CNL Hotels & Resorts, Inc. v. Maricopa County

244 P.3d 592, 226 Ariz. 155, 598 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 36, 2010 Ariz. App. LEXIS 236
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedDecember 28, 2010
Docket1 CA-TX 09-0003
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 244 P.3d 592 (CNL Hotels & Resorts, Inc. v. Maricopa County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
CNL Hotels & Resorts, Inc. v. Maricopa County, 244 P.3d 592, 226 Ariz. 155, 598 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 36, 2010 Ariz. App. LEXIS 236 (Ark. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

DOWNIE, Judge.

¶ 1 This is a property tax challenge to the classification of property located on State-owned land. The Arizona Tax Court granted summary judgment to defendant/appellee Maricopa County (the “County”), concluding it had properly classified plaintiffs’/appellants’ (“Taxpayers”) property as class one. We reverse and hold that the property should be classified as class nine because the necessary governmental reversionary inter-est exists.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶2 CNL Hotels and Resorts, Inc. holds and owns Desert Ridge Resort, L.L.C. (“Desert Ridge”). Desert Ridge has a contractual relationship with Marriott International, Inc., whereby Desert Ridge operates the JW Marriott at Desert Ridge Resort and Spa and two affiliated golf courses (the “Improvements”). The resort, located in northeast Phoenix, includes 950 guest rooms, approximately 200,000 square feet of convention and meeting space, four acres of swimming pools, tennis facilities, and a 32,000 square foot spa. The Improvements lie within the 5700-acre Desert Ridge master-planned community on land (the “Property”) held in trust by the Arizona State Land Department (“SLD”) for the benefit of Arizona schools.

¶ 3 Taxpayers succeeded in interest to two 99-year ground leases between Northeast Phoenix Partners and the State of Arizona— one for the resort and convention facilities and the other for the golf courses (the “Leases”). In relevant respects, the Leases are identical. The Lease terms expire July 6, 2092.

¶ 4 For the 2006 tax year, the County set the following cash values for the Improvements: $136,146,821 for the hotel/eonvention facilities and $2,659,172 for the golf courses. The County taxed Taxpayers based on a class one classification. See Ariz.Rev.Stat. (“A.R.S.”) § 42-12001 (2006). The County used the same classification for the 2003 to 2005 tax years.

¶ 5 Taxpayers filed a complaint in the tax court in January 2007. They argued, inter alia, that the Improvements qualified for the more favorable class nine status. They sought declaratory relief and a tax refund. A later-filed action, raising the same issue for tax years 2003 to 2005, was consolidated with this case.

¶ 6 The County moved for summary judgment, arguing that, as a matter of law, the *158 Improvements were properly classified. The tax court granted the County’s motion and entered judgment on October 6, 2009. This timely appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

I. Standard of Review

¶ 7 We review the grant of summary judgment de novo. Wilderness World, Inc. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Revenue, 182 Ariz. 196, 198, 895 P.2d 108, 110 (1995). Interpretation of statutes raises questions of law, and we owe no deference to the tax court’s interpretation. Turf Paradise, Inc. v. Maricopa County, 179 Ariz. 337, 340, 878 P.2d 1375, 1378 (App.1994).

¶ 8 Courts liberally construe statutes imposing taxes in favor of taxpayers and against the government. Ariz. Dep’t. of Revenue v. Salt River Project Agric. Improvement & Power Dist., 212 Ariz. 35, 38, ¶ 14, 126 P.3d 1063, 1066 (App.2006); see also City of Phoenix v. Borden Co., 84 Ariz. 250, 252-53, 326 P.2d 841, 843 (1958) (statutes establishing property tax liability — in contrast to those creating an exemption — are “most strongly construed against the government and in favor of the taxpayer____”); SFPP, L.P. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Revenue, 210 Ariz. 151, 153, ¶ 8, 108 P.3d 930, 932 (App.2005). The classification of property establishes tax liability. Contrary to the County’s claim, we are not dealing here with tax exemptions or deductions, which are construed strictly against taxpayers. See Ariz. Dep’t of Revenue v. Raby, 204 Ariz. 509, 511, ¶ 16, 65 P.3d 458, 460 (App.2003).

II. Classification

¶ 9 Arizona’s tax code establishes a property tax classification scheme with assessment ratios ranging from one percent (class nine) to twenty-five percent (class one). A.R.S. §§ 42-12001 to -12010 (2006). Section 42-12009 addresses class nine. It states, in relevant part:

A. For purposes of taxation, class nine is established consisting of:
1. Improvements that are located on federal, state, county or municipal property and owned by the lessee of the property if:
(a) The improvements become the property of the federal, state, county or municipal owner of the property on termination of the leasehold interest in the property.
(b) Both the improvements and the property are used primarily for athletic, recreational, entertainment, artistic, cultural or convention activities.

¶ 10 The parties agree that Taxpayers own the Improvements and that the Improvements are located on state land. The County contends, though, that because Taxpayers have the ability to remove or destroy the Improvements during the Lease term, there is no guarantee the Improvements will revert to the State, and Taxpayers thus cannot satisfy the requirements of A.R.S. § 42-12009(A)(1)(a).

¶ 11 As the County has acknowledged, its interpretation creates a conundrum: while a taxpayer must own the improvements located on government land to qualify for class nine status, the key attributes of ownership — including the power to remove, alter, or destroy the Improvements — supposedly defeat the required reversionary interest. See, e.g., Cutter Aviation, Inc. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Revenue, 191 Ariz. 485, 490-91, 958 P.2d 1, 6-7 (App.1997) (construing “ownership,” which is undefined in Title 42, as “necessarily including] the right to control and dispose of the asset”). The County’s expert conceded that this interpretation renders class nine a “vacant class.”

¶ 12 In construing a statute, our goal is “to fulfill the intent of the legislature that wrote it.” Zamora v. Reinstein, 185 Ariz. 272, 275, 915 P.2d 1227, 1230 (1996) (quoting State v. Williams, 175 Ariz. 98, 100, 854 P.2d 131, 133 (1993) ). We consider the statute’s context, its language, historical background and subject matter, its effects and consequences, and its purpose and spirit. Hayes v. Cont’l Ins. Co., 178 Ariz. 264, 268, 872 P.2d 668, 672 (1994) .

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Bluebook (online)
244 P.3d 592, 226 Ariz. 155, 598 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 36, 2010 Ariz. App. LEXIS 236, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cnl-hotels-resorts-inc-v-maricopa-county-arizctapp-2010.