H. B. 4390
(By Delegates Ross, Hartman, Martin,
D. Poling, Cann, Ireland, Andes, Longstreth,
Williams, Hamilton, Iaquinta)
[Introduced February 8, 2010
; referred to the
Committee on Political Subdivisions then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §11-4-5 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to information to be obtained from
landowners by assessor; corrections in landbook of previous
year; and providing that with regard to reporting requirements
by county assessors of farm property, the report be made
every five years; and providing an exception.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11-4-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. ASSESSMENT OF REAL PROPERTY.
§11-4-5. Information to be obtained from landowners by assessor;
corrections in landbook of previous year.
The assessor and his
or her deputies shall annually, when
listing and assessing personal and real property, make diligent
inquiry of every resident landowner, and of the resident agents of
any nonresident landowner, as to the number of acres of land owned by them, the number of acres in each tract, and the number of town
lots owned by them, and the value per acre of each tract and the
local description thereof, and the value and location of the town
lots:
Provided, That with regard to real property that is
considered farm property, as defined in section three of this
article, the assessor or deputies need not report farm property
except every five years: Provided, however, That if farm property
is sold within the five-year period, the new owner must report the
purchase to the assessor in order to obtain the farm property
classification.
They shall determine the nature and extent of the interest of
the owner, whether in fee and undivided or otherwise, and the
character of use to which the property is put, whether residential
or agricultural or otherwise. They shall also inquire of
such the
owners or agents whether the entries charged against them in the
landbooks of the previous year are correct, whether any part
thereof ought to be transferred to any other person, and if so to
whom, and the nature of the evidence to authorize
such the
transfer; also, whether any other land in the county ought to be
charged to
such the resident or nonresident, and whether the
description given to any tract of land or town lot in the book of
the previous year is incorrectly given. It
shall be is the duty of
such the owners and agents to answer all of
such the inquiries on oath. The assessor shall provide for himself
or herself, and for
each one of his
or her deputies, a copy of so much of the landbook
of the previous year as contains a list of the land in the tax
districts severally apportioned to them, and shall note in
such the
copies such changes and corrections as ought to be made in the
landbook of the previous year, according to the information
obtained. The deputy assessor shall report any such changes and
corrections, as appear to them should be made, to the assessor at
some of the stated meetings provided for
this. The assessor shall
make such use of the information so obtained as he
or she can
properly make, consistent with the other provisions of this
chapter, in making out the landbook of the county for the current
year.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that the report
of information to be obtained from landowners by assessor and
corrections in landbook of the previous year with regard to
reporting requirements of farm property be made every five years
instead of every year. The bill provides an exception if the farm
property is sold during the five - year period. In that case, the
new owner must inform the assessor or the change in ownership in
order to have the real property assessed as farm property.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.