Why can ORPS provide me with the physical characteristics of the special franchise property?
This is a common question as the assessor is very familiar with the need to collect the physical characteristics of the property. Though it may seem reasonable to expect ORPS to capture the number of telephone poles or the feet of conduit in an individual town, to attempt to collect that data for all municipalities would be impossible. Further, company records do not exist in all instances that are accurate enough to be used for determining the reproduction cost of the improvements. For mass type property (property that is similar in nature such as telephone poles) it is common to use the investment made by the company in each municipality to determine the reproduction cost. The investment is measured by the amount of original cost dollars reported to regulatory agencies such as the Public Service Commission or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
