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2013 Cadillac ATS Premium 2.0T 6MT
by Michael Harley (RSS feed) on Feb 6th, 2013 at 3:00PM
The new Cadillac ATS is an impressive sport sedan, often considered one of the most serious threats to the BMW 3 Series. Unlike GM's previous attempts, this four door brings aggressive styling, commendable chassis dynamics and class-leading handling to the highly competitive battle. And, like its daunting German foe, Cadillac offer several powertrain choices. I recently spent time with the ATS 2.0T Premium on my home California turf. Fitted with a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine mated to a six-speed manual gearbox with a limited-slip rear differential, my tester was lightly... Read More


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This course includes:
After completing this course you will be able to:
A signature is a customary, fundamental aspect of correspondence that we have come to expect and value. A signature adds a personal touch and an element of sincerity.
E-mail signatures can play a role in providing contact information and in helping to close messages with an appropriate tone. Add your own picture or company logo and you make your identity or affiliation instantly clear.
To learn more about this course, read the text in Goals and About this course, or look at the table of contents. Then click Next to start the first lesson.
If you're looking for information about digital signatures, that's something else. When you send a digitally signed message (which you do by attaching a digital certificate to the message), you offer assurance to the recipient that you "signed" the contents of the message and that the contents have not been altered in transit. If that's the subject you're after, see Send a digitally signed message.

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New Arrivals
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Giana Long Necklace
The shine of onyx-inspired tubes and rondelles—so chic.
- Adjusts from 39" to 44".
- Glass, metal, and synthetic materials.
We're so sorry: this item sold out sooner than expected. For an equally chic substitute, please call our Personal Service Associates at 1.888.855.4986. Or click on Chico's Chat below for immediate assistance.


text: 5 Excellent Micro MP3 Player with Expansions Capabilityseraphim2017 | 03/04/2010 | See all seraphim2017's reviews (18)Returned a Sony NWZB-143B which was more expensive as the issues with the USB cover slipping off and it not being rated as Mac compatible (it did work, not well), Made me return this.This was bought by me (Ipod Touch Owner) for my girlfriend to use to learn Spanish and listen to music whilst on holiday, and I chose it for the following features:The expansion, this means that a 9.99 MicroSD of 8gb size will give you 12gb music.Data transfer rates seem fine.it really is small, the size of the shuffle but with: Screen, Expansion, Equalizer, controls, excellent build quality. Box also states a two year warranty, which is very good.For the price, it's untouchable, the sound is as good as the previously acclaimed Sony sound, although I'd as always bin the headset for something like Sennheisers. That said, the menu means that YOU can organise the folders the way YOU want via drag and drop, and then use the p[layer to play your folders, rather than HAVING to use playlists etc.Works fine with Win7 AND Snow Leopard, ALTHOUGH!!!IMPORTANT BITThe devcie supports MSC and MTP, this means that Win7 will default 1 and Mac will default another. Change between them to remove the tracks that come on it, and then change back as it's easier unless you're using WMP11 to make playlists, to the format MSC for both Mac and PC. This is because in different formats, the pc and mac show almost seperate devices, very confusing at first!EQ is great, customisable and very effective at rounding sound, at least as good as the touch through decent headphones.NEXT IMPORTANT POINT!battery life is ok, especially for a device this size! BUT there are, in the setting menu, 2! sound levels, It was defaulted on mine to normal, which meant that it seemed quiet through the X-mini 2 I also bought her!. It was ok, but not the 'earth shaking' that I'd been lead to believe the X-mini 2 was capable of. If you change this to loud, it WILL hurt your ears at top whack through headphones, and also, the X-mini 2 will jump around at top whack from the bass and power! Will fill a room above talking volume around 4m x 4m easily, great for bedroom/holiday listening!.I would say it has all the MUSIC functionality of my Ipod Touch, but in a simple, smooth (Slightly faster than Clip mark 1) user friendly interface. Able to listen to tracks within 30 seconds of turning it on as a new user, and able to do my own thing on it after USB charging. The USB cable is short, so good for charging and data withou metres of cable. The clip seems strong, and it's solidly built, no cover for USB or MicroSD slot but at less than an ounce weight clip it to your lapel and go!Yes, I'd buy it again, Actually, I might buy a second one anyway as a backup for the gym when I don't want the weight of a touch in my pocket, and haven't remembered my normal Sony 2gb headphone MP3 player (NWZ-can't remember!)+ FM Radio+Size+build quality and ease of use+reasonable volume, good sound+Expansion Slot+Standard Connector (microUSB)+2 year warranty+ screen+Voice recorder function AND will record from radio too! great if you hear a song you like on radio and want it until you can get home to buy it!- 'only' does music!Verdict = buy 1, hope that helps!


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General Information / Help
Motor Fuel Statue:
The current motor fuel law was implemented May 1, 1996. The point of taxation for motor fuel is when the product is removed from the IRS terminal. The user fee rate for gasoline and low sulfur diesel is 16 cents (.16) per gallon. The inspection fee is one-quarter cent (.0025) and the environmental impact fee is one-half cent (.0050) for all products except LP gas and compressed natural gas. Licensed suppliers are responsible for reporting and remitting the user fees and other applicable fees on product removed from the IRS terminal.
The user fee for gasoline and low sulfur diesel must be charged by the supplier and fuel vendor regardless of how the product will be used. However, there are refund provisions that allow end users to receive a refund based on how the product is used. There are also refund provisions for companies selling motor fuel to exempt users. Refund applicants that are not required to license under the motor fuel provision must complete a refund registration form to set up a refund account.
Motor Fuel and District Office Hours:
Monday through Friday8:30 am to 5:00 pmExcluding State Observed Holidays
Motor Fuel Section Contact Information
Telephone Number: (803) 896-1990
Fax: (803) 896-1682
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Mailing Address:
South Carolina Department of RevenueMotor FuelP.O. Box 125
Columbia, SC 29214-0139
SCDOR Motor Fuel Forms are available online.
Motor Fuel Code of Laws
Electronic Assistance
FAX: (803) 896-1779E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com: EFT/EDI Helpdesk P O Box 125 Columbia, SC 29214Telephone: (803) 896-1715 or 1 (800) 476-0311
Telephone Numbers
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Chicken 2.0: Updates for Recipe Classics
Upgrade to all-new flavors with these delicious recipe twists on classic chicken dishes.
Looking for more exciting ways to cook chicken? Check out these chicken and rice dishes and these first-class chicken thigh recipes.
If You Like...Chicken Pot Pie
Try...Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pie
Ditch the bottom crust and swap in half-and-half for cream, and you get a rich-tasting dish with half the fat. Kudos to frozen puff pastry for making it weeknight-fast.
Recipe: Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pie
Kate Sears


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Orders placed today will not arrive by Christmas.
Shop the Grant Elementary School Apparel Store for a wide selection of men's shirts at Prep Sportswear. With short sleeve and long sleeve available, there are hundreds of different ways for you to customize Grant Elementary School dress shirts for men. Whether you are a student, parent, alumni or faculty member, your customized Guppies clothing shows your pride and support for Grant Elementary School. Looking for something a little warmer than a just shirt? Check out our collection of customizable Grant Elementary School Men's T-shirts , Sweatshirts and Outerwear .


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Sept 26 - The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had declined in August, improved in September. The index now stands at 70.3 (1985=100), up from 61.3 in August. The Expectations Index increased to 83.7 from 71.1. The Present Situation Index rose to 50.2 from 46.5 last month. The monthly Consumer Confidence Survey, based on a probability-design random sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, a global provider of information and analytics around what consumers buy and watch. The cutoff date for the preliminary results was Sept. 13.
Says Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board, The Consumer Confidence Index rebounded in September and is back to levels seen earlier this year (71.6 in February 2012). Consumers were more positive in their assessment of current conditions, in particular the job market, and considerably more optimistic about the short-term outlook for business conditions, employment and their financial situation. Despite continuing economic uncertainty, consumers are slightly more optimistic than they have been in several months.
Consumers appraisal of present-day conditions improved in September. Those claiming business conditions are good edged up to 15.5 percent from 15.3 percent, while those saying business conditions are bad declined to 33.3 percent from 34.3 percent. Consumers assessment of the labor market was also more upbeat. Those stating jobs are plentiful rose to 8.3 percent from 7.2 percent, while those claiming jobs are hard to get edged down to 39.9 percent from 40.6 percent.
Consumers were also more optimistic about the short-term outlook in September. Those expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months increased to 18.2 percent from 16.7 percent, while those anticipating business conditions to worsen decreased to 13.8 percent from 17.6 percent. Consumers outlook for the labor market was also more favorable. Those expecting more jobs in the months ahead increased to 18.5 percent from 15.8 percent, while those anticipating fewer jobs declined to 18.5 percent from 23.7 percent. The proportion of consumers expecting an increase in their incomes edged up to 16.3 percent from 16 percent.
About The Conference Board
The Conference Board is a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Its mission is unique: To provide the worlds leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org


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School and Appraisal Districts' Property Value Study
2003 Preliminary Report
Transmittal Letter
Appraisal District Findings
also available in XLS format (412 KB)
School District Findings
also available in XLS format (124 KB)
This publication can be downloaded using Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not already have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you will need to download the latest version to view and print this file.
This section presents an overview of the property value study and then explains the study procedures in detail for those who want more in-depth knowledge of the study.
The Property Value Study - Overview
The Property Value Study (study) is conducted annually by the Comptroller to estimate the taxable property value in each school district and to measure county appraisal district performance. It is often referred to as a ratio study, because it uses the appraisal roll value divided by its market value to calculate a ratio to measure effectiveness of the appraisal districts. The appraisal roll value is the property value estimated by the local appraisal district. The market value, in simple terms, is the price for which a property would sell under normal conditions.
What is the Primary Purpose of the Property Value Study?
The primary purpose of the study is to ensure that state funds for public schools are distributed according to need.
In Texas, public education is funded through a combination of state and local funds. Local funding comes from local property taxes. The chief appraiser of each county appraisal district (CAD) determines local property values and school districts set tax rates that determine the amount of local tax revenue. State funding is based on the total taxable property value within each school district as determined by the property value study.
The Commissioner of Education uses the study to ensure equitable distribution of education funds so that school districts have roughly the same number of dollars to spend per student, regardless of the school district's wealth, or lack of wealth. School districts with less taxable property value per student receive more state dollars for each pupil than districts with more value per student. The state's fair distribution of more than 11 billion dollars in school funding depends largely on the Comptroller's taxable value findings.
School Funding Equity Example
If the state were to rely solely on the values set by the 253 Texas appraisal districts, inequitable school funding could result in some school districts. For example, assume that two school districts, school district A and school district B, are identical in every respect except that the appraisal district for school district B does a better job appraising property than the appraisal district for school district A. Appraisal districts are required to appraise most property at market value—in short, a property's fair selling price. If property values in school district A are at 75 percent of market value, while property values in school district B are at 100 percent of market value, school district A would appear to have less taxable property value per student than school district B. Accordingly, more state funding would flow to school district A, even though the two districts have the same number of students, the same taxable property value and are alike in every way. This is a clearly unfair result.
Court Challenges/State Response
A series of court cases brought in the 1980s by poor school districts challenged the Texas funding system. One of the issues was that property values were not set at uniform percentages of market value in each school district, resulting in an unfair distribution of funds. As part of its response to these court challenges, the legislature directed the Texas Comptroller to provide an independent estimate of taxable property value in each school district to ensure fair school funding – providing more money to those districts that are less able to raise money locally because of insufficient taxable property wealth.
The independent estimate is accomplished through the Property Value Study by adjusting school district property values to market value. If the locally appraised value in a school district (local value) is within an acceptable range of the adjusted value (state value), the Comptroller's Property Tax Division (PTD) certifies the local value to the Commissioner of Education. If the local value is outside the acceptable range, PTD certifies the state value, unless the school district is eligible for a grace period—a two-year period when local value is used even though it is invalid.
The state funds districts based on either the local value, or the state value – depending on which was certified. The state values do not directly affect local property taxes, which are based on the local appraised values provided by each appraisal district. If state value is used in the funding formula, however, it normally is higher than the local value and causes the school district to receive less money than expected. For this reason, school districts should monitor the efforts of their appraisal districts to maintain market values and should encourage them to perform accurate appraisals.
Chapters 41 and 42 of the Texas Education Code describe how the findings of the Property Value Study are used in the school funding formula to determine state aid. For questions about state aid or the funding formula, contact the Texas Education Agency at 512-463-9238.
Secondary Purpose
The secondary purpose of the Property Value Study is to provide taxpayers, school districts, appraisal districts and the Legislature with measures of appraisal district performance and to provide accountability for appraisal districts that fail to meet certain performance standards. PTD staff achieves this by publishing measures of appraisal level and uniformity, by conducting performance audits and by conducting appraisal standards reviews.
Appraisal Level and Uniformity
Section 5.10 of the Property Tax Code requires the Comptroller to measure appraisal district performance annually and to publish the results. PTD measures the level and uniformity of property tax appraisals in each appraisal district using data collected in the annual school district study. The level of appraisal shows whether the district has appraised typical properties at 100 percent of the legally required level - normally the market value. The uniformity of appraisal indicates how much the percentage of market value varies from property to property.
The school district study required by Section 403.302 of the Government Code and the appraisal district study required by Section 5.10 of the Property Tax Code are jointly referred to as the Comptroller's Property Value Study.
Performance Audits
Section 5.12 of the Property Tax Code requires the Comptroller to conduct a performance audit in any appraisal district that fails to attain specified appraisal level and uniformity measures in the study. This section also requires the Comptroller, under certain circumstances, to perform an audit upon the written request of taxing units or taxpayers in the appraisal district. Finally, this section gives the Comptroller discretion to conduct a performance audit in any appraisal district. If a performance audit is done, the Comptroller's office will send a copy of the findings to the affected school districts so that they can work with their appraisal districts to remedy identified concerns.
Appraisal Standards Reviews
In addition to the performance audits, Section 5.102, Government Code requires the Comptroller to perform an appraisal standards review of the appraisal district(s) serving a school district that receives a grace period. This review produces a report with recommendations for appraisal districts to improve their appraisal procedures so that future studies will validate their property values. And, as with the performance audits, the affected school districts will receive a copy of the Comptroller's findings so that they can work directly with their appraisal district to remedy any problems.
The school district, through its appraisal district, can prevent any adverse funding consequences by achieving valid values in the year after the two-year grace period and can meet an important requirement for re-establishing eligibility for a future grace period by achieving valid values for two years in a row. If the appraisal district fails to take remedial action within a year of the report's issuance, the Comptroller is required to notify the judge of each district court in the county. The district judges would be required to appoint a five-member board of conservators to take control of the appraisal district. The board of conservators would supervise the appraisal district until all its component school districts' values are found valid in the study.
Other Legal Requirements
The Government Code, in Section 403.302, requires the Texas Comptroller to conduct the school district taxable value portion of the property value study.
Taxable Value
Taxable value is the estimated property wealth of each school district. By law, it equals the market value of all property in a district, minus certain exemptions and deductions. The Comptroller's estimated taxable value reflects deductions for state-mandated homestead, disabled veterans' exemptions and value limitations. Deductions are also made for reinvestment zones, freeport exemptions, productivity appraisal of qualified agricultural lands, the school tax ceiling for homeowners over age 65 or disabled and other state-mandated exemptions.
In estimating school district taxable values, the Government Code requires the Comptroller to:
- use generally accepted sampling, valuation and statistical techniques;
- ensure that different levels of appraisal on sold and unsold property do not adversely affect the accuracy of the study; and
- test the validity of taxable values and presume that appraisal roll values are correct when values are valid.
Margin of Error
The Comptroller tests the validity of the taxable values assigned to each category of property by the appraisal district as required by the code by constructing a statistical margin of error around the Comptroller's estimate of value for selected property categories in each school district. Values are presumed valid when they are within the error margin. The margin of error is plus or minus five percent of the state value at a minimum, but may be higher.
Local Value Above Market Value
Even though a school district's local value is invalid, the law requires the Comptroller to certify the local value if the local value is higher than the state value. This requirement prevents a school district from receiving extra state funding based on a lower state value, while receiving local funds from taxes on property that is appraised above market value.
Grace Period
The Government Code also requires the Comptroller to use the local appraisal roll values to estimate the total taxable value in an eligible school district for up to two years even when the local appraisal roll values are invalid. This is known as a grace period. A school district is eligible for the grace period if it meets three conditions:
- the district's values are invalid in the most recent property value study;
- the district's values were valid in the two studies preceding the most recent study; and
- the district's local value is above 90 percent of the lower threshold of the margin of error.
Chart 1 illustrates how a school district could be eligible for a grace period if its values are invalid.
Study Timeline
The study is an annual project by PTD staff with the assistance of appraisal districts and taxpayers. The study begins in February each year and concludes in July of the following year. A new study begins while the previous year's study is being modified by protests, so there is considerable overlap.
Under the Government Code, the agency must certify the preliminary findings of taxable value for each district before February 1 of the year following the year under study. The agency delivers the findings to school and appraisal districts and also certifies them to the commissioner of education. Districts that wish to protest preliminary value findings must do so within 40 days after the date of preliminary certification.
The Comptroller publishes the results of the appraisal district study simultaneously with the school district study and distributes copies to all appraisal districts and members of the Legislature. Although the Property Tax Code does not give appraisal districts the right to protest study findings, the Comptroller allows appeals of level and uniformity measures in an effort to enhance fairness and accuracy.
After study protests are complete, the Comptroller certifies final values to the Commissioner of Education, on or about July 1, who uses the final values to adjust school district funding the following September.
The Property Value Study - Detailed Procedures
Step-by-Step Study Summary Step 1. Gather and Prepare Market Data
The first step in the study is to gather and prepare market data, which includes information on property sales, building costs and income information. If enough recent sales information is available, this data will become the basis of the study.
Step 2. Select a Sample
The second step is to select a sample. Headquarters staff assigns sample sizes for each property category in each school district based on a statistical model. The statistical model is designed to achieve a uniform 5 percent margin of error in each school district to the extent practicable.
Step 3. Appraise Property
PTD appraises sample properties to achieve the required sample size when insufficient sales are available.
Step 4. Match PTD Values with Local Values
PTD staff must match each sample property with the corresponding CAD records and obtain several items from the records.
Step 5. Compute Property Ratios
Step five is to compute individual property appraisal ratios. An appraisal ratio for an individual property is the ratio of the property's appraised value as shown on the appraisal roll to its market value.
Step 6. Stratify
The next step is to stratify, or group, properties by common features. Stratifying properties so that similar kinds of property are in each group before calculating study statistics makes the results more meaningful and accurate.
Step 7. Statistical Analysis
The next step is to compute several statistics that will enable PTD to adjust reported school district values to market value, and that will provide a means to interpret the study results.
Step 8. Use the Results
The Texas Education Agency uses the Texas property value study results to equalize school funding. Property owners use the study to evaluate whether they are being taxed fairly. Appraisal districts use the study to evaluate their performance and to determine the need for reappraisal.
This section lists the property categories used in the study, gives an overview of school district taxable value calculation, then describes the procedures and calculations used in the property value study step-by-step. This section then describes procedures that are specific to each property category.
Property Categories
The Government Code and the Property Tax Code require the Comptroller to develop ratios and value estimates for property categories and to combine information on the various property categories into overall estimates.
The property categories generally used are:
A. real property: single-family, residential;
B. real property: multifamily, residential;
C. real property: vacant lots and tracts;
D/E. real property: acreage at market value, and farm and ranch improvements;
D1. real property: acreage at productivity value;
F1. real property: commercial;
G. real property: oil, gas and other minerals;
J. real and tangible personal property: utilities; and
L1. personal property: commercial.
The Comptroller may group properties into any other category or subcategory necessary for the efficient and accurate completion of the Property Value Study.
Calculating Taxable Value – Overview
The Comptroller's Property Tax Division (PTD) calculates the total taxable value in a school district, referred to as state value, by estimating market value or by accepting the local appraised value in each property category in the district and then adding these category values for an overall school district value. PTD then deducts the losses from state-mandated homestead exemptions, disabled veterans' exemptions, value limitations, reinvestment zones, freeport exemptions, productivity appraisal of qualified agricultural lands, the school tax ceiling for homeowners over age 65 or disabled and other state-mandated exemptions.
To estimate most category values, PTD obtains a representative sample of properties in each category, computes a weighted mean ratio from this sample and divides this ratio into the school district's self-reported appraisal roll value for the category.
There are several property categories for which the Comptroller does not develop ratios or value estimates. These categories are included in the study at the local appraised value reported by the district.
Step 1. — Gather and Prepare Market Data
PTD gathers and prepares market data, including property sales, building costs and income information. If enough recent sales information is available, this data will become the basis of the study. PTD staff gathers sales information from any available source, including county appraisal districts (CADs), multiple listing services, realtors, appraisers, title companies and taxpayers. The sales prices must be verified, edited and adjusted as necessary for financing, personal property and time of sale. Building costs and income information become important when sales are scarce, because in this situation, PTD staff is required to appraise sample property to meet sample size requirements. The appraisals may be based on comparable sales information, building costs, market rents and vacancy rates, or other market information.
Step 2. — Select a Sample
PTD supervisory staff assigns sample sizes for each property category included in the study in each school district based on a statistical model, designed to achieve a uniform 5 percent margin of error in each school district to the extent practicable. The sample includes a census of all recent sales when the number of sales is smaller than, or does not greatly exceed, the target sample size. If the number of available sales greatly exceeds the required sample size, the sample is randomly selected from the sales population. If there are not enough sales to achieve the assigned sample size PTD randomly selects enough properties to fill the gap and then appraises those properties.
PTD does not sample industrial property because of the lack of publicly available appraisal information and the cost of performing appraisals of this kind of property. If a property category includes less than five percent of the value in a school district (excluding industrial property), PTD generally does not include that category in the study.
PTD's samples of properties may sometimes include outliers. Outliers are properties with abnormally high or low ratios. If PTD determines that an outlier is the result of an appraisal district error or unusual market variability, the outlier remains in the study. If the outlier was caused by a clerical error, a property mismatch or an error in appraisal judgment, PTD attempts to correct the error so that the property can remain in the study. If the staff finds that the outlier is a non-market transaction, the staff excludes the outlier from the sample. To improve sample representativeness, PTD may exclude extreme outliers that remain after the process described above is concluded.
See Appendix A for a discussion of the modified sampling procedures used when sales-chasing is suspected.
Step 3. — Appraise Property
PTD appraises sample properties to achieve the required sample size when insufficient sales are available. After randomly selecting property for appraisal, PTD staff physically inspects each property. A CAD staff member may assist with routing these inspections. If physical inspection of an unimproved property (no buildings) is impossible or unnecessary, PTD may use appraisal cards, aerial photographs, soil maps and other relevant information to perform the appraisal.
At each property, PTD records the property class, construction type, condition, age, amenities, and any outbuildings or other additives such as pools. Staff notes property specifics such as neighborhood influences, restrictions, etc. and checks to determine that the square footage recorded by the CAD is reasonable. If the CAD record is incorrect, staff measures the property to obtain an accurate square footage.
Appraisals must reflect a property's market value as of January 1 of the study year. PTD appraisers must use the Comptroller's procedures in conjunction with the Comptroller's computerized Field Appraiser System to classify and appraise residential and commercial sample property unless better information is available or unless that kind of property is not included in the procedures or the Field Appraiser System. PTD staff use other specialized computer software to appraise oil and gas reserves and other complex property types and develops separate appraisal schedules for vacant land.
Along with properties entered in the sample as appraisals, PTD staff also selects and appraises sold properties to develop a local modifier. A local modifier adjusts the PTD appraisal system values to account for differences in local markets.
Step 4. — Match PTD Values with Local Values
PTD staff match each sample property with the corresponding CAD records and obtain several items from the CAD records. These include the CAD and ISD identification codes, the category code, the account number, the legal description, the parcel address, the sale/appraisal code, the sale date, the sale price, the source code, the CAD improvement value, the CAD land value, the furniture, fixtures and equipment value and the inventory value, if applicable to the sample property.
A proper match between the sample property and the CAD property records is important to ensure that the comparison of PTD's value for the sample property and the CAD's value for the sample property results in a meaningful ratio.
Step 5. — Compute Property Ratios
An appraisal ratio for an individual property is the ratio of the property's appraised value as shown on the appraisal roll to its market value. The market value is indicated by the sales price or PTD appraised value. Table One shows appraisal ratios for a sample consisting of both sales and appraisals as indicators of market value. For example, Sale Number 1 in Table One has an appraisal roll value of $65,834 and an adjusted sale price of $83,113. Dividing $65,834 by $83,113 yields an appraisal ratio of 0.79 for this parcel. No judgment about appraisal district performance should be made on the basis of a single property ratio. Statistics based on aggregated ratios are intended for performance measurement.
Table One: Sample Calculation of Weighted Mean Appraisal Ratio
School District ABC
Category A: Single-family Residential
Sales Sale
Appraisal Roll Value Adjusted Sale Price Individual Appraisal Ratio 1 $ 65,834 $ 83,113 0.79 2 75,254 90,720 0.83 3 94,420 135,610 0.70 4 99,880 113,310 0.88 5 82,253 109,250 0.75 6 89,654 94,715 0.95 7 76,502 91,680 0.83 8 111,020 128,048 0.87 9 44,441 62,370 0.71 10 64,519 75,905 0.85 11 64,842 81,127 0.80 12 39,479 41,925 0.94 13 193,344 245,700 0.79 14 98,885 127,493 0.78 15 114,788 118,898 0.97 16 92,088 113,645 0.81 17 84,449 84,995 0.99 18 21,090 25,988 0.81 19 22,080 27,398 0.81 Appraisals Appraisal Number Appraisal Roll Value Individual Appraisal Ratio 1 $ 97,576 $ 110,741 0.88 2 60,437 70,964 0.85 3 107,543 148,828 0.72 4 60,264 86,303 0.70 5 69,708 76,117 0.92 6 76,935 98,327 0.78
Total Sales and Appraisals Total Appraisal Roll Value for Test Total Value of Sales and Appraisals Weighted Mean Appraisal Ratio $2,007,285 ÷ $ 2,443,170 = .8216 Total Appraisal Roll Category Value Weighted Mean Appraisal Ratio Estimated Category Market Value $27,621,400 ÷ .8216 = $33,619,036
Step 6. — Stratify
Stratifying properties so that similar kinds of property are in each group before calculating study statistics makes the results more meaningful and accurate. A sample is selected for each property category, or other stratum, included in the study. At this point PTD has already stratified properties by their use—single-family residential properties are grouped together, for instance.
In addition to categorizing property by its use, PTD uses a further level of stratification —that is, value stratification. Value stratification is used only in the school district study- not in the appraisal district study. PTD obtains the information needed to value-stratify appraisal roll values from prior year stratification surveys, or the appraisal rolls, depending upon availability. In a few school districts, value stratification information is not available.
PTD has established a value-stratification procedure that results in as many as six strata. For the most part, the value ranges within the strata vary from school district to school district, and from year to year depending entirely on the distribution of property value within each school district.
The six value strata are:
Stratum #1 - The low-value stratum. After sorting all the properties in the category from lowest value to highest value, and beginning with the lowest valued property, this stratum contains the low-valued properties that collectively equal 5 percent of the category's total appraised value. PTD does not study this stratum. Instead, PTD accepts the locally determined value.
Stratum #2 - This stratum contains all properties that individually exceed 20 percent of the value in the property category. PTD may or may not study these high-valued properties.
Stratum #3 - After the remaining properties are sorted from lowest value to highest value, properties representing about the first 25 percent of the remaining appraisal roll value in the category comprise stratum 3.
Stratum #4 - Properties representing about the second 25 percent of the remaining appraisal roll value in the category comprise stratum 4.
Stratum #5 - Properties representing about the third 25 percent of the remaining appraisal roll value in the category comprise stratum 5.
Stratum #6 - Properties representing about the fourth 25 percent of the remaining appraisal roll value in the category comprise stratum 6.
PTD generally studies strata 3-6 using random sampling procedures.
In some school districts, the staff finds certain properties in a category sample sufficiently different from the remaining sample properties to warrant treatment as "exception" properties. An exception property is a property placed in its own separate stratum. The rationale is to offset the potential bias that an exception property might have on the estimated ratio. PTD uses other stratification methods in special circumstances, such as the resolution of a protest, when the evidence shows that some property characteristic other than use or value is distorting the appraisal level.
Step 7. — Statistical Analysis
The next step is to compute several statistics that will enable PTD to adjust reported school district values to market value, and that will provide a means to interpret the study results. These statistical computations will be shown below in two sections. The first will explain statistics computed for the school district study required by Section 403.302 of the Government Code, and the second will explain statistics computed for the appraisal district study required by Section 5.10 of the Property Tax Code.
PTD uses different statistical measures for school districts and appraisal districts.
School District Statistics
The statistics used in the school district study are the weighted mean ratio, the stratified weighted mean ratio and the margin of error.
Weighted mean - Table One shows the computation of a weighted mean appraisal ratio. A weighted mean appraisal ratio takes into account the different values of the individual properties making up the sample by giving more weight to higher values. It is calculated by totaling the appraisal roll values, totaling the sales prices and staff appraisals and dividing the first sum by the second. As shown in Table One, the total appraisal roll value for this sample is $2,007,285, and the total value of sales and appraisals is $2,443,170. Dividing the former by the latter produces the weighted mean appraisal ratio of 0.8216. Finally, dividing the district's total self-reported appraisal roll category value of $27,621,400 by the weighted mean appraisal ratio of 0.8216 produces an estimated category market value of $33,619,036. This result shows below market appraisal, and could reduce the school district's funding.
Stratified weighted mean - A stratified weighted mean appraisal ratio is an overall property category ratio calculated by combining the weighted mean ratios of various sub-categories or strata. As discussed above, PTD uses property use and property value to define each stratum. PTD uses these value-stratified weighted mean appraisal ratios whenever feasible to estimate market values for residential properties (Categories A and B), vacant lots (Category C), commercial properties (Categories F1 and L1), and minerals (Category G). PTD stratifies these ratios by value stratum within each category if reasonably accurate stratification data are available.
A value-stratified weighted mean appraisal ratio is a mechanism used to automatically adjust the sample to be representative of the property population from which it is taken. For example, low-valued properties tend to be clustered in certain geographic areas, while mid-range and high-valued properties tend to be clustered in others. Similarly, construction types tend to vary with value. A value-stratified weighted mean appraisal ratio adjusts for location effect and for the effects of varying construction types. In addition, it is a particularly useful tool for enhancing sample representativeness when appraisal levels in a category vary significantly between lower-valued and higher-valued properties.
Tables Two, Three and Four show how a stratified weighted mean appraisal ratio is calculated and how it differs from a weighted mean and a simple mean appraisal ratio. The stratified weighted mean appraisal ratio for a category is calculated by:
- grouping sample properties by appraisal roll value stratum;
- calculating a weighted mean appraisal ratio for each value stratum;
- dividing the weighted mean appraisal ratio into the County Appraisal District (CAD) total appraisal roll value for each value stratum to estimate a market value;
- adding these individual market value stratum estimates; and
- dividing the sum of the CAD values in each stratum by the sum of PTD's individual market value stratum estimates.
Table Two lists the properties in a hypothetical random sample. The sample properties are grouped in six strata. A ratio is calculated for each property, by dividing the CAD value by the PTD appraisal value or sale price. A weighted mean ratio is calculated for each stratum by dividing the sum of the CAD values by the sum of the PTD appraisal or sale amounts. A weighted mean ratio is calculated for the entire property category by dividing the sum of the CAD values in every strata by the sum of the PTD values in every strata. A simple mean ratio is calculated by summing all the individual property ratios in the entire category and dividing by the number of ratios. The weighted mean and simple mean are calculated for comparison to the stratified weighted mean in Table Four and for use in calculating the price-related differential (PRD). The PRD is calculated by dividing the simple mean by the weighted mean. See an explanation of the PRD under Appraisal District Statistics below.
Table Two: Sample Calculation of a Value-Stratified
Weighted Mean Appraisal Ratio
(Step 1)
Appraisal Roll Value
in the sample
Appraisal/Sale Price
in the sample
Ratio* CAD/PTD
in the sample
STRATUM 1: $-0- to $2,500 Stratum 1 Total: not sampled not sampled STRATUM 2: $1,205,000 and up 1,205,000 1,209,961 0.9959 Stratum 2 Total: 1,205,000 ÷ 1,209,961 = 0.9959 STRATUM 3: $2,501 to $15,300 11,243 8,000 1.4054 13,510 10,000 1.3510 14,194 11,500 1.2343 14,800 12,000 1.2333 15,001 13,000 1.1539 Stratum 3 Total: 68,748 ÷ 54,500 = 1.2614 STRATUM 4: $15,301 to $47,573 20,374 20,000 1.0187 20,477 20,000 1.0238 20,994 20,000 1.0497 25,806 24,800 1.0405 28,166 27,000 1.0432 Stratum 4 Total: 68,748 ÷ 111,800 = 1.0359 STRATUM 5: $47,574 to $110,625 51,007 52,000 0.9809 52,191 52,000 1.0037 53,217 54,000 0.9855 54,141 54,000 1.0026 57,396 57,000 1.0070 Stratum 5 Total: 267,952 ÷ 269,000 = 0.9961 STRATUM 6: $110,626 to $465,581 111,648 125,000 0.8932 114,140 135,000 0.8455 139,498 150,000 0.9300 Stratum 6 Total: 365,286 ÷ 410,000 = 0.8909 Grand Totals:
Totals based on 19 parcels
$2,022,802 $2,055,261 Mean Ratio (unweighted average)
average based on 19 parcels
1.0631 Weighted Mean Ratio
0.9842 Price-Related Differential
mean ratio 1.0631/weighted mean ratio 0.9842
1.0802 *Rounded 4 places
Table Three lists the strata shown in Table Two and shows the number of sample parcels, the CAD value of the sample properties, the PTD value of the sample properties and the weighted mean ratio for each statum. Table Three also shows how the weighted mean stratum ratios are calculated by dividing the CAD value in each stratum by the PTD value in each stratum.
Table Three
Sample Calculation of a Value-Stratified Weighted Mean Appraisal Ratio
Step 2
Stratum Number Number of Parcels
in the sample
CAD Value
in the sample
÷ PTD Estimate
in the sample
= Stratum Ratio
weighted mean ratio
in the sample*
(#) (nsample) (TXsample) (TYsample) (r1sample) 1 n/a n/a n/a 1.0000 2 1 1,205,000 ÷ 1,209,961 = census 3 5 68,748 ÷ 54,500 = 1.2614 4 5 115,816 ÷ 111,800 = 1.0359 5 5 267,952 ÷ 269,000 = 0.9961 6 3 365,286 ÷ 410,000 = 0.8909 *Rounded four places.
Table Four lists the strata shown in Table Two and Table Three and shows the number of parcels in the stratum, the CAD value in the stratum, the stratum ratio (from Table Two or Table Three) and the PTD market value estimate for each stratum. Table Four also shows the calculation of the stratified weighted mean ratio by dividing the sum of the CAD values for each stratum by the sum of the PTD market value estimated for each stratum. This stratified weighted mean ratio is divided into the appropriate self-reported category total to develop the PTD's market value estimate for the category. Refer to the ISD Summary Worksheet to see this final calculation.
Table Four
Sample Calculation of a Value-Stratified Weighted Mean Appraisal Ratio
Steps 3-5
Stratum Number Number of Parcels
in the Stratum
CAD Value
in the Stratum
÷ Stratum Ratio
weighted mean ratio
in the sample
= PTD Estimate
in the Stratum**
(#) (NStratum) (TXStratum) (r1sample) (TYStratum) 1 711 300,224 ÷ 1.0000 = $ 300,224 2 1 1,205,000 ÷ census = 1,209,961 3 259 1,495,515 ÷ 1.2614 = 1,185,570 4 56 1,463,787 ÷ 1.0359 = 1,413,029 5 22 1,500,526 ÷ 0.9961 = 1,506,395 6 7 1,544,658 ÷ 0.8909 = 1,733,737 + + + = = = 1,056 7,509,710 1.0219 $7,348,916 Total
Stratum Parcels
CAD Value
(7,509,710 ÷ 7,348,916)
Stratified Ratio
PTD Estimate
**Rounded to the nearest dollar.
There are substantial differences in the level of appraisal among value strata in Table Two. Lower-valued properties are appraised at higher levels than higher-valued properties, as indicated by a price-related differential well above 1.03. Using a stratified weighted mean appraisal ratio will adjust for these differences so that they will not bias the sample ratio and the resulting market value estimate for the category.
If stratification data are not available for a school district, stratified weighted mean appraisal ratios cannot be calculated. If the data to calculate a value-stratified ratio becomes available at any time during the process, including the protest process, PTD may calculate a value-stratified ratio.
Margin of error - The margin of error is equal to one half of the confidence interval expressed as a percent of total value studied in a school district. The confidence interval is a computed range of school district values for which the property value study has not proven that the state's estimate of value is significantly different from the local value. If the school district's local value is outside the range, the study has proven, statistically at least, that the school district's value is incorrect because it is significantly different from the state's estimate.
For example, assume that PTD staff estimates market value in sampled property categories in school district ABC to be $100 million before exemptions. The margin of error is computed to be plus or minus 5 percent of $100 million. Market value plus 5 percent is $105 million; market value minus 5 percent is $95 million. The $100 million estimate is known as a point estimate; the confidence interval of $95 million to $105 million is often called an interval estimate. The Comptroller uses the margin of error to determine whether local value is valid. If the school district's value is inside the margin of error range, it is accepted as valid. If not, it is considered invalid.
The Legislature has instructed the Comptroller to include enough samples to obtain a margin of error that does not exceed 5 percent, if resources permit. The Comptroller, to make the study more uniform, has set a 5 percent floor on the margin of error. This means that if the statistically calculated margin of error is less than 5 percent it is set at 5 percent. On the other hand, if PTD's margin of error is more than 5 percent, PTD will use the higher margin of error to decide whether the local value is valid.
More detailed explanations of the confidence interval and margin of error computations can be found in Appendix B & C.
Section 5.10 of the Property Tax Code requires the Comptroller to conduct and publish an annual study of appraisal districts to determine the median level of appraisal and the uniformity of appraisal in each major property category in each appraisal district in the state.
For the appraisal district study, PTD aggregates samples collected for the school district study to the appraisal district level. PTD then calculates statistical measures of appraisal level and uniformity in each property category and for the CAD overall. The measure of appraisal level is the median. The measures of appraisal uniformity include the coefficient of dispersion (COD), the percentage of properties within 10 and 25 percent of the median, and the price-related differential (PRD). Together, the median level of appraisal, the COD, the percentage of properties within 10 or 25 percent of the median and the PRD enable the property value study to address the legal requirements that appraisals be equal, uniform and at 100 percent of market value.
Samples from each category are aggregated to the appraisal district level, with one exception. The ratio derived for agricultural acreage receiving productivity appraisal is not a median derived from a property sample. Consequently, PTD does not calculate measures of appraisal uniformity for acreage receiving productivity appraisal. The appraisal district performance measures listed under "D. Rural Real-Market Value" on the appraisal district summary worksheet are derived from the property samples used to compute the weighted mean appraisal ratios for estimating the market values of non-qualified acreage and farm and ranch improvements.
Median - The median level of appraisal measures appraisal level, or the accuracy of an appraisal district's appraisals in relation to the standard of 100 percent of market value. The International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) 1999 Standard on Ratio Studies sets the standard for appraisal level at 95 – 105 percent of market value when the study results are used for funding equalization programs, and at 90 – 110 percent of market value when the results are used for other purposes.
Section 1.12(c) of the Property Tax Code defines the median appraisal ratio as:
The median appraisal ratio for a sample of properties is, in a numerically ordered list of the appraisal ratios for the properties: (1) if the sample contains an odd number of properties, the appraisal ratio above and below which there is an equal number of appraisal ratios in the list; or (2) if the sample contains an even number of properties, the average of the two consecutive appraisal ratios above and below which there is an equal number of appraisal ratios in the list.
The value of individual properties does not influence the median ratio; only the ranking of individual ratios within the sample matters. The median ratio falls at the middle of a group of ratios ranked from highest to lowest or lowest to highest.
Table Five uses 19 sales (marked "S1" to "S19") and six appraisals (marked "A1" to "A6") to show how to identify the median ratio. In this table, the appraisal ratios are ranked from the highest ratio to the lowest. Twenty-five properties make up the sample. The median ratio, 0.81, is 13th on the list. Twelve properties are ranked above it, and 12 are ranked below it.
Table Five
Sample Calculation of Median Appraisal Ratio
XYZ County Appraisal District
Category A: Single-family Residential
Sales and Appraisals Number
Sale or Appraisal
Appraisal Roll Value Adjusted Sale Price or Appraised Value Individual Appraisal Ratio S 17 $ 84,449 $ 84,995 0.99 S 15 114,788 118,898 0.97 S 6 89,654 94,715 0.95 S 12 39,479 41,925 0.94 A 5 69,708 76,117 0.92 S 4 99,880 113,310 0.88 A 1 97,576 110,741 0.88 S 8 111,020 128,048 0.87 S 10 64,519 75,905 0.85 A 2 60,437 70,964 0.85 S 2 75,254 90,720 0.83 S 7 76,502 91,680 0.83 S 16 92,088 113,645 0.81* S 18 21,090 25,988 0.81 S 19 22,080 27,398 0.81 S 11 64,842 81,127 0.80 S 1 65,834 83,113 0.79 S 13 193,344 245,700 0.79 S 14 98,885 127,493 0.78 A 6 76,935 98,327 0.78 S 5 82,253 109,250 0.75 A 3 107,543 148,828 0.72 S 9 44,441 62,370 0.71 S 3 94,420 135,610 0.70 A 4 60,264 86,303 0.70 Total = 25 * 0.81 - Median Appraisal Ratio for Category A, XYZ Appraisal District
An easy way to find the median for a sample containing an odd number of properties is to divide the total count by two, then round the result upward to the nearest whole number. The sample shown in Table Five contains 25 parcels. Dividing 25 by two yields 12.5. Rounding upward to the nearest whole number produces 13. The 13th ratio is the median.
For an even-numbered sample, the median is the average of the two middle ratios. If there were 24 properties in the sample, the median would be the average of ratios 12 and 13. Eleven ratios would be above 12 and below 13.
PTD calculates a median appraisal level for each major category of property in each appraisal district, provided there were at least five properties in the sample. PTD then combines the properties making up the sample for each category into a larger sample of all properties in the appraisal district. The median ratio from the larger sample is listed as the overall ratio for the appraisal district.
Coefficient of dispersion – The coefficient of dispersion (COD) measures how tightly or loosely the individual sample ratios are clustered around the median. The Property Tax Code requires the agency to calculate a coefficient of dispersion around the median for each major property category. The COD is one measure of appraisal uniformity.
Technically, the COD expresses as a percentage of the median the average absolute deviation of the appraisal ratios in a sample from the sample's median. A high COD indicates high variation—few ratios close to the median and low appraisal uniformity. A low COD indicates low variation—ratios clustered tightly around the median and high appraisal uniformity.
The IAAO's 1999 Standard on Ratio Studies contains standards for CODs. These are:
- single-family residential and condominiums—15 or less; in areas of newer or fairly similar residences—10 or less; heterogeneous rural residences and seasonal homes—20 or less;
- vacant land: 20 or less;
- income properties in large, urban jurisdictions: 15 or less; and
- income properties in other jurisdictions: 20 or less.
The IAAO does not publish standards for other real and personal property, but notes that they vary with local conditions.
The COD measures appraisal uniformity independently of the median level of appraisal. As a result, CODs allow comparison of appraisal uniformity among districts or property categories where median levels of appraisal differ significantly.
Calculating a COD requires six steps:
- subtract the median ratio for the sample from each individual ratio making up the sample. The result is the deviation for each ratio;
- convert each deviation to its absolute value;
- total the absolute values of each deviation;
- divide the total deviation by the number of properties in the sample to get the average absolute deviation;
- divide the average absolute deviation by the median ratio; and
- multiply the result by 100.
Table Six shows a sample calculation of a COD.
Table Six
Sample Calculation for Coefficient of Dispersion
County Appraisal District
Category A: Single-family Residential
Sale or Appraisal Number Individual Property Ratio % Difference from Median (81%) Absolute Value of Difference S 17 99 + 18 18 S 15 97 + 16 16 S 6 95 + 14 14 S 12 94 + 13 13 A 5 92 + 11 11 S 4 88 + 7 7 A 1 88 + 7 7 S 8 87 + 6 6 S 10 85 + 4 4 A 2 85 + 4 4 S 2 83 + 2 2 S 7 83 + 2 2 S 16 81 10% 25% 0 0 S 18 81 0 0 S 19 81 0 0 S 11 80 - 1 1 S 1 79 - 2 2 S 13 79 - 2 2 S 14 78 - 3 3 A 6 78 - 3 3 S 5 75 - 6 6 A 3 72 - 9 9 S 9 71 - 0 10 S 3 70 - 11 11 A 4 70 - 11 11 Total of Absolute Values = 162 162 - Total of Absolute Values ÷ 25 - Number of Sample Properties = 6.48 - Average Absolute Deviation ÷ 81 - Median Appraisal Ratio = .08 x 100 = 8.0 - Coefficient of Dispersion
PTD calculates a COD for each major category of property in an appraisal district if the sample has at least five properties and combines the samples for each category into a larger sample to calculate the overall COD.
Percentage of properties within 10 and 25 percent of the median - To calculate the first of these, multiply the median appraisal ratio by 10 percent. Adding this result to the median yields the ratio that exceeds the median by 10 percent. Subtracting the result from the median yields the ratio 10 percent below the median. Count the number of properties in the sample that have ratios equal to or between these two numbers. Dividing that count by the total number of properties shows the percentage within 10 percent of the median.
To calculate the percentage within 25 percent of the median, multiply the median times 25 percent and then add and subtract the result to find the upper and lower end of the range. The percentages are computed if the sample contains at least six properties.
The COD and the percentage of properties within 10 and 25 percent of the median are measures of "horizontal" ratio dispersion. They measure how consistently appraisal districts appraise properties at the same level (percentage of market value) without regard to the value of the properties. A low COD and high percentages indicate equitable appraisals, while a high COD and low percentages indicate inequitable appraisal.
In Table Six, the properties in the sample that have ratios between 89.1 percent and 72.9 percent are within 10 percent of the median, and properties that have ratios between 101.2 percent and 60.7 percent are within 25 percent of the median. In Table Six, all properties fall within 25 percent of the median.
Price-related differential – The price-related differential (PRD) measures another form of inequity that may arise from systematic differences in the appraisal of low-value and high-value properties. According to the IAAO 1999 Standard on Ratio Studies, "When low-value properties are appraised at greater percentages of market value than high-value properties, assessment regressivity is indicated. When low-value properties are appraised at smaller percentages of market value than high-value properties, assessment progressivity results. Appraisals made for tax purposes, of course, should be neither progressive nor regressive." Progressive and regressive appraisal are forms of inequity called "vertical" inequity.
PTD calculates the PRD for each property category included in the study if the sample contains at least five properties. The PRD is calculated by dividing a sample's mean ratio by its weighted mean ratio. The IAAO standard for this measure is 0.98 to 1.03, with PRDs below this range indicating progressivity, and measures above this range indicating regressivity. A PRD inside this range indicates that low-value and high-value properties are treated uniformly in regard to level of appraisal. Table Seven shows a sample PRD calculation. In this example the PRD is 1.01, which indicates uniformity.
Table Seven
Sample Calculation of Price-Related Differential
XYZ County Appraisal District
Category A. Single-family Residential
Sales and Appraisals Number Sale or Appraisal Appraisal Roll Value Adjusted Sale Price or Appraised Value Individual Appraisal Ratio S 17 $ 84,449 $ 84,995 0.99 S 15 114,788 118,898 0.97 S 6 89,654 94,715 0.95 S 12 39,479 41,925 0.94 A 5 69,708 76,117 0.92 S 4 99,880 113,310 0.88 A 1 97,576 110,741 0.88 S 8 111,020 128,048 0.87 S 10 64,519 75,905 0.85 A 2 60,437 70,964 0.85 S 2 75,254 90,720 0.83 S 7 76,502 91,680 0.83 S 16 92,088 113,645 0.81* S 18 21,090 25,988 0.81 S 19 22,080 27,398 0.81 S 11 64,842 81,127 0.80 S 1 65,834 83,113 0.79 S 13 193,344 245,700 0.79 S 14 98,885 127,493 0.78 A 6 76,935 98,327 0.78 S 5 82,253 109,250 0.75 A 3 107,543 148,828 0.72 S 9 44,441 62,370 0.71 S 3 94,420 135,610 0.70 A 4 60,264 86,303 0.70 Totals 25 $2,007,285 $2,443,170 20.71 Mean = 20.71 ÷ 25 = .8284 Weighted Mean = $2,007,285 ÷ $2,443,170 = .8216 Price Related Differential = Mean ÷ Weighted Mean = .8284 ÷ .8216 = 1.01
* Price-Related Differential
The IAAO warns that the PRD is not a reliable statistic when the sample is small or when the sample is heavily influenced by extreme sales prices. For this reason, staff publishes the sample size on the CAD summary worksheet. The PRD is only an indicator; it alone cannot prove vertical equity or inequity. Additional tests are required to prove vertical inequity.
Step 8. — Use the Results
The Texas property value study results are used for school funding equalization, and to evaluate appraisal district performance.
The primary use of the study is to equalize school funding by directing more funds to those school districts that have less taxable wealth per student.
The secondary, but still very important, use of the study for appraisal district performance evaluation has several components. Property taxpayers may use the study to evaluate whether they are being treated fairly in comparison to owners of similar property in the same area, or in other areas across the state. Taxpayers may also compare their treatment to the treatment of owners of other kinds of property. Appraisal districts and school districts may use the study to evaluate the need for reappraisal, although they should be conducting on-going ratio studies to obtain this information on a timelier basis. The state uses the study to trigger mandatory audits and reviews in some instances.
School district officials should pay particular attention to local ratio studies, and to the Comptroller's Property Value Study, because their school funding may be affected. These officials should consult with their appraisal districts on a regular basis, and work with them to ensure that values are uniform and as close to market value as possible.
Individual Property Category Details
This section defines local properties and technical properties, and explains how PTD studies the various property categories. PTD publishes several documents that explain appraisal procedures used in the study in more detail. Contact PTD toll-free at 1-800-252–9121 or visit our website at http://taxstar.cpa.state.tx.us/proptax/ptd.htmlfor more information.
Local properties
Local properties consist of residential properties and vacant lots, rural real property not qualified for productivity appraisal, commercial real and personal property and other taxable property. PTD field appraisers gather almost all of the data used in the local properties portion of the property value study. These employees, assigned to different regions throughout the state, appraise individual properties and collect sales data and other market information.
As a general rule, PTD staff will sample properties in a local property category in a school district if the category has at least 5 percent of total school district value or $250 million in value based on the preceding year's study. However, a category may be sampled at any time, regardless of whether its value falls within the general rule. Categories not sampled are assigned reported appraisal roll value local value.
Residential properties and vacant lots - These properties consist of categories A (single-family residential real property), B (multi-family residential real property), and C (vacant lots and tracts).
For each of these property categories sampled, field appraisers collect sales information and perform appraisals to develop a sample of tested parcels. Using this sample information, the staff then develops a weighted mean appraisal ratio for each category. A stratified ratio is developed whenever possible. This estimated ratio, when divided into the school district's total self-reported value for the category, produces the staff's estimated value for the category.
Rural real property at market value – These properties consist of the portion of category D (rural acreage) that is appraised at market value and all of category E (farm and ranch improvements). Although categories D and E remain separate categories on the property value reports, these categories were merged in 1989 for study purposes. This merger was necessary since rural improvements and land are often sold together. Consequently, this merger makes it easier to compare total sales prices for land and buildings with the total appraised values on the appraisal roll without making artificial allocations between land and buildings. Land that is qualified for productivity valuation is not appraised at market value and is discussed separately under Technical Properties, below.
The staff collects sales and performs appraisals to develop a property sample based on market values. This sample may include some property receiving productivity appraisal, but the ratios for those individual parcels are calculated on the basis of the appraisal district's reported market values, not their productivity values.
From this market value sample, the staff develops a non-stratified weighted mean appraisal ratio and divides this ratio into the school district's reported value of rural real property that did not qualify for productivity appraisal. The result is PTD's estimated market value for acreage not receiving productivity appraisal and the value of farm and ranch improvements. See below for a discussion of rural real property that is qualified for productivity valuation and that appraisal districts are not required to appraised at market value.
Commercial real and personal property – Category F1 contains commercial real property (land and improvements), while category L1 contains commercial personal property (furnishings, fixtures, movable machinery, equipment and inventories). To estimate market values in these two categories, the staff collects sales information and, if necessary, performs appraisals for each school district category sampled. The staff develops either a stratified or non-stratified weighted mean appraisal ratio from the sampled properties and divides each school district's reported category value by the weighted mean ratio to generate the division's estimate of category market value. This procedure is the same used to estimate value in other local property categories, with the exception of agricultural land qualified for productivity appraisal.
Technical properties
Technical properties consist of oil, gas and other mineral properties; utility properties; and qualified agricultural land. With the exception of agricultural properties, these properties are not sold often and if they are, the sales data are rarely available. As a result the staff must obtain and analyze volumes of data and develop computer models to value these properties. The Comptroller's Austin-based appraisers perform all of the necessary work to review and appraise these properties.
As a general rule, the staff will sample properties in each technical property category in each school district if the category has a minimum percentage of district value and a minimum dollar amount. Categories not sampled are assigned the local reported appraisal roll value.
Rural real property qualified for productivity valuation - Texas law requires appraisal districts to appraise property at 100 percent of its market value. Constitutional amendments, however, allow taxation of much of the state's agricultural land based on its productive capacity rather than its market value. These provisions require appraisal districts to classify qualified land according to its agricultural productivity, determine the net income to land for each land class over a five-year period, and capitalize the average to estimate productivity value. The Property Tax Code sets the capitalization rate at the greater of 10 percent or 2.5 points above the Farm Credit Bank of Texas' lending rate for December 31 of the prior year. Property taxes are based on the productivity appraisal, but appraisal districts also must estimate the market value of any land receiving productivity appraisal.
Section 23.71 of the Property Tax Code establishes the procedures for productivity appraisal of timberland. This process differs only slightly from the procedure for agricultural land. Timberland is classified according to soil type and the type of timber grown. For each class, the estimated net income to land is capitalized into a value per acre.
To develop the productivity ratio, the division staff uses the appraisal district's report of total acreage in each of the agricultural land classes for each school district. Staff uses information provided by published sources and persons in each county who are familiar with local agricultural conditions. The Austin-based staff develops an estimate of net return to land over a five-year period and capitalizes the average using the legally mandated rate to reach an estimated value per acre for each land class. Multiplying the value for each class times the reported acreage in the class yields the total taxable value per land class. The total of the values for each land class is the total taxable value for all acreage receiving productivity appraisal in a school district.
On the report of property value, school districts report the total appraised value of all land receiving productivity appraisal. The division divides this reported value by its own estimate of productivity value. The resulting ratio shows the general level of appraisal of all land receiving productivity appraisal in a school district.
An appraisal district's ratio is calculated similarly and is based on the sum of the school district calculations. This ratio is not a median derived from a property sample. As a result, agency staff does not calculate measures of appraisal uniformity for land receiving productivity appraisal.
Finally, staff adds the estimated market value of rural real property not receiving productivity appraisal and the estimated productivity value for land receiving productivity appraisal. The total is the estimated total taxable value of category D (rural real property).
Oil, gas and other minerals - The minerals category consists primarily of oil- and natural gas-producing properties (category G1) and lignite and sulfur mines (category G2).
The division samples mineral properties in school districts if the minerals category represents 5 percent or more of the total school district value. Minerals categories not meeting this criterion are assigned local value. The G1 sample is selected from the current year data provided by the appraisal firms and county appraisal districts. The low-value stratum is assigned the local tax roll value and contains property that makes up the lowest 5 percent of the property category's value in the school district.
After removing low-value properties, and placing high-valued properties in a separate stratum, staff stratifies the remaining properties into four strata. Then PTD randomly selects the leases to be appraised for the property value study.
The staff uses computer models and specialized software to carry out discounted cash flow evaluations of mineral properties. Using computer models and information from a variety of sources including an in-house database, PTD calculates economic parameters such as wellhead prices, operating expenses, equipment costs, net salvage values and discount rates. The future cash flow is generated based on forecasted production and economic parameters, then discounted to present value. The discounted equipment salvage value is then added to derive the market value for each oil and gas property. PTD may also use discounted cash flow analysis to appraise lignite and sulphur properties.
To produce the individual appraisal ratio for each minerals property in the sample, the staff divides the appraisal district's value by the estimated market value. Category G ratios are calculated similarly to category A, but category G is divided into three subcategories.
PTD then calculates a stratified weighted mean ratio based on the strata discussed above.
Utilities - The utilities category (category J) consists of the real property and tangible personal property of telephone, electric, gas distribution, railroad and pipeline companies, as well as the property of other companies commonly thought of as utilities, such as water systems.
PTD staff chooses utility samples by a method that ensures sampling the highest-valued properties and other properties as appropriate. Utility staff use recognized unitary valuation methods, including the cost, income, and market approaches, as applicable. Appraisals are based on information published in annual company reports filed with federal and state regulatory agencies and furnished directly to the Comptroller by the utility companies. The staff also obtains information from business and industry publications. PTD determines the percentage of unit value attributable to each company's Texas operations to develop an overall estimated value for the Texas portion of the company. Using information provided by the utilities or appraisal districts, the staff allocates this Texas value to the various school districts in which the utility owns property.
The total appraisal roll value for the sampled utility properties divided by the total estimated market values produces a non-stratified weighted mean ratio for utilities. Dividing this ratio into the school district's total reported value for utilities generates the division's estimated total value of all utility property in the school district.


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"Christmas 1954." My grandmother in her living room in Miami Shores four years before I was born. She made the mantel decoration, which saw service for many years, with Brazilian pepper berries from a big tree in the backyard, mixed with pine cones, all attached to a chicken wire frame. Grandmother, handy with a needle and thread, also made the curtains herself. She was, needless to say, big on Christmas. Scanned from a 35mm Kodachrome slide.
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Sports Event ·
Live games from the Champions Field at the sixth annual International Quidditch Association World Cup, in Kissimmee, FL, April 13-14 2013. For more info visit www.worldcupquidditch.com. Currently livestreaming is scheduled for bracket play on Day 2. A full schedule will be posted soon.


text: 5 Back to there BEST!Retrodreaming | 09/01/2010 | See all Retrodreaming's reviews (14)This is MA at there best,after the not so good 100th window,although it did grow on me in the end,Heligoland is genius!! Martina Topley-Bird and Guy garvey to name but a few,just make this album even more enjoyable.I found myself lost in this album in my own world!! Id say it's a cross between Blue lines & Mezzanine,which cant be a bad thing hey? Highly recommend you buy this!!


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I'm interested in getting into SIFRP and was fortunate enough to pick up the Pocket Edition of the core rulebook recently. I'm trying to decide what other items to get, so I thought I'd ask here.
The Narrator's Kit is probably the first thing on my list -- a screen with commonly needed tables sounds great, plus a poster map and brief adventure. I have a couple of questions, though. How big is the poster map, is the intro adventure a good one, and how useful are tables on the screen? (I already have GM screens for other systems.)
At some point, I would like to get a hardback version of the core rules. Which is better, the original rulebook or Game of Thrones Edition? Or should I wait for some other kind of update that I haven't read anything about yet?
The Campaign Guide sounds great. Are there any plans for an updated version or another press run? Or will I have to buy secondhand somewhere?
Probably last on my list is the Chronicle Starter. How useful have other people found it?


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Thursday, July 30, 2009
On The Success of Savage Worlds
I mean, here's just a few of the SavWo articles of the past week:
The Bone Scroll
The Chatty DM
Gnome Stew
Geek Life Project
I don't see it all deriving from any one article or movement. I really think what's happened is that Savage Worlds is really hitting a pretty key (and increasing) demographic. Let's face it, a lot of us are firmly into the "slammed with work responsibility" or "two kids and a picket fence" phase of our lives. We don't always have the time to plan our games or learn intricate systems at 29 or 39 like we did when we were 19. You throw a low-prep, affordable, well-supported, "fast, furious, fun" system to folks in that certain range, you're going to get good results.
I think as the hobby gets older, Savage Worlds (along with easy-to-pick up games like one of my favorites, Castles & Crusades) can only go up in terms of interest and popularity. Throw in a price of $10 for the RPG itself, and you have a pretty good incentive to give it a shot. Pinnacle also seems to treat their fans well, which is always a good thing when you want missionaries.
So kudos to Savage Worlds for making a product people truly seem to want. I can't guess at their market share right now, but I can only guess it's on its way up. Thoughts?
18 comments:
- ChattyDM said...
The question is though.
Is Pinnacle's buisness model viable? I mean sure I'll buy the 10$ explorers edition eventually but that won't sustain them in the long run.
I assume that Pinnacle also produces setting books, right?
- July 30, 2009 at 7:50 AM
- Zachary The First said...
They do--Plot Points settings and the like. Have a look-see:
- July 30, 2009 at 8:13 AM
- pauljessup said...
Savage Worlds is not their primary source of income- DeadLands is (as well as Solomon Kane....both use Savage Worlds but are stand alone books and don't require it).
DeadLands is kind of there iconic game- Pinnacle has been doing DeadLands since the 90's. As a setting it rocks.
Also- my guess as to the recent surge in popularity is Origins. They had a lot of SW games being run at Origins, and most of the recent "Savage Worlds is AWESOME!" posts come from people playing the games at cons and buying it.
- July 30, 2009 at 8:22 AM
- pauljessup said...
Also, remember that Savage Worlds isn't even close to being a new game. They've been out and publishing the game since 2004. So far, it's pretty viable.
Personally, I just hope that people keep making unique settings for Savage Worlds- that's one of its core strengths. The gritty, pulpy, weird settings like Rune Punk and the like.
I fear that too many third party people are going to try and cash in on the popularity and just convert over D20 modules and settings. And I think this is a shame. Savage Worlds is a very interesting system, and games made directly for it are weird, interesting and unlike anything else I've ever played.
- July 30, 2009 at 8:25 AM
- noisms said...
I dunno, I just find the thing really anaemic and flavourless. And I can't put my finger on why, but whenever I've played it I've had this strange feeling of apathy, like I just can't engage with the thing and don't care what's going on.
I think to a certain extent this is a problem with all generic systems though.
- July 30, 2009 at 8:31 AM
- Alex Schroeder said...
When we were looking for a one-shot alternative to our regular gaming session, we found that we were all interested in learning more about Savage Worlds. None of us have been playing it at a Con. I do know a player has been playing Deadlands for a while now, and he keeps telling us how awesome it is, though.
- July 30, 2009 at 8:35 AM
- Ryan said...
The funny thing is that the $10 edition is the third incarnation of SW. [More of a reprinting with slight modifications than a new edition altogether.] It has been building a devoted following for 6 years.
Plus I can't help but think Ken Hite's new Savage Worlds setting has helped draw in a new round of players.
- July 30, 2009 at 8:35 AM
- Huss said...
I just talked about this situation and how it is affecting my current game group in Episode 157 of Fear the Boot. I'm just discovering the coolness of SW
- July 30, 2009 at 9:30 AM
- Olman Feelyus said...
I think one factor of the continued success and growth of SW is Pinnacle's excellent license policy. About a year ago, they released their new license, which was actually two licenses: one for publishers and one for fans. To get the publisher's license, which is necessary for any product using SW that you want to sell, you simply have to ask. So far I haven't heard of anyone getting rejected and we're getting quality products like The Evil DM's Legends of Steel and Adamant's Mars. The fan license simply asks that you put a logo on the front cover and some text on the first page. It's basically to protect Pinnacle legally, but otherwise you are free to do what you want. Fans love that kind of freedom and there is a ton of great free fan-made SW stuff out there now.
These two streams complement Pinnacle's existing product line, with their setting and plot point books, which are either unique new settings or based on some pretty cool licenses (Pirates of the Spanish Main, Solomon Kane).
On top of that, they have excellent GM and con support, with a two-man team who run a merits system dedicated to encouraging con and in-store play. It's called the Savage World Explorer's Society and you get free stuff, GM aids, stickers, that kind of thing. They always have a huge presence at Origins and at many of the larger regional cons. Plus, you usually have a few Savage zealots in every corner of the world who are running a game or two at the smaller local cons.
A great podcast that is tightly connected to the SW community is The Game's The Thing. Aside from being a great listen, you'll get a really good sense of the positive attitude that defines the Pinnacle community from the two hosts.
- July 30, 2009 at 9:37 AM
- Chuck said...
Savage Worlds quickly became my system of choice. Encounters are quick and easy design. Running the game is a breeze. The system is easy to tweak to match pretty much what ever setting, genre or feel you want for your campaign.
There are a lot of things folks have to get used to, especially when it comes to Powers/Trappings and Bennies. But once the players start realizing the strength of the system, they relax and worry more about the story than game mechanics.
- July 30, 2009 at 9:46 AM
- Thasmodious said...
I'm another that is just stepping onto the wagon, literally. One of the posts linked above (the guest post on Chatty's) was the one that finally convinced me to go ahead and get it, and I've been reading and plotting ever since.
- July 30, 2009 at 11:15 AM
- Zachary The First said...
That was a very good guest post on Chatty's site. I'm thinking it got a few folks looking at Savage Worlds either again or for the 1st time.
- July 30, 2009 at 11:42 AM
- PatrickWR said...
I just posted a writeup of our 12th Savage Worlds fantasy sandbox session. It's the longest campaign I've ever GMed. Although we (players & GM) don't quite fall into the "slammed with work/family obligations camp" (yet) we are pulled in many different directions all the time. Plus my players like heroic games, and SW gives us that in spades.
I'm hoping to pick up the Fantasy Toolkit at GenCon, and hopefully chat with some of the folks at Pinnacle behind SW's continued support and popularity.
- July 30, 2009 at 12:39 PM
- DNAphil said...
I am playing in my first Savage Worlds game at GenCon this year, and fully plan to come home with the rule book, as well as the Necessary Evil setting.
- July 30, 2009 at 1:03 PM
- Zachary The First said...
I am really on the fence about Triple Ace's Savage Worlds setting Hellfrost. The setting sounds really interesting, but in addition to the book already out, there's going to be a Gazetteer and Bestiary. I'm a little tired of 3-book series right now. I don't know if the Player's Guide will be enough to run it, though.
- July 30, 2009 at 1:10 PM
- Will said...
I love Savage Worlds. I have yet to get through an actual session of the game, but I've managed to put together plenty of game material and do some solo playtesting. I love the system because it lets me be as creative and wacky as I want without having a massive set of rules to cover every contingency.
That said, I think some people like SW and some just don't. It fits some gaming styles much better than others, just like any other game. I think it's going to get more popular, but I couldn't guess as to the extent or timing of said popularity.
- July 30, 2009 at 1:28 PM
- David said...
I'm enjoying Savage Worlds as one of the games in our rotation. The rules have some rough spots, but I find it works very well for a dynamic, story-focused style of play.
- July 30, 2009 at 3:10 PM
- Martin Ralya said...
Thanks for the mention, Zack! Kurt's our most dedicated Savage, and I've been looking forward to his review for a while now.
There are a ton of things I like about Pinnacle's approach with SW, from the plot point settings to the fantastic $10 rulebook. I can't wait to delve deeper than my one session, and I agree that it seems to be hitting its stride right now in terms of exposure.
- July 30, 2009 at 8:13 PM


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Ed Koch was remembered by the city's leaders Friday, leaders whose careers he helped start or spent time squabbling with. YNN's Courtney Gross filed the following report.
NEW YORK CITY -- The city's political class said it lost an icon Friday.
"It's a sad day for the city," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
"From an elected official's point of view, he was a case study," said Governor Andrew Cuomo.
"His legacy will be how he lifted the spirits of the city, how he made us all laugh," said former Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum.
"Ed Koch was New York," said Rep. Nydia Velazquez, whose district covers parts of Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan.
His brashness and honesty were a welcome dose of reality for the city's political circles.
"I loved him in the best sense of the word," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, whose district covers Manhattan and Queens. "He was also fun to fight with. If you could disagree, man, he was quite an opponent."
To the city's leaders, it was that candor that made the former mayor so charming.
"Ed just said what came into his mind," Bloomberg said.
Those that are looking to follow in his footsteps all championed his legacy.
Sympathy and condolences also came from the White House.
"Ed Koch was an extraordinary mayor, irrepressible character, and quintessential New Yorker," President Barack Obama said in a statement. "He took office at a time when New York was in fiscal crisis, and helped his city achieve economic renewal, expand affordable housing, and extend opportunity to more of its people.
It was that character that lingered for many on Friday.
"The real thing that he did was give us all a belief that New York was New York, and no matter how tough it was, we'd get through it," Bloomberg said.
Condolences came in from across the city, from political allies and rivals. Those that disagreed with Mayor Koch said they could never hold a grudge.
"I said, 'Ed you have been a great mayor, but you have to know when to hold and know when to fold,'" said Sen. Charles Schumer. "I thought he ought not run again. I thought it would be a rough race. He, of course, still ran. For a while, that caused a little bit of a rupture in our relationship, but we came back together and we remain good friends."
"I was with him. I was against him. And it was better to be with him," said Governor Cuomo.
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Louisville Bats
With the weather beginning to look promising there is one thing on my mind (other than bathing suit season rearing it's string-bikini head) Bats games – and ballpark hotdogs!
Louisville Slugger Field will open up its gates Thursday, April 7, for another season of baseball, Budweiser Happy Hours and family fun for all ages.
And as much as this has the beginnings of a theme park brochure, there is just something about baseball that brings out the kid in us all and screams American Dream.
Could it be the sunny weather? The crowds that gather buzzing with anticipation? Or perhaps the hotdogs and beer that have you and your significant other finally agreeing on a sporting event to attend.
Either way, Bats season is here, and I couldn't be more ready.
The Louisville Bats are in its 12th season as Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds and are looking for a fourth consecutive division title beginning with this week's opponent, the Toledo Mud Hens.
Opening night will also mark the first of 10 Budweiser Happy Hours for the 2011 season. Not familiar with the best pre-game of the summer? Don't worry, I'll get you caught up to speed.
With the Louisville Bats and Budweiser teaming up, fans and post-work blues victims can enjoy $1 Budweiser and Bud Light beers before each Thursday night home game from 5:30 to 7 p.m. With live music on the Overlook Deck, this is the best way to grab an after-work bite, beat the crowds and de-stress before cheering on your favorite player – and that's just Thursday nights.
Slugger Field is a one-stop shop for family fun with events being held almost every night of the week. Tickets to games are as low as $7.
Can't wait until the Fourth of July to see some fireworks? They have your entertainment bases covered. Every Friday night after home games the Bats produce a fireworks show that only helps the city of Louisville get more excited for Thunder Over Louisville.
Need a day off from cartoons and inflatable pools? Slugger Field has upped its game from peanuts and Crackerjacks by offering the kids an inflatable FunZone at every Sunday home game.
And that's just covering Thursday through Sunday. Slugger Field will keep you entertained all summer long with non-stop events to get you out of the dugout and into the action.
Take me out to the ballpark will be an every night request.
Since 1982 the Bats have been bringing the love of the game to Louisville. With updated facilities and on-site eateries, this is a sure-win crowd favorite.
Interesting arcana
The first 5,000 fans through the gates on Thursday will receive a 2011 team magnetic schedule.
photos by pat pfister | courtesy
Bats home games
Category: Out & About
About the Author (Author Profile)
Voice-Tribune Staff Writer Lauren DePaso enjoys being a tourist in her own city, exploring the nightlife and cheering on the Cards. A Louisville native, she currently resides in St. Matthews.
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Norwell takes golf sectional
South Adams shot its best 18 hole round of the season Friday in the IHSAA Huntington North boys' golf sectional, but it wasn't enough to extend the Starfires' season as they finished tenth in the 12-team field at Lafontaine Golf Club.
Norwell won the team title with a round of 305. Huntington North was second at 307 and Bellmont third with a 316. The top three teams and the top three individuals not on an advancing team move on to the regional level of the state tournament.
South Adams shot a team score of 371. Adams Central finished last as a team with a 389.
Norwell's McCormick Clouser won medalist honors from Huntington North's EJ Ta...
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See inside Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery on a virtual tour.
A comprehensive guide to what's happening at Birmingham's museums.
Location: Birmingham Museum
26th July 2014 - 31st December 2014
STATIC Still Life Reconsidered concentrates on the common theme of still life in a broad sense, bringing together a wide range of artistic styles and mediums from the late 1800's to the present day. The exhibition concentrates upon different artist's approaches to Still Life as a common subject matter, looking at their approach to different materials and arrangements and how artists have touched upon the genre of Still Life through painting, printmaking and sculpture. The exhibition includes works from artists including Henri Fantin-Latour, William Nicholson, Girogio Morando, Mary Fedden, Patrick Caulfield and Jane Harris.
New acquisitions from contemporary renowned artists Jess Flood Paddock and Donald Rodney will be showcased as a centre piece for the exhibition. These artists have both used inanimate objects in different ways incorporating food as a subject matter, using this as either a material or as a metaphor for commenting upon issues pertinent to contemporary culture.
In the Waterhall. Free entry.
As still life is many artist's favourite genre we want you to share your still life creations with us. Whether through photography, paint or sculpture, snap an image of your own still life and post it with the hashtag #staticstilllife on twitter or @STATIC_STILL_LIFE on instagram. Post as many times as you like to see your arwork on the screen in the entrance of the Waterhall gallery at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
Image: Flowers and a Jug by William George Scott © 2014 William Scott Foundation / Photo © Birmingham Museums Trust


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