Head v. Lane County Assessor

Oregon Tax Court·Decided August 6, 2018·No. TC-MD 170154R·Unpublished

Opinion

IN THE OREGON TAX COURT

MAGISTRATE DIVISION

Property Tax

ANDREW HEAD, )

)

Plaintiff, ) TC-MD 170154R )

v. )

)

LANE COUNTY ASSESSOR, )

)

Defendant. ) FINAL DECISION1

Plaintiff Andrew Head (Head) appealed from a Lane County Board of Property Tax Appeals (BOPTA) order, dated March 13, 2017, for the 2016-17 tax year, as well as Defendant’s real property assessments for the 2015-16 and 2014-15 tax years. A telephone trial was held on December 18, 2017. Head appeared and testified on his own behalf. Faith Bowlsby (Bowlsby) appeared and testified on behalf of Defendant. Head’s Exhibits A to G were admitted into evidence without objection.2 Defendant’s Exhibits A to H were admitted into evidence without objection. On its own motion the court takes judicial notice of the real property tax statements for the subject property which were attached to Head’s complaint.3 I. STATEMENT OF FACTS

The subject property contains a 5,903 square-foot home with several accessory structures on 39.62 acres in Lane County. The property consists of a single tax lot broken into two accounts (accounts 0745479 and 0745487). (Def’s Ex A at 2.) Account 0745479 consists of

1 This Final Decision incorporates without change the court’s Decision, entered July 18, 2018. The court did not receive a statement of costs and disbursements within 14 days after its Decision was entered. See Tax Court Rule–Magistrate Division (TCR–MD) 16 C(1).

2 Head’s exhibits were mislabeled; Tax Court Rule – Magistrate Division (TCR-MD) 12 B(1) requires exhibits for the plainitff to be labeled numerically, not alphabetically.

3 Neither party offered the real property tax statements as evidence. The court finds these documents are necessary for an analysis of the matter because the scope of appeal is at issue for the 2016-17 tax year.

FINAL DECISION TC-MD 170154R 1

Head’s residence and accessory buildings with five acres of land, and account 0745487 consists of the remaining undeveloped acreage. Head purchased the property in 2007 for $450,000. (Def’s Ex E at 42.) At the time, the home was 3,000 square feet. Head added on to the residence in late 2007 and early 2008, bringing the home to its current size. (Def’s Ex A at 2.) In 2009, Head filed for a permit to construct an agriculture structure, and in 2013 Head filed a permit for a second agriculture structure. (Id. at 1.) Head testified that during construction, his girlfriend persuaded him to change the buildings into a commercial wedding and event venue. He testified that he did not think about the permit process related to the changes from agricultural use to living use. In 2015, Defendant conducted a site visit to the property and found the “agriculture” structures had been built with “living quality finish.” (Id.) After a subsequent site visit in 2017, Defendant concluded that in the first “agriculture” building had 2,296 square feet of ground level living space, a 1040 square-foot apartment upstairs, 616 square feet of unfinished attic space, 4 full bathrooms, 2 half baths, a kitchen, and several fireplaces. (Id. at 2–4.) Defendant also found a covered gazebo and an event pavilion. In 2015, the county limited Head’s use of the property as a wedding and event venue. Head testified that the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) subsequently ruled that he was limited to four events per year.

Head testified that he worked on the accessory structures himself and paid his employees for their time at $15 per hour. He estimates that his actual cost for the buildings was $200,000 to $250,000. The buildings were in various stages of completion as of the three assessment dates at issue in this appeal. Head testified that because the county has limited the use of his property as a wedding and event venue, the value of the improvements is greatly diminished. He testified that he cannot rent an apartment contained within one accessory building because it is not permitted as living space.

FINAL DECISION TC-MD 170154R 2

Head presented an appraisal of the subject property as of June 22, 2013, which found the value using the sales comparison approach was $790,000 and the value using the cost approach was $928,272. (Ptf’s Ex D at 2.) He testified that the value found by the appraisal was likely on the low side. He also testified that property values in his area were generally appreciating during the years at issue. Head testified the he decided against hiring a professional appraiser to determine the value of the subject property as of January 1, 2014, and January 1, 2015. Thus, he was unable to present a precise real market value of the subject property for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 tax years. Head suggested that the court could use the 2013 appraisal, a 2017 appraisal (described below), and county market trend information to determine a real market value for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 tax years.4 For the 2014-15 tax year, the assessor’s real property tax statement for account 0745487 listed the real market value at $677,007 and the assessed value at $580,738. The 2014-15 property tax statement for the bare land in account 0745479 had a real market value of $277,968 and an assessed value of $87,917. The 2015-16 property tax statement for account 0745479 had a real market value of $292,042 and an assessed value of $90,555. The property tax statement for the 2015-16 tax year for account 0745487 contained errors, which are discussed in more detail below.

Head testified that the real market value of the subject property as of January 1, 2016, was $1,103,150. He arrived at that value by referencing a June 2017 appraisal of the subject property prepared in connection with a loan refinance and making his own lay adjustments to comparable properties. The appraiser valued the property and improvements using the comparable sales approach at $1.2 million as of June 21, 2017. (Ptf’s Ex C at 3.) The appraiser also developed but did not rely on the cost approach, which indicated the value was $1,751,880.

4 After the close of his case-in-chief, Head testified that trending indicated a real market value of $1,050,000 for the 2015-16 tax year.

FINAL DECISION TC-MD 170154R 3

Head testified that the cost approach value shows that his property was over-improved. For the 2016-17 tax year, the assessor’s real property tax statement for account 0745487 showed a real market value of $1,190,837 and an assessed value of $938,849. For that year the assessor’s real property tax statement for account 0745479 showed a real market value of $292,042 and an assessed value of $93,272.

Bowlsby testified that she has been an appraiser for Defendant for seven years. She testified that she put a “hold” on the value of the vacant land portion of the tax lot due to an easement for power lines, which lowered the real market values of account 0745479 to $230,713 for 2014-15, and $242,395 for 2015-16 and 2016-17. She testified that she performed appraisals for each of the tax years at issue which reflected both accounts in the tax lot. She testified that she agrees with Head that the accessory buildings on Head’s lot should not be evaluated as if they were living space.

Bowlsby used Marshall & Swift Valuation Service to estimate the cost to construct each outbuilding during the years at issue. For 2014-15, Bowlsby’s analysis indicated a cost of construction for the event pavilion and gazebo of $370,940; however, Defendant did not request that the court change the exception real market value for that year, which was $40,940. (See Def’s Ex B at 1.) For 2015-16, Bowlsby estimated that the cost of constructing new improvements on the property was $274,061. (Id. at 3.) Defendant has requested a new construction exception value of $274,061 for the 2015-16 tax year. For 2016-17, Bowlsby estimated that the cost of constructing new improvements on the property was $183,674. (Id. at 4.) Defendant has requested a new construction exception value of $118,219 for the 2016-17 tax year. ///

FINAL DECISION TC-MD 170154R 4

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