Kinder Morgan CO2 Co., L.P. v. Montezuma County Board of Commissioners

2017 CO 72, 396 P.3d 657, 2017 Colo. LEXIS 534, 2017 WL 2628002
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedJune 19, 2017
DocketSupreme Court Case 15SC595
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 2017 CO 72 (Kinder Morgan CO2 Co., L.P. v. Montezuma County Board of Commissioners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kinder Morgan CO2 Co., L.P. v. Montezuma County Board of Commissioners, 2017 CO 72, 396 P.3d 657, 2017 Colo. LEXIS 534, 2017 WL 2628002 (Colo. 2017).

Opinion

JUSTICE MÁRQUEZ

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 The petitioner in this case, Kinder Morgan C02 Company, L.P., operates oil and gas leaseholds in Montezuma County, Colorado. In 2009, the assessor for Montezuma County issued a corrective tax assessment on these leaseholds for the previous tax year, retroactively assessing over $2 million in property taxes, after an auditor concluded that Kinder Morgan underreported the value of gas produced at the leaseholds. Kinder Morgan contends that the assessor lacked authority to retroactively assess these taxes because the statutory scheme for property taxation of oil and gas leaseholds — which authorizes retroactive assessments when “taxable property *660 has been omitted from the assessment roll,” § 39-6-125(1), C.R.S. (2016) — does not authorize a retroactive assessment when an operator has correctly reported the volume of oil and gas sold but has underreported the selling price at the wellhead. We ai’e therefore asked to decide whether this statutory scheme authorizes retroactive taxation where an operator underreports the selling price at the wellhead of the oil and gas it produces.

¶2 Because Colorado has established a self-reporting scheme for property taxation of oil and gas leaseholds, and because the legislature’s amendments to that scheme describe the “underreporting of the selling price or the quantity of oil and gas sold [from a leasehold]” as a form of omitted property, see §§ 29-1-301(1), 39-10-107(1), C.R.S. (2016), we conclude that the statutory scheme authorized the retroactive tax assessment in this case. We further conclude that the Board of Assessment Appeals did not err in determining that Kinder Morgan underre-ported the selling price by claiming excess transportation deductions, given Kinder Morgan’s relationship to the owner of the pipeline through which the gas was transported. We therefore affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.

I. Property Taxation of Oil and Gas Leaseholds

¶3 Because this case concerns the assessment of property taxes on oil and gas leaseholds, we begin by describing the legal framework governing these taxes and the relation of these taxes to other pertinent forms of taxation.

¶4 An estate in minerals such as oil and gas is a form of real property. § 24-65.5-101, C.R.S. (2016); § 39-1-102(14), C.R.S. (2016); see Hagood v. Heckers, 182 Colo. 337, 513 P.2d 208, 214 (1973); Simson v. Langholf, 133 Colo. 208, 293 P.2d 302, 307 (1956). Once the owner of such a mineral estate leases the right to extract oil and gas from the land, the lease may create various interests, which generally take the form of either a working interest (the oil and gas company’s right to extract the minerals and develop them for profit) or a royalty interest (the estate owner’s right to receive a share of the production or a share of the value of proceeds of production). See generally 1 Patrick H. Martin & Bruce M. Kramer, Williams & Meyers, Oil and Gas Law §§ 201-216 (2014 ed.). Oil and gas leaseholds are subject to taxation as real property. 1 § 39-7-102, C.R.S. (2016); Colo. Const. art. X, § 3(l)(b). Unlike most real property interests, however, the value of an oil and gas leasehold interest comes not from the physical space or land the leasehold occupies, but rather, from the quantity and value of oil and gas underground, See Washington Cty. Bd. of Equalization v. Petron Dev. Co., 109 P.3d 146, 150-51 (Colo.2005) (citing Colo. Const. art. X, § 3(1)(b)).

¶5 The legislature has plenary authority to assess, levy, and collect taxes, including taxes on real property. Bd. of Cty. Comm’rs v. Vail Assocs., Inc., 19 P.3d 1263, 1273 (Colo. 2001). Nevertheless, the legislature’s authority to tax is circumscribed by article X of the Colorado Constitution. Id. (citing Bartlett & Co., Grain v. Bd. of Cty. Comm’rs of Baca Cty., 152 Colo. 388, 382 P.2d 193 (1963)). As relevant to this case, section 3 of article X limits the legislature’s ability to assess property taxes by requiring that taxes be based on the “actual value” of the property. Petron Dev. Co., 109 P.3d at 149; see also San Miguel Cty. Bd. of Equalization v. Telluride Co., 947 P.2d 1381, 1383 (Colo. 1997) (“[A]ctual value is the guiding principle for the taxation of real property in Colorado.”).

¶6 The legislature also has the authority to prescribe appropriate methods for determining the “actual value” of property. See Petron Dev. Co., 109 P.3d at 149. For most types of real property, the legislature has required the county assessor to consider *661 and document three approaches to determine the “actual value” of the property: the cost approach, the market approach, and the income approach. 2 § 39-1-103(5)(a), C.R.S (2016).

¶7 By contrast, oil and gas leaseholds and lands are valued under the provisions of article 7 of title 39. § 39-1-103(2). Under the provisions of article 7, the holder of an oil and gas lease must submit an annual statement, from which the county assessor determines the property’s value and the leaseholder’s property tax liability. See §§ 39-7-101, - 102. The annual statement must include, among other information, the volume of gas or oil sold and the selling price of the gas or oil “at the wellhead” — a term that refers to “the physical location where the extracted material emerges from the ground.” § 39-7-101(1)(c)-(d); Petron Dev. Co., 109 P.3d at 153.

¶8 The sale of unprocessed oil or gas, however, rarely occurs at the wellhead; instead, the oil or gas is typically gathered from multiple wells, processed, and transported away from the wellsite before sale. See Petron Dev. Co., 109 P.3d at 151-54. As a result, an operator typically must estimate its “selling price at the wellhead” for purposes of section 39-7-101(1)(d) by deducting from its final, downstream selling price the costs of gathering, processing, and transporting the extracted material. Id. at 153-54; § 39-7-101(1)(d) (“The net taxable revenues shall be equal to the gross lease revenues, minus deductions for gathering, transportation, manufacturing, and processing costs borne by the taxpayer pursuant to guidelines established by the (Property Tax Administrator].”). This calculation — that is, the deduction of gathering, processing, and transportation costs from the final, downstream selling price — is known as a “netback” method of calculating wellhead selling, price. Petron Dev. Co., 109 P.3d at 152.

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

Related

Colorado Property Tax Administrator v. CO 2
2023 CO 8 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2023)
COLORADO PROPERTY TAX ADMINISTRATOR v. CO2 COMMITTEE, INC.
527 P.3d 371 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2023)
CO2 Committee v. Montezuma County
2021 COA 36 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2021)
Corp. v. Lembke
2020 CO 73 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2020)
Jordan v. Maxim Healthcare Services
950 F.3d 724 (Tenth Circuit, 2020)
Pro's Closet v. City of Boulder
2019 COA 128 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2019)
People v. Mazzarelli
444 P.3d 301 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2019)
Perfect Place, LLC v. Semler
2018 CO 74 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2018)
in the Interest of D.C.C
2018 COA 98 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2018)
People in Interest of L.M
2018 CO 34 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2018)
Brandt v. City of Westminster
300 F. Supp. 3d 1259 (D. Colorado, 2018)
Johnson v. School District No. 1 in the City and County of Denver
2018 CO 17 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2018)
Oracle Corp. v. Dep't of Revenue of State
442 P.3d 947 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2017 CO 72, 396 P.3d 657, 2017 Colo. LEXIS 534, 2017 WL 2628002, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kinder-morgan-co2-co-lp-v-montezuma-county-board-of-commissioners-colo-2017.