County appraiser: overall assessed valuation up 0.1%; oil valuations fell after PVD price change and HB 2440 will let appraisers exempt low-production wells

County appraiser Eugene Rope presented the county's certified assessed valuations for tax year 2026 and explained drivers behind the year-to-year change. He said appraised real-estate values increased about 3.2% year over year, and the assessed-side change in real estate equated to roughly $14 million. Offsetting those gains, oil valuations declined substantially after the Property Valuation Division set a lower per-barrel price for valuation: Rope said that price drop equated to roughly a 23% decline in the oil valuation matrix (he cited the example of a $62-per-barrel column dropping to $48 on the matrix).

Rope described House Bill 2440, effective July 1, which he said will allow county appraisers to exempt low-production wells without the prior multi-step application and Board of Tax Appeals process. He reported the county had 39 exemptions pending before the Board of Tax Appeals representing about $3,600,000 in appraised value, and that an additional roughly 264 wells could qualify under the new rule (he estimated about $4,500,000 in appraised value tied to those leases), meaning about $8,100,000 in assessed valuation could be affected by the change starting in July.

Rope also reported an 11% drop in personal-property valuations of roughly $1,100,000 tied to state law changes exempting items such as boats, golf carts and trailers, and he said overall the county's assessed valuation rose by about 0.1% for the year. He emphasized that changes in exemptions and abatements can make June-certified numbers differ from the November abstracts used for tax bills.