Dowagiac Ltd. Dividend Housing Ass'n v. City of Dowagiac

166 Mich. App. 232
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 1, 1987
DocketDocket No. 86974
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 166 Mich. App. 232 (Dowagiac Ltd. Dividend Housing Ass'n v. City of Dowagiac) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dowagiac Ltd. Dividend Housing Ass'n v. City of Dowagiac, 166 Mich. App. 232 (Mich. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

Dowagiac Limited Dividend Housing Association, petitioner and owner of Vineyard Place, appeals from the decision of the Michigan Tax Tribunal that increased the property’s assessment for the 1982, 1983 and 1984 tax years. We affirm.

Petitioner is the owner of twenty acres of land on which it built Vineyard Place, a 120-unit apartment complex that was completed in 1981. The complex was completely financed with funds from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (mshda), which agreed to undertake and carry the mortgage after petitioner had a commitment from the fha to provide housing assistance payments to support the project. Seventy-five percent of Vineyard Place is occupied by very low income [235]*235families with twenty-five percent of the complex set aside for low-income families.

i

The complex was financed by a mortgage loan and a capital contribution by Dowagiac ldha. The cost of the development was $5,078,092. The forty-year term mortgage loan was in the amount of $4,938,561 and the interest rate was 9.65 percent.

The loan was obtained through mshda, a public body created by the State Housing Development Authority Act of 1966, MCL 125.1401 et seq.) MSA 16.114(1) et seq. The act was passed, in part, to help take advantage of federal funds available for low-income housing.

In exchange for the loan, the petitioner agreed to regulation by mshda, which included a limited return on initial equity investment of six percent per annum, a guarantee by petitioner that expenses would not exceed approved levels, and a restriction that access be limited to tenants of low and very low income.

Through use of the mshda loan, the project was eligible for and operated as part of the § 8 program of the Federal Housing Act (designed to aid low-income families), 42 USC 1437f(a). Under this program rents charged are federally regulated by Housing Assistance Payments contracts, which also provide federal rental subsidies; rent levels are based on the cost of new construction, not market rates; and monthly bills for rental subsidies are submitted to mshda, which then audits the bills and adjusts the amount billed for debt service, taxes, insurance, and replacement reserve funds.

The project’s first year of operation was 1981. The assessment issued by the respondent for tax [236]*236year 1982 was $1,979,050. Petitioner timely protested this assessment and subsequently amended the petition to include the 1983 and 1984 assessment years where the assessments were $1,979,050 and $1,715,800 respectively. Subsequent to the granting of Cass County’s motion to intervene, evidentiary hearings on the assessments began. On August 2, 1985, the Michigan Tax Tribunal entered an opinion and judgment that adopted, with some modification, respondent’s income approach to valuation.

A comparison of the true cash values advanced by petitioner and respondent to that determined by the Tax Tribunal is as follows:

[[Image here]]

II

On appeal, petitioner argues that the Tax Tribunal’s determination of true cash value was an error of law. The first error the petitioner finds with the Tax Tribunal’s determination of true cash value is in the inclusion of rental subsidies in the Tax Tribunal’s calculation under the income capitalization approach to true cash value. Petitioner argues that the rental subsidies were not relevant to true cash value because those subsidies were attributable to the benefit of the tenants and not to the income of the owner. Without the rental subsidy, petitioner concludes the income before expenses for tax years 1982, 1983 and 1984 was $368,500, $397,900, and $410,220 respectively. The Tax Tribunal, including the rental subsidies as income, computed the total income before expenses as $711,360, $774,698, and $781,867 respectively.

[237]*237Petitioner relies on Congresshills Apts v Ypsilanti Twp (After Remand), 128 Mich App 279; 341 NW2d 121 (1983), for the proposition that a subsidy cannot be incorporated in any way in arriving at true cash value. Petitioner’s reliance is misplaced. The issue in Congresshills was the interest subsidy that was taken into account in calculating the capitalization rate for the property. The basis for the holding in Congresshills was that "interest subsidy is an intangible asset or benefit which cannot properly be subject to taxation as 'real’ or 'tangible’ property under Const 1963, art 9, § 3.” Id. at 283. Here what was taken into account in reaching true cash value was the rental subsidy provided by the federal government. This subsidy was no more intangible than the actual rents paid by the tenants. A review of the regulatory agreement does not reveal any use restrictions on the rental subsidies, beyond their use as a method for making mortgage loan and other payments due mshda. The substance of the subsidy as it pertains to the project was rental income.

[C]ourt review of decisions of the Tax Tribunal, in the absence of fraud, is limited to determining whether the tribunal made an error of law or adopted a wrong principle; the factual findings of the tribunal are final, provided that they are supported by competent and substantial evidence. [Antisdale v City of Galesburg, 420 Mich 265, 277; 362 NW2d 632 (1984). See also Const 1963, art 6, §28.]

We find no error of law in the Tax Tribunal’s use of the value of the rent subsidy in calculating true cash value.

Petitioner also argues that the Tax Tribunal erred in including interest income produced by the cash reserve account under the control of mshda [238]*238in the total income per year of the complex. For tax years 1983 and 1984, the Michigan Tax Tribunal added interest income of $18,003 and $13,672 respectively. This interest was derived from the replacement reserve funds which were administered by mshda as part of the mortgage escrow asset account which was established by the regulatory agreement.

Petitioner’s claim is that the interest income was produced by cash reserve accounts under the control and possession of mshda and which were not listed as owner assets. In general, petitioner claims the Michigan Tax Tribunal erred in valuing a going concern rather than realty.

However, in petitioner’s computation of true cash value under the income approach, the interest income was listed and included in reaching true cash value. In Southfield Western, Inc v Southfield, 146 Mich App 585; 382 NW2d 187 (1985), lv den 425 Mich 855 (1986), this Court found no error in the Tax Tribunal’s refusal to deduct the going concern value of a hotel business from the true cash value of the realty, where the petitioner failed to meet its burden of proving the existence of a separate and intangible business value and failed to cite any authority in support of such a deduction or the method for measuring the intangible business value. Similarly, petitioner here has failed to meet this burden. See MCL 205.737(3); MSA 7.650(37)(3).

From the evidence produced we conclude the Tax Tribunal did not adopt a wrong legal principle in computing the amount of net operating income.

hi

Next, petitioner contends the Tax Tribunal committed an error of law in adopting a capitalization [239]*239rate that used a formula that included the government mortgage rate and flawed sales data.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Meadowlanes Ltd. Dividend Housing Ass'n v. City of Holland
473 N.W.2d 636 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1991)
Seymour v. Dalton Township
442 N.W.2d 655 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1989)
Comstock Village Ltd. Dividend Housing Ass'n v. Comstock Township
425 N.W.2d 702 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
166 Mich. App. 232, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dowagiac-ltd-dividend-housing-assn-v-city-of-dowagiac-michctapp-1987.