Banzhoff v. Dauphin County Board of Assessment Appeals

575 A.2d 164, 133 Pa. Commw. 165, 1990 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 288
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 15, 1990
DocketNo. 866 C.D. 1989
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 575 A.2d 164 (Banzhoff v. Dauphin County Board of Assessment Appeals) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Banzhoff v. Dauphin County Board of Assessment Appeals, 575 A.2d 164, 133 Pa. Commw. 165, 1990 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 288 (Pa. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

OPINION

BARRY, Judge.

Harry G. Banzoff, appellant, purchased two adjoining tracts of land in the city of Harrisburg on March 27, 1985, for the sum of $26,000. Each tract contains a two and one-half story brick dwelling house with a common wall between the houses. When the property was purchased the entire structure (i.e. the two connected houses) was being used as a twelve room boarding house. After purchasing the property appellant rehabilitated the property and converted it into two residential units.

At the time of purchase, the existing assessment on the property was $4,053. Prior to 1985 Dauphin County had not conducted a county-wide assessment since 1972. The $4,053 figure therefore represented the 1972 market value multiplied by the ratio used for assessment purposes which was 30%. In 1985 the Dauphin County Commissioners abandoned the 30% ratio and adopted a 100% ratio. This brought appellant’s assessment figure to approximately $13,500. The Commissioners then performed a statistical updating by doubling the 1972 assessments for the entire county. The reasoning behind this computation was that the statistics used by the State Tax Equalization Board for 1985 revealed that the 1972 market value was 50% of the 1985 market value.1 The doubling of appellant’s 1972 assessment resulted in a base year assessment in 1985 of $27,000. Appellant received notice of these revisions.

[168]*168At the time appellant obtained the necessary building permits to perform the renovation work, which was shortly after the date of purchase, he elected to participate in a tax abatement program administered by Dauphin County for the city of Harrisburg pursuant to the Improvement of Deteriorating Real Property or Areas Tax Exemption Act (Improvement Act).2 Under the program the increased assessment resulting from renovations to a building in the city is not immediately taxed. In the first year of the increased assessment 100% of the increase is exempt from taxation. In the next five years the exemption decreases at the rate of 20% each year. At the end of five years the entire amount of the increased assessment is subject to tax.

The Dauphin County assessors evaluated the improvements which appellant made to his property in two phases. Work on one of the two units was completed and the unit was occupied in 1985. The assessors determined that the value of the renovation was $31,700. Appellant received no notice of the increase in 1985 since none of the increase was taxable in 1986. In 1986 appellant received notice that his assessment for the 1987 tax year was $33,300, an increase of $6,300, or approximately 20% of $31,700.

Renovation work on the second unit was completed early in 1987. The assessors determined the value of that renovation to be $54,400. No increase in the assessment due to the second phase of work occurred in 1987. Appellant received notice that for the 1988 tax year his assessment would be $50,500, which included the $33,300 from the previous year, an additional $6300 for the first phase, and $10,900 which is approximately 20% of $54,400. At this point appellant appealed the assessment to the Dauphin [169]*169County Board of Assessment Appeals (Board), appellee. The appeal was rejected. A further appeal was taken to the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County where a de novo trial was conducted. The trial court subsequently affirmed the Board.

According to the Board’s calculations, the final assessment at the conclusion of appellant’s participation in the tax abatement program would be $113,100. This is the sum of the base year assessment, $27,000, and the value of the two phases of renovation, $31,700 and $54,400. At the time of the hearings before the trial court near the end of 1988, William Collins, who is the chief assessor for the county and the Board’s appraisal expert, testified that his estimate of the market value of the property was $142,500. At the time of the hearings the common level ratio for Dauphin County was 79.5%. Multiplying the board’s market value by the common level ratio yields approximately $113,288, a figure consistent with the previously calculated $113,100.

Appellant, who is not represented by counsel, makes several arguments. First he argues that he did not receive notice of the reassessment as required under Section 6 of the Improvement Act, 72 P.S. § 4711-2053, which states that the assessment agency shall notify the taxpayer of the reassessment and the amounts of the assessment eligible for exemption. The Board responds by arguing that appellant knew that he was enrolled in the tax abatement program and received notice of the yearly increase under the program. The Board argues further that notification of the fractional portion of the increased value of the property subject to taxation also serves as notice that the remainder of the increased value is exempt from taxation. We do not agree. The language of the act clearly requires notice of the amount of the assessment eligible for exemption in addition to the reassessment. Appellant did not receive notice of the exemption schedule nor the ultimate reassessment of $113,100 until he contacted the assessor’s office after receiving the notice for the 1988 tax year. Appel[170]*170lant’s situation is a prime example of why such notice is required, since he apparently did not know that the reassessment occurred in two phases. If the Board engages in multiple phase reassessing in conjunction with the abatement program, it is imperative that the exact schedule of assessment be provided to the taxpayers. The Board presented such a schedule for appellant as evidence in the trial court but had never sent the schedule to appellant.

Although we feel that the Board did not provide proper notice to appellant, this does not mean we will reverse the trial court’s decision for this reason. The Improvement Act does not specify what relief is to be granted in the event that notice is not given. Section 11 of the Third Class County Assessment Law4 provides that a defect in notice of an assessment shall not be sufficient grounds for setting the assessment aside, but merely preserves the right to appeal the assessment and the right to a hearing. While this section has never been held to apply to notice under the Improvement Act, the relief nevertheless appears proper. Since appellant was given the opportunity to challenge the reassessment before the trial court, no other relief is more appropriate and the issue of proper notice becomes moot.

Appellant next argues that the use of the common level ratio violates the objective of Section 7(d) of the Third Class County Assessment Law, 72 P.S. § 5348(d), to accomplish equalization with other similar properties within the taxing district and the requirement of uniformity of taxation in the Pennsylvania Constitution. Appellant seems to be arguing that because his property is worth more than similar property in other parts of the county, the Board must make some adjustment so that the assessment of similar properties is equal. This argument is meritless. The purpose of establishing a common level ratio for the county is to assure that the same ratio of assessment to market value is uniformly applied to all property within a county. If the assessors did not use the same ratio then [171]*171they might run into constitutional problems since some property owners would be paying less tax in comparison with the market value of their property.

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Related

Banzhoff v. Dauphin County Board of Assessment Appeals
606 A.2d 974 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1992)
MacDonald, Illig, Jones & Britton v. Erie County Board of Assessment Appeals
604 A.2d 306 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
575 A.2d 164, 133 Pa. Commw. 165, 1990 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 288, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/banzhoff-v-dauphin-county-board-of-assessment-appeals-pacommwct-1990.