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Proposed CAD budget 3% higher than last year

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Albany News

Members of the Shackelford County Appraisal District’s board of directors passed a preliminary budget of $371,361 for 2019, an increase of about three percent from the current budget, during a meeting held on June 8.

The budget proposal is being presented this month to all county taxing entities, but will not be adopted until sometime this fall.

It is prepared early in order that participating tax entities can be aware of any additional expenses and include them as they prepare for the next fiscal year, according to assistant chief appraiser Clayton Snyder.

CAD Budget Changes

The $371,361 preliminary figure approved by CAD board members is $10,317 more than the current budget of $361,044.

The main areas of increased expenses compared to 2018 are appraisal services, software and computer maintenance, employee expenditures, and insurance. 

Decreasing in projected costs are appraising expense, consulting, office expenses, and property taxes.

State law requires that a chief appraiser be a registered professional appraiser under the provisions of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation and a registered tax assessor to conduct collection matters, according to Snyder. In recent years, Shackelford CAD hired an out-of-office expert to meet the requirement. 

Snyder, who is the chief appraiser candidate, will be licensed in August after completing the certification requirements, and will take over the responsibilities that have been delegated for the last several years to interim chief appraiser Richard Petree. 

Petree will be retained for awhile as a consultant at $250 per month.

Consulting fees paid to Petree from the CAD will decrease from $8,000 in 2018 to $3,000 next year.

Snyder said that although the district will save thousands of dollars in consulting fees by having an in-house chief appraiser, the increase in the responsibilities and required training of local employees have added to expenses in other areas.

If the proposed budget is approved, salaries will remain level for two of the staff and increase by a total of $6,500 for the other two staff members. The CAD responsibilities for retirement contributions, payroll taxes, and health insurance plans add another $4,401 in employee outlays compared to last year. When combined with the salaries, those increases result in the total employee expenditures changing from $211,176 in 2018 to $222,077, a 5.16 percent increase.

Education and training costs are expected to remain at $3,500, the same as last year.

Snyder said that the expense of continuing to hire an outside chief appraiser would, most likely, have risen considerably in the near future. 

“From what Richard (Petree) told the board, he was already working much cheaper than the going rate, and he is ready to get out of here,” Snyder said. “And a lot of the other parts of the budget would have increased a lot more than they have if we weren’t able to do as much in-house.”

Appraisal services will increase by 9.47 percent to $52,000, while local employee appraisal expenses for travel will decrease by $2,500 to only $500.

Snyder stated that the state’s requirements have increased over time, so it is getting more expensive to hire qualified appraisers.

“The district contracts with Capitol Appraisal Group LLC for appraisal services on mineral, industrial, and utility properties that require specialized valuation techniques,” Snyder said. “And with abatements and 313 agreements ended or ending, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to negotiate values with the wind farm industry.”

Snyder proposes including wind farm appraisals in Capitol’s contract for 2019, increasing the expected cost of those services by $4,500.

Wind Farm Abatement

“Changes in the cost share per tax unit are substantial for 2019 as a result of Albany ISD’s chapter 313 school value limitation agreement term ending during the 2017 tax levy,” said Snyder. “This event increases the tax levy for Albany ISD and in return increases their local funding burden while alleviating the local funding burden on the other taxing units. As other taxing units end their abatement agreements, the local funding burden will become less volatile year-to-year.”

Both Shackelford County and the local hospital district’s abatements from the Mesquite Wind Farm and the Post Oak Wind Farm will end in 2019, according to the assistant appraiser.

Litigation Fund

In accordance with a recommendation from the auditor, last year the CAD board proposed that $5,000 be committed each year to a litigation contingency fund until approximately 20 percent of the annual budget is reached. Funds of $5,000 were allocated to the committed litigation fund both in 2018 and in the proposed 2019 budget.

Entity Cost Shares

Preliminary budget allocations to taxing entities showed that in 2019, Albany ISD will pay the largest share of CAD expenses – 28.92 percent.

Shackelford County will pay the next largest share – 27.08 percent, followed by Clyde ISD with 24.05 percent.

Shackelford County Hospital District’s portion is 9.40 percent, while the City of Albany will pay 4.35 percent, Moran ISD 4.14 percent, Lueders-Avoca ISD 1.82 percent, and City of Moran 0.23 percent.

Snyder explained that because AISD’s 313 agreement with the windmill farms is expiring, it caused their cost share percentage to jump from 22.70 percent this year to 28.92 percent in 2019.

The funding by local entities is increasing overall by about $6,000, and Albany ISD is bearing the burden of the increase, with contributions by all other entities decreasing, with the exception of a $1,055 raise for Moran ISD.

Other CAD revenue reported by Snyder includes interest income of $1,000. 

Restricted revenue, which is designated for specific purposes, includes rental income of $5,400 from leasing part of the CAD building office space to other businesses. The rental income is committed to building upkeep.