04-14-12 Special Meeting of La Porte City Council (council retreat)

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PARTI-CHARTER CHARTER COMPARATIVE TABLE 5.04. - Fees shall be paid to city. 5.05. - Borrowing. 5.06. - Disbursement of funds. 5.07. - Independent audit. 5.08. - Appropriations lapse at end of year. 5.01. - Division of taxation. There shall be established in the department of finance a division of taxation, the head of which shall be the city tax assessor -collector. a. Property subject to tax; method of assessment. All real and personal property within the city not expressly exempted by law shall be subject to annual taxation at its true market value. Each person, partnership and corporation owning property within the limits of the city shall between the first day of January and the thirty-first day of March of each year, hand to the tax assessor -collector a full and complete sworn inventory of the property possessed or controlled by him, her or them within said limits on the first day of January of the current year. In all cases of failure to obtain a statement of real and personal property from any cause, the tax assessor -collector shall ascertain the amount and value of such property and assess the same as he believes to be true and full value thereof; and such assessment shall be as valid and binding as if such property had been rendered by the owner thereof. b. Board of equalization. 1. Membership. City council shall each year, prior to the first day of March, appoint three (3) residents who are qualified voters as the board of equalization. Such board shall choose from its membership a chairperson. A majority of said board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The tax assessor -collector shall be ex officio secretary of the board. 2. Compensation. Members of the board while serving shall receive such compensation as council may deem appropriate. 3. Powers and duties. In order that all property within the city shall be assessed as uniformly as possible, the board of equalization shall have the power and duty to: (a) Adopt regulations regarding the procedure of assessment review (b) Review, on complaint of property owners, assessments for the purpose of taxation of both real and personal property within the city made by the assessor -collector. (c) Examine and, if necessary, revise the assessments returned by the tax assessor -collector and as previously set by the board. (d) Administer oaths, take testimony, hold hearings and compel the production of all books, documents and other papers pertinent to the investigations of the taxable values of any person, firm or corporation having or owning property within the corporate limits of the city subject to taxation. (e) Certify its approval of the assessment rolls and have them returned to the tax Page 17 of 32 La Porte, Texas, Code of Ordinances