Kent County v. State Tax Commission

140 Mich. App. 770
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 19, 1985
DocketDocket No. 71973
StatusPublished

This text of 140 Mich. App. 770 (Kent County v. State Tax Commission) 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
Kent County v. State Tax Commission, 140 Mich. App. 770 (Mich. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

Danhof, C.J.

Kent County appeals by leave granted from the 1983 state (or intercounty) equalization of agricultural real property. The final equalization was certified on May 24, 1983, by the State Tax Commission. Plaintiff raises three issues on appeal. We affirm on all three.

On October 25, 1982, the STC filed with the Department of Treasury an analysis of farm land values utilized in the Kent County Equalization Department’s agricultural appraisals. Defendant utilized information gathered by the County Equalization Department. Attached thereto was a memorandum from defendant indicating that plaintiff intended to revise these land values downward, despite a belief that values had risen about 15%. The projected true cash value for the agricultural land study sample was established at $12,869,217. At that time, the STC’s tentative equalization report (Form L-4030) dated October 28, 1982, indicated preliminary agreement with plaintiff’s methodology. At a May 18, 1983, hearing, defendant also stated that it agreed with plaintiff’s initial value conclusions.

On November 27, 1982, the STC performed a second review of land values in Kent County. This was done because the STC rejected the county study once values had been revised downward by Kent County Equalization Director James Neller. Plaintiff’s first revision of values yielded a projected true cash value for the agricultural land study sample of $11,503,437.

After meetings on December 14, 1982, and February 1, 1983, between James Johnson, STC District Supervisor for Kent County, and Neller, [774]*774Johnson informed Neller that the STC staff findings from the compilation of appraisals indicated an increase in agricultural land values approximating 16.9%. Additional meetings were held on April 8, 1983, at which time Johnson delivered copies of the STC’s agricultural appraisals to Neller, and again on April 21, 1983, when plaintiff argued that its agricultural values were nonuniform in relation to surrounding counties. Thereafter, Robert Vandermark, Chairman of the STC, requested that plaintiff’s representatives gather information and evidence to support their criticisms of the STC study and to provide back-up data in support of their downward revisions to the county’s agricultural class. Vandermark explained the requests and the nature of the studies at the May 18, 1983, hearing:

"Vandermark: Also, at the 4/26 meeting, I asked our staff to run some checks of the staff work and I also had them, of the staff appraisal study, and I also asked our staff to run some checks against the county equalization department study. Now at that meeting, on the 26th, I asked for a soil grid, land value map. I also asked for a listing of the sales that were used in the county study. Now I did get a list of the sales used to set county values. I didn’t get anything else. Our staff, at that time, had their land value map, they had a sales analysis of how they arrived at the acreage values, and so on. That was all exchanged at that time.” (Emphasis added.)

Pursuant to Vandermark’s request, a comparison of appraisals to sales was performed by defendant. That study indicated that appraisals were approximately 10% below selling price.

Meetings were also held between the parties on May 4, 5, 12, 18, and 19, 1983. The thrust of plaintiff’s objections was that agricultural land [775]*775values were not uniform vis-á-vis neighboring counties, in particular with respect to Ionia County. Plaintiff complained that number 1 land valuations (the highest quality) were unrealistically high when compared to similar valuations in Ionia County, which assertedly had the highest quality of agricultural land. Plaintiff further argued that defendant classified too many parcels as number 1 land and that defendant failed to consider slopes and other factors detracting from land value. Additionally, plaintiff claimed that defendant committed an error of law by not using identical methods for equalizing each county. Based on its belief that agricultural values would have to be reduced, plaintiff revalued its lands through an agricultural study dated December 28, 1982. The nature of plaintiff’s study was fully discussed at the May 28, 1983, hearing:

''Vandermark: [In the December 28, study, you’ve] got a listing, a typed listing, with all the true cash values • or appraised values, you’ve got the assessed values here and they’re used to arrive at ratios. Now we notice here that a lot of those numbers have been of the true cash values have been crossed out. There’ve been inked in, or penciled in, some alternative numbers. Now the report we’re getting from the staff is that the original numbers the ones that have been crossed out, pretty well verified and agreed with the value conclusions that the staff was coming to in your county in the AG class. Agreed close enough that they probably would have adopted the apparent original numbers.
"I’d like to know what, number one: the new values were based on. I’d also like to know what sales data that the old values were based on. * * *.
''[Neller: The same sales data were used to calculate the original appraisals and the revised appraisals.]
"Vandermark: Well, you used the same ones?
"Neller: Our people — Mr. Chairman, our people—
[776]*776"Vandermark: —the old values and the new values—
"Neller: Mr. Chairman, our people do the same thing your people do. They make judgments about the applicability and the quality—
"Vandermark: —that change was a judgment change. It was not based on any additional sales—
’’Neller: —the changes were judgments.
”Vandermark: Okay.
’’Neller: * * * [W]e had this land value — vacant land value study. It’s indicated that the land values have increased in the twenty-four month period, the legal one, the rule — your rules, twenty-four month period over and above the twenty-four month period one year before that. Fifteen percent increase in vacant land values. But, I had nothing — two or three sales and they were in industrial areas, of vacant land. Over twenty acres. Now I made the assumption — and an erroneous one in my opinion — that all land had gone up that much. So my — this helps with my own staff. We made a land value guide, based on that that the field people worked with, making agricultural values.
’’Neller: When I discovered that in other counties, the increase was going to be a two or three percent of AG, I took another look and decided that I’d been wrong to jump to the conclusion that all land values had gone up ñfteen percent. And so we had to cut it back. And so I do with the help of the assessors showing us how this— what was more appropriate. And I told them that that’s what I was going to do. That’s what we did. We cut it back to where we thought it was more appropriate in terms of the market, even though it’s derst [sic, dearth] of sales.

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Bluebook (online)
140 Mich. App. 770, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kent-county-v-state-tax-commission-michctapp-1985.