastic lawyer I have used for various situations regarding my property in Reeves county. Very smart, kind, reliable, professional and does a fantastic job.
He is located near the court house in Reeves county
Matthew L. Florez
Attorney & Counselor at Law
Pecos, Texas
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Thank you very much!
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We hired a firm that does the protest for you (Midland and Upton). They saved us about $1,000 (about 20%) of which they charge between 33% of what they save you.
Had my time with the Reeves cty appraisal board recently. They quickly offered 25percent reduction off the 72 000 for my 160 ac.I did the math and decided that wasn’t very much, so I mentioned the 35k I had offered in my protest which was nearly twice last years amount. Also mentioned my well was making a fraction of most others and the uncertainty of future production due to the political climate of anti fossil fuel.Like buying a car,I countered with 40k.After them talking to the head appraiser,45 was as good as they would do ,which I accepted. Consider ing the tremendous population increase,I suppose they are desperate for money.Thanks ,as always to the forum. CJ
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CJ - thanks for the post. I have had my call twice cancelled. So still waiting. Where is the property located in Reeves County? Block/Section? Thanks.
Morning Dave. Northwest quarter of sec 68 , blk 13, AB 5487. The person I talked to was Brandy. Like you , my appointment time was changed and they were to call and didn’t so I called them at 8:30. I suppose they are super busy considering the number of mineral owners in Reeves cty. I probably talked to her an hour. Good luck. CJ
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CJ, appreciate what you’ve shared.
Curious if your protest covered their appraisal of the your land or also mineral interest since you mentioned the decline of production on your well? If you are talking about an appraisal of the surface value, also wondered if the District person you were talking to provided any comparable sales information their valuation was based on, or was it mainly “horse trading” of their proposed number versus yours?
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Dusty. Mostly talked about the well and it’s production or lack of. A comparison of my property value and some that had been sold in Pecos was mentioned briefly. I assured them without the well my property would be worth no more than I paid for it in 1998.You’re right about most of the time was spent haggling. They said I could make an appointment to appear in n person before the board and might get a better deal or not get anything at all. It is a long trip from here to Pecos. Might add I asked if and when the well became unprofitable would my tax rate revert to the same as 3 years ago. No answer there either. Hope I answered your questions.CJ
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Thanks Charles appreciate the detail.
Who did you use Jhab for the protest service?
Thanks.
finally had my day in the barrel with the ARB. They said their process is to let you present and then they vote in private on what to do (sending you a letter on their decision). So I presented and they were playing with a strict poker face as I went through my arguments. I wasn’t sure if they’d compromise any - - - until I mentioned that settlements had been made to others, and I mentioned CJ’s specifically. They pulled it up and an discussion erupted about negotiated settlements vs ARB adjustments. I said, I don’t get it; in both cases, the owner’s “evidence” is considered and then a decision is reached. Well, the ARB agreed to give me the same per acre appraisal as CJ got. Which I thought was acceptable, but still a little high valuation given my 560 acres in Block 59 are in no man (no leases) land. I owe you a favor CJ!
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Dave I had reservations about whether to post my info with the ARB but after your memo i am glad i did. After all, that is the whole purpose of the forum.Also proud you got a decision from them you can live with. And without hiring a lawyer. sounds like you may have raised their cackles. Ifigured anything was better than rolling over and playing dead. We plan to come out there Wednesday week to check for homesteaders. you have already said it was desolate. Hope you get leased soon. With oil and gas prices this good you would think it would spur another drilling frenzy.Cj
Please pardon a bad choice of words on my post. Should have been HACKLES. The other mentions some well known political figures. My apologies. Cj
We had our informal hearing on the 20th and got a 25% reduction. Not pleasant but much better. We are 58 ac in Sec 8, Blk 55 T7S T&PRR. Not leased since January (Apache declined to renew). They have a producing well a bit more than a mile east. You do know that minerals should not be a factor at all in your appraisal. The big complaint is they put up equivalents to prove the tax rate but say they are not allowed to reveal the details of location etc. I know there are on sales of 50-100 acre tracts anywhere near us. When you have completely raw land far from developed areas and unsuitable for grazing or agriculture, that doesn’t seem to matter. Also, the more acreage you have the lower the per acre appraisal.
Briefly, this is how my Reeves ARB protest went:
After a day-long wait for my telephone hearing, I was finally offered a 25% decrease without a hearing, but I declined, and the hearing was rescheduled for the following month.
To support my appeal of the 1,260% increase in one year, I included documentation from the RRC GIS showing that all wells in Block 59, Section 16 and eight adjacent sections, are abandoned, dry, plugged, or have expired permits. I attached the Texas File query showing only 14 transactions for Block 59, Section 16, from 2015-2018 with no activity since. I presented results from the Reeves County Appraisal District website showing appraisal values for 2019-2021. Some had increased dramatically, like mine, while others remained the same.
After presenting the evidence, I was told that they would respond and that would be the end of the discussion. They said all rural properties were lumped under one code, regardless of location or activity; that ‘market value’ was based on only four recent sales in the whole county; and that the unchanged property values ‘must have’ agricultural exemptions. As far as I can tell, there is no agricultural activity in this desolate area. They offered a 25-26% discount.
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I had to finally respond after reading many posts regarding protesting with Reeves County ARB. The experience Helen reports is almost identical to ours. We provided all the same kind of information along with pictures. Same exact reduction. My true opinion, they just really do not care what you present. At all. They have a canned response and amount in mind and that is it. Period. Shame on Reeves County Appraisal District and Board. This is a true example of government power gone wild and just wrong.
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Here’s the next thing: tax rates in Reeves Co should go down to equalize the revenue generated from the higher valuations. If they don’t, and there is a revenue windfall, then something really wrong has happened.
Meanwhile, regarding the kabuki theatre called the ARB, I could not agree more with you C and Helen. Their mass appraisal methodology was severely flawed (too small a sample size, timing of sales too disperse and MOST importantly, no individual characteristics such as location, amenities (power/road/water), commercial activity, or land potential) were considered. Far western part of the county is very different from areas around Pecos. But, the ARB was not there to be a judge (we’d need to be in a true court somewhere outside of Reeves Co) but to stick to the CAD’s Acre/Value curve and decide if you could have 0-25% reduction. Meanwhile if you negotiated a settlement with the CAD directly, you could get more!
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