Assessors Lose Seawall Appeal

The Board of Assessors (BOA) can remove $34,600 of assessed property value from the tax books as result of a Jasper Superior Court ruling handed down by Judge Hugh Wingfield last week.

The judge granted a motion for Landers-Nash Family Limited Partnership, the defendant, involving a tax appeal case filed by the BOA, the plaintiff.

The ruling was based on a BOA technical error that led to a dismissal which prevented the actual “meat and potatoes” of the case from being presented. The arguments presented should have been about whether a lake seawall is taxable property not whether the BOA followed the correct protocol.
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The Landers-Nash Partnership, owners of a Jackson Lake parcel of land, filed a 2004 tax appeal of the BOA assessed value for that lake parcel which includes a seawall which had not previously been listed or assessed prior to 2004, according to the court document.

After the Landers-Nash appeal was denied by the BOA, it was was forwarded to the Board of Equalization (BOE) where the hearing resulted in a victory for the property owners.

Whereas the BOA had valued the parcel at $288,840 including a $34,600 seawall value, the BOE ruled that the newly assessed seawall value could not be included in the property value and thereby subtracted that amount from the taxable property value.

Following that action, the BOA filed a notice of appeal in August, 2005 with the Superior Court to address the action of the BOE. However in filing such, the BOA neglected to include a certificate of service for the notice and failed to include the taxpayer’s address, both of which are required.

Additionally, following the BOE hearing during the grace period allotted to file an appeal neither the property owner or legal counsel for the property owner had received any notice or documentation regarding the BOA’s intent to appeal.

An amendment was filed to the original notice containing the sufficient information but it was received 57 days after the hearing whereas state law required notice to the taxpayer within 30 days of the hearing in question.

The seawall issue failed to be heard by Judge Wingfield after the technical error was established by Daniell Landers, attorney for the partnership.

Attorney Tom Bowman represented the BOA during the case. According to Deputy Chief Appraiser Lynn Bentley the BOA does not plan to further pursue the seawall case although Attorney Bowman advised of additional legal recourse.