Canadian and Kingfisher Counties assessors lost their appeal last month against Kingfisher Wind LLC in a case that had originally determined Production Tax Credits (PTCs) were intangible property, and therefore, excluded from taxable valuation.

This decision affects the dollars that school districts will receive from wind farm ad valorem taxation. There are several other cases and state court ad valorem challenges filed by wind companies in about 15 other counties in Oklahoma, including Kay County.

School districts are some of the primary beneficiaries of county ad valorem taxes, and the amount of money that a school can borrow through voter-approved bond issues also is based on the assessed value of that property.

Property tax in Oklahoma, unless exempt by law, is subject to ad valorem taxation in the county in which it is located, at a percentage of its fair cash value.

The fair cash value, is the value that a willing buyer would purchase from a willing seller, both of whom are knowledgeable about the property.

The job of the country assessors are to determine what the fair cash value of all taxable property is within the county. These valuations can be challenged by property owners by filing a protest with the county board of adjustment and then by filing a district court lawsuit.

The true impact of this decision is unknown at this time as the assessor have not provided any detail about how the judgement will be applied to the current protests and the upcoming 2022 valuations.