Ward CAD 2026-2029 Mineral Contract: Listed Interests and Non-Fuel Mineral Exclusions

Direct answer for mineral owners

The Ward CAD professional appraisal services contract groups producing fuel and hard-mineral properties and related interests under Mineral Property, expressly excludes sand, gravel, caliche, and other non-fuel minerals, and defines Personal Property separately. It covers tax years 2026-2029 and names January 1 as the annual information date. These contract categories do not prove a specific owner’s title, taxability, private value, production, reserves, or enforceability.

Key takeaways for mineral owners

• The reviewed source is a Ward CAD board packet dated May 12, 2025; the contract appears on packet pages 25-32.
• Contract page 2 lists working interests, oil payments, overriding royalties, royalty interests, and other related interests within its Mineral Property definition.
• The same definition expressly excludes sand, gravel, caliche, and other non-fuel minerals.
• The contract defines Personal Property separately from Mineral Property and covers tax years 2026 through 2029.
• A contract category does not establish a specific owner’s title, taxability, private sale value, production, reserves, or enforceability.

Contract language, not a property-specific conclusion. This page reports defined terms and dates from an official Ward CAD board packet. It does not establish an owner’s identity, title, taxability, tax liability, private mineral-rights value, production, reserves, appraisal result, contract enforceability, or a transaction recommendation. Any later MRX assessment is directional only and is not an appraisal performed by a state-licensed or state-certified real estate appraiser. This page is not individualized legal, tax, title, accounting, engineering, or investment advice. MRX provides educational information and resources only and does not buy mineral rights.

The direct answer is: Ward CAD’s professional appraisal services contract defines “Mineral Property” as a contract category covering producing fuel and hard-mineral properties and interests in them. It lists working interests, oil payments, overriding royalties, royalty interests, and other related interests. It expressly excludes sand, gravel, caliche, and other non-fuel minerals.

The contract defines Personal Property separately for property used or employed in exploration and production. It covers tax years 2026 through 2029, names January 1 as the annual information date, and places the work in an ad valorem appraisal context. Those statements describe the contract. They do not decide what a particular person owns, whether a specific asset is taxable, or what private mineral rights are worth.

Start with the exact packet and pages

The source is the Ward CAD May 12, 2025 board packet. The complete 32-page PDF was retrieved on August 31, 2026. Packet page 25 is contract page 1; packet page 26 is contract page 2.

The source-control record is:

• Publisher: Ward County Appraisal District.
• Board-packet date: May 12, 2025.
• PDF retrieved: August 31, 2026.
• PDF pages: 32.
• PDF bytes: 1,663,784.
• Complete-file SHA-256: f41283bcb1b349dac1d088160864a7785a0864a89941b8f984308518d818864f.
• Contract location: packet pages 25-32.
• Definition page: packet page 26, contract page 2.

The hash identifies the exact complete-file object reviewed. It does not prove that the publisher will always serve the same bytes. The Ward CAD Data and Records page supplies a current official publisher route, but its separate 2026 appraisal-standards report listing does not replace or expand the contract text used here.

What the contract puts inside Mineral Property

Packet page 26 describes a producing-property category and then gives examples of interests in that property. The wording uses both “including” and a final reference to other related interests, so the listed items should not be recast as an exhaustive title taxonomy.

The page supports the following bounded reading:

• Producing oil, gas, coal, other hydrocarbons, or hard minerals: this is the contract’s subject-matter boundary. It does not prove that a specific tract is producing or owned by a reader.
• Working interests: this is one expressly listed interest type. It does not prove a working-interest percentage, burdens, title, or value.
• Oil payments: this is one expressly listed interest type. It does not prove a payment amount, duration, validity, or tax treatment.
• Overriding royalties: this is one expressly listed interest type. It does not prove a chain of title, decimal interest, production, or value.
• Royalty interests: this is one expressly listed interest type. It does not prove ownership, lease terms, payment status, or market value.
• Other related interests: the list is not written as closed. That does not create unlimited coverage or a legal conclusion about an unlisted interest.

This is a definition in one appraisal-services contract. It is useful for understanding the scope assigned to the appraisal firm, but it is not a substitute for a mineral deed, lease, division order, title opinion, tax account, production record, or professional appraisal.

What the contract expressly excludes

The same paragraph excludes four groups from its Mineral Property definition:

• sand;
• gravel;
• caliche; and
• all other non-fuel minerals.

That is a contract-scope statement. It does not settle every legal, tax, ownership, land-use, or commercial question involving those materials. It also does not mean that an excluded material is irrelevant to every other appraisal or property category. The safe statement is narrower: the Ward contract does not place those non-fuel materials inside its defined Mineral Property class.

The distinction matters because “mineral” can be used differently in deeds, statutes, appraisal systems, engineering reports, and ordinary conversation. A researcher should preserve the source’s defined term instead of treating one document’s category as a universal definition.

Mineral Property and Personal Property are separate classes

Packet page 26 defines Personal Property separately. Its examples involve property used or employed in exploration and production, such as rigs, service-company property, supply-store property, trucking and dirt-contractor property, tank farms, and field compressors. The clause also allows other mutually agreed personal property to be included in the contract.

The document therefore uses two different lanes:

1. Mineral Property describes producing mineral properties and interests in them, subject to the stated exclusions.
2. Personal Property describes equipment, business property, and related property used in exploration and production.

The distinction is documentary and does not establish facts about a particular asset. A pump, compressor, royalty interest, or payment right still needs its own authoritative records and applicable professional review before anyone assigns ownership, classification, tax, or value consequences.

The 2026-2029 term and January 1 date

Contract page 1 identifies tax years 2026, 2027, 2028, and 2029. Contract page 2 states that the appraisal firm will gather reasonably needed and available information as of January 1 of each covered year for the described ad valorem appraisal work.

The current Texas Tax Code Section 23.01 separately states the general January 1 market-value date for taxable property, subject to the chapter’s exceptions. It also addresses generally accepted appraisal methods and the professional-standards requirement when an appraisal district uses mass-appraisal standards.

Those are public-appraisal timing and method statements. January 1 is not automatically:

• the date an owner acquired an interest;
• the effective date of a deed or lease;
• a production month;
• an offer date;
• a private valuation date; or
• the date a contract document was published online.

Use the date only for the role the cited source gives it. If a different question depends on a different date, locate the source that defines that date’s legal or business function.

Why the appraisal-standards reference has a narrow role

The Ward contract says the appraisal firm will follow Section 23.01’s cited professional standards for the covered properties and ad valorem tax purpose. The statute source independently supplies the current statutory language.

That reference does not turn this MRX article into a professional appraisal report. It also does not make MRX a licensed or certified appraiser, certify a public account value, or establish the private-sale value of mineral rights. Public ad valorem appraisal and a private transaction assessment can use different evidence, purposes, assumptions, and effective dates.

When a taxpayer needs an interpretation of a specific appraisal, classification, exemption, protest, or deadline, the relevant appraisal district, tax office, qualified tax professional, or attorney is the appropriate route. This page provides a source map, not an individualized conclusion.

Source age and update limits

Apply a source-specific update rule:

• Ward board packet: meeting packet dated May 12, 2025 and retrieved August 31, 2026. Rehash and recheck pages 25-32 if the publisher serves different bytes.
• Ward Data and Records page: live publisher index observed and retrieved in 2026. Recheck the official page before relying on its current listings.
• Texas Tax Code Section 23.01: current statutes site as retrieved August 31, 2026. Recheck the Legislature source for later amendments.

The contract covers future tax years from the packet’s 2025 date. That does not prove that every operational detail remained unchanged after the meeting packet. A later amendment, termination, replacement contract, board action, statute change, or court decision could alter the applicable context.

Keep the adjacent Ward jobs separate

The Ward CAD 2026 mineral recap owns the district-row item and gross-value totals. This page does not use those totals to estimate private mineral-rights value.

The Ward and Loving shared layout-PDF comparison owns the complete-byte identity of one file-layout PDF across two publisher archives. This page does not reopen that file or compare archive members.

The Ward ZIP date register owns member dates and timestamp representations. This page does not infer contract chronology from ZIP metadata.

The Midland CAD RFP article owns a separate request-for-proposals scope and date-control crosswalk. Article 311 reports Ward’s executed-contract definitions and exclusions; it does not compare vendors, proposals, pricing, or procurement outcomes.

Claim, evidence, and limit map

The article uses eight stable claims with explicit evidence roles and limits:

• C311-01 · SOURCE-IDENTITY: the complete Ward packet has 32 pages and the recorded byte count and SHA-256. This does not prove later publisher bytes are identical.
• C311-02 · CONTRACT-TITLE: packet page 25 identifies the property classes and tax years 2026-2029. This does not establish a property-specific result.
• C311-03 · MINERAL-DEFINITION: packet page 26 defines Mineral Property for this contract. It is not a universal deed, statute, or title definition.
• C311-04 · LISTED-INTERESTS: the page lists four named interest types and other related interests. The list does not prove ownership, taxability, or value.
• C311-05 · EXPRESS-EXCLUSIONS: sand, gravel, caliche, and other non-fuel minerals are excluded from this contract class. This does not decide another document’s treatment.
• C311-06 · SEPARATE-CLASS: Personal Property is defined separately for exploration-and-production property. This does not classify a specific item.
• C311-07 · DATE-BOUNDARY: the contract covers four tax years and names January 1 as the information date. This is not a deed, lease, production, offer, or private-valuation date.
• C311-08 · STATUTORY-CONTEXT: Section 23.01 supplies the cited January 1 and mass-appraisal method context. It supports no individualized legal or tax conclusion.

Stable claim IDs make a later update auditable. If a source changes, revise only the affected claim after preserving the new retrieval date, complete-file identity, page location, and source-specific limit.

A citation-ready answer

Ward CAD’s 2026-2029 professional appraisal services contract defines Mineral Property for the contract, lists working interests, oil payments, overriding royalties, royalty interests, and other related interests, and excludes sand, gravel, caliche, and other non-fuel minerals. It separately defines Personal Property used in exploration and production. The contract categories do not prove a specific owner’s title, taxability, private value, production, reserves, or enforceability.

This answer is intentionally bounded. It identifies the source, the defined class, the listed interests, the exclusions, the separate property class, and the inference stop without turning the contract into a private appraisal.

Questions to ask before applying the definition

1. Which exact contract, amendment, or later board action is controlling?
2. Is the question about the contract’s Mineral Property class, its Personal Property class, or another document’s terminology?
3. Which record proves the specific interest, asset, owner, effective date, and jurisdiction?
4. Is the question about public ad valorem appraisal, private transaction value, title, tax liability, or production?
5. Which qualified professional is responsible for the conclusion being requested?

For broader context, use the Texas mineral-rights guide. For a transaction-specific question, book a confidential review and keep the public contract category separate from title, tax, production, appraisal, private-value, and offer evidence.

Frequently asked questions

What interests does the Ward CAD contract list under Mineral Property?

It lists working interests, oil payments, overriding royalties, royalty interests, and other related interests. The wording is illustrative rather than a complete private-title classification.

What does the contract exclude from Mineral Property?

It expressly excludes sand, gravel, caliche, and other non-fuel minerals from the contract’s Mineral Property definition. That does not decide how another law, deed, appraisal category, or agreement treats an asset.

Does the contract treat equipment as Mineral Property?

The contract defines Personal Property separately for property used or employed in exploration and production. A specific item’s classification still requires authoritative, property-specific evidence.

What years does the contract cover?

The title and operative language identify tax years 2026, 2027, 2028, and 2029. The contract names January 1 as the information date for each covered year.

Does this definition prove that I own taxable or valuable mineral rights?

No. The contract definition does not prove an owner’s title, taxability, tax liability, private value, production, reserves, appraisal result, or enforceability.

Sources reviewed for this article

• Ward CAD May 12, 2025 board packet, accessed August 31, 2026. Contract pages 1-2 appear on packet pages 25-26.
• Ward CAD Data and Records, accessed August 31, 2026.
• Texas Tax Code Section 23.01, accessed August 31, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

What interests does the Ward CAD contract list under Mineral Property?

It lists working interests, oil payments, overriding royalties, royalty interests, and other related interests. The wording is illustrative rather than a complete private-title classification.

What does the contract exclude from Mineral Property?

Its definition expressly excludes sand, gravel, caliche, and other non-fuel minerals. That statement reports the contract category and does not decide another laws treatment of an asset.

Does the contract treat equipment as Mineral Property?

The contract has a separate Personal Property definition for property used or employed in exploration and production. A specific item still requires its own authoritative classification.

What years does the contract cover?

The title and operative language identify tax years 2026, 2027, 2028, and 2029. The contract states an information date of January 1 for each covered year.

Does the contract definition prove that I own taxable or valuable mineral rights?

No. It does not prove a specific owners title, taxability, tax liability, private value, production, reserves, appraisal result, or contract enforceability.

Sources reviewed for this article

• Ward CAD May 12, 2025 board packet, contract pages 1-2 (accessed 2026-08-31)
• Ward CAD Data and Records page (accessed 2026-08-31)
• Texas Tax Code Section 23.01 (accessed 2026-08-31)