Just when I think I am starting to understand a topic I get hit with something seemingly out of the blue that I cannot explain or understand. What am I missing? I have attached a 4 page document. The first page is an excerpt of the mineral deed from which I inherited royalty interest in a group of wells. Examining this document shows that I have an interest in 5 tracts, all in Fisher county TX. The second page is the as-complete plat from the Railroad comm for one of the wells. It shows the well is drilled entirely within Fisher county TX. The third page is the Fisher county appraisal I received on this well. The 4th page is the tax bill from Taylor county TX that I just received. What am I missing? How can Taylor county issue a tax bill on a well that resides entirely within Fisher county and without first appraising the property and allowing a protest?
If my interpretation is correct ant this is totally bogus, who do I contact to correct this? Division Order clerk? Taylor county CAD? Attorney General?
The appraisal statement shows your minerals tract is divided between 2 school districts, Sweetwater and Trent. So value will be divided by percentage of acreage in each district. Looks like Trent ISD is in 2 counties and its taxes are being assessed by Taylor County, probably because most of Trent ISD is in Taylor County. Taylor will base on appraisal value set by Fisher County. Your Fisher tax statement should only show Sweetwater ISD. Confirm with county tax collector. This is situation in a number of Texas counties.
I have been able to confirm that in 2024 a vote was taken in Fisher county to consolidate a school district with Trent ISD. Interesting that this was done just after these wells went into production. It appears to me that these wells are being taxed on 100% of the well length, as I don’t see anything on the appraisal to indicate a reduction from my pay decimal interest. The shape of the Trent ISD, according to the map I found, is quite irregular and left me wondering if the entire well actually fell within the school district boundaries. When I contacted the Fisher county authorities, I was typically referred to another person and then another until I reached a person who declared that indeed the wells were 100% within the school district but could not provide any proof of that, such as a map. I was told that Fisher county does the appraisal but Taylor county does tax collection on the Trent ISD.
So, I decided to use the map of the Trent ISD and the RRC map on well location to try to make a determination myself. The attached document is my crude attempt that appears to show the Bison well entirely in the Trent ISD. There are 3 other wells in the group and their locations are different than Bison.
At that point I decided to reach out to the producer, Cholla Petroleum, to determine if they were being taxed by Taylor county on the Bull, Bison, Buffalo, and Ancient wells and what percentage of each well was taxable as being in the Trent ISD. They indicated they would look into it and get back to me.