Owner of multiple Oklahoma County apartment complexes appeals large valuation increases; assessor says documentation arrived too late

At a May 19 special meeting of the Board of Equalization of Oklahoma County, property owner Lou McGinnis asked the board to lower market valuations on a group of apartment properties that the assessor's office increased sharply for 2025.

McGinnis said the assessor's office set values for multiple apartment complexes far above prior years and that higher interest rates, rising insurance and utilities, and falling occupancies have reduced the properties' income. "The occupancy on both of these properties has dropped down to 80%," McGinnis said, adding that insurance and utility costs have risen and that his rents have not increased to match.

The assessor's office told the board it did not receive McGinnis's detailed operating statements, comparables and insurance-cost documentation until the appeals were already finalized. "We never received any of this information until May," an assessor's office representative told the board. "The first…