AG Opinion: Law to Reimburse Counties "Not Lawful"

A law that would have allowed counties across the state to be reimbursed hundreds of thousands of dollars in ad valorem taxes from state-owned land has been ruled unconstitutional.

Wednesday, April 29th 2009, 10:31 am

By: News 9


By Alex Cameron, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY - A law that would have allowed counties across the state to be reimbursed hundreds of thousands of dollars in ad valorem taxes from state-owned land has been ruled unconstitutional.

The ruling, from Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson, came down Tuesday, at the request of the state's treasurer, Scott Meacham. Meacham had been under pressure to begin transferring more than $3 million out of the General Revenue Fund and into the State Land Reimbursement Fund, which apportions the money to the counties. Currently the Legislature puts only about $100,000 into the SLRF each year.

"The problem was, is directing me to transfer money from the general revenue fund without using appropriate appropriation language," said the Oklahoma state treasurer.

Rep. Gus Blackwell, the sponsor of the law, said he's frustrated with the situation and will look for another way to get these counties money they deserve and, he said, desperately need.

"I'm just a little bit bewildered why it's taken so long, when the law has been in effect already over a year, to decided well this isn't going to quite work," said Rep. Blackwell.

Blackwell says he and his northwest Oklahoma predecessors have been trying to solve this problem for years, the fact that counties collect no ad valorem taxes from various state-owned lands, land commission land, school land, land housing state offices. Depending on the county, some have thousands of acres where they get pennies on the dollar for ad valorem reimbursement, and it can make a significant difference.

"I thought, once we had the law in place, I could breathe a sigh and go on about doing other business, but I'm back to trying to solve this problem again," said Rep. Blackwell.

Treasurer Meacham said he agrees with Blackwell that counties need to be made whole, and said he's more than willing to work with him on finding a lawful way to do it. The AG's ruling said the method of disbursing the funds is what is unlawful.

Representative Blackwell said the AG's ruling could jeopardize funding for the Oklahoma Promise college scholarship program, because he said it's funded the same way. The treasurer's office said that is not the case.

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