County Assessor/Collector 

by Monty Rainey, Junto Society

The county tax assessor/collector values real and certain types of personal property for "ad valorem" taxation purposes. Because of the wide range of responsibilities performed by the assessor-collector, most citizens deal with this county official more frequently than any other office.

The major tax duty of the assessor-collector, who collects property taxes, is the assessment (calculation) of taxes on each property in the county and collection of that tax as may be established by the Constitution and the State Property Tax Code. In addition, as an agent of the State’s Department of Transportation, the assessor-collector is responsible for the registration and licensing of motor vehicles owned by residents of the county.

Another duty of the county tax assessor-collector is that of voter registrar. In most counties, a person would register to vote through the office of county tax assessor-collector. In some counties, the Commissioner’s Court has designated the County Clerk or an elections administrator to provide this function. The county tax office voter registration responsibilities include accepting applications for voter registration, issuing voter certificates, maintaining voter registration lists, verifying petitions for local option elections and submitting required reports to the Secretary of State's Office.

The county tax assessor-collector may also be responsible for the collections of special fees imposed by the county and state on coin-operated vending machines, alcoholic beverage permits and registration, snow mobiles, jet skis, boats, etc.

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Copyright ©  2002 The Junto Society - All rights reserved.  Permission to reprint granted provided a link to this site [http://www.juntosociety/com] is plainly accompanying the article.

 

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