Beaver Wood Joint Venture v. Town of Chester
This text of Beaver Wood Joint Venture v. Town of Chester (Beaver Wood Joint Venture v. Town of Chester) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Opinion
Beaver Wood v. Chester
STATE OF MAINE SUPERIOR COURT PENOBSCOT,ss Docket No. AP-07-28 k ~\l \/ ,,~ /
BEAVER WOOD JOINT VENTURE
FILED & ENTERED SUPERIOR COURT V t\1t~·~ 0~ 2008
PENOBSCOT COUNTY TOWN OF CHESTER
80B APPEAL
DECISION
Beaver Wood Joint venture (hereinafter Beaver Wood) owned property in the Town of Chester, which was taxed by the Town of Chester. Beaver Wood sought an abatement of the Town of Chester's Tax assessment for 2005. Specifically Beaver Wood sought abatement of the assessment of $8,000,000. The Town denied Beaver Wood's abatement request and that denial was appealed to the Penobscot County Commissioners. The Commissioners reduced the value from $8,000,000 to $6,500,000.
Standard for Review
There is a presumption that the assessor's valuation is valid. Town of Southwest Harbor v. Harwood, 2000 ME 213, 763 A.2d 115, Chase v. Town of Machiasport 1998 ME 260, 721 A.2d 636, 640. To overcome the presumption the taxpayer must present credible affirmative evidence demonstrating that the assessor's valuation was "manifestly wrong." Id, 763 A.2d at 117. If, and only if, the taxpayer meets that burden, the Commissioners must engage in "an independent determination of fair market value... based on a consideration of all relevant evidence of just value." Quoddy Realty Corp. v. City of Eastport 1998 ME 14,704 A.2d 407, 408; 36 M.R.S.A. § 844(1); Stewart v. Town of Sedgwick 2000 ME 157.
The Superior Court is obligated to examine the entire record to 'determine whether on the basis of all the testimony and exhibits before the [Commissioners] they could fairly and reasonably find the facts as [they] did.' Ryan v. Town of Camden 582 A.2d 973, 975 (Me. 1990). The Superior Court is not permitted to make findings independent of those explicitly or implicitly found by the [Commissioners] or [to] substitute its judgment for that of the [Commissioners]." Perrin v. Town of Kittery 591 A.2d 863 (Me. 1991). Moreover, "the [Commissioner's] decision is not wrong because the record is inconsistent or a different conclusion could be drawn from it" Twigg v. Town of Kennebunk, 662 A.2d 914, 916 (Me. 1995). This Court may only reverse the County Commissioner's decision if the record "compels a contrary conclusion to the exclusion of all other inferences. Weekley v. Town of Scarborough 676 A.2d 932, 934 (Me. 1996); Douglas v. Board of Trustees, 669 A.2d 177, 179 (Me. 1996).
Discussion
The Town agrees that the challenged valuation was manifestly wrong in the eyes of the County Commissioners since they changed the assessment. Defendant notes that the change reflected the Commissioners having evaluated the subject property's fair market value, which implies that the challenged valuation was manifestly wrong. (Defendant's Brief at pg. 4)
The question that calls out is where on the record did the Commissioners do that evaluation. It is unquestionably true that the Commissioner's discussed the issue of value and went to view the property in question first hand, but there are no findings of fact anywhere on the record as far as this Court is concerned. There is no statement by the Commissioners of the relevant evidence of just value upon which they relied in modifying the assessment of the Town. By modifying the assessment the Commissioners confirm that the assessment of Chester was manifestly wrong and that the Plaintiff has met its burden of proof in that regard. What the Commissioners do not do is to provide a basis for the "just value" at which they arrived so that this Court can make a judgment affirming their decision or concluding that the record compels a contrary conclusion. See Weekley v. Town of Scarborough, supra.
The Court grants this appeal and remands this matter to the Penobscot County Commissioners for the purpose of stating their findings leading them to their conclusions as to just value with regard to the assessment in question.
Conclusion
The Rule 80-B Complaint is GRANTED and the matter is remanded to the Penobscot County Commissioners to make findings consistent with this decision.
May 8, 2008 Kevin M. Cuddy Justice, Superior C Date Filed 11/9/07 PENOBSCOT Docket No. AP-2007-28 County
Action _---'R"-'U"-"L=..oE"------"8:..o:0=B'---=A=.-P=-PE=A=L=-- _
ASSIGNED TO JUSTICE KEVIN M. CunDY
BEAVER WOOD JOINT VENTURE YS. TOWN OF CHESTER Plaintiff's Attorney Defendant's Attorney RICHARD D. VIOLETTE, ESQ RR 3, BOX 1726 POBOX 908 LINCOLN, ME 04457-9540 BREWER, ME 04412 Farrell, Rosenblatt & Russell 61 Main St Suite 1 POBox 738 Bangor ME 04402-0738 BY: Roger L. Huber, Esq.
Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI
Related
Cite This Page — Counsel Stack
Beaver Wood Joint Venture v. Town of Chester, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beaver-wood-joint-venture-v-town-of-chester-mesuperct-2008.