Navajo County v. Four Corners Pipe Line Co.

470 P.2d 496, 12 Ariz. App. 348, 38 Oil & Gas Rep. 162, 1970 Ariz. App. LEXIS 654
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedJune 9, 1970
DocketNo. 1 CA-CIV 1159
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 470 P.2d 496 (Navajo County v. Four Corners Pipe Line Co.) 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
Navajo County v. Four Corners Pipe Line Co., 470 P.2d 496, 12 Ariz. App. 348, 38 Oil & Gas Rep. 162, 1970 Ariz. App. LEXIS 654 (Ark. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

DONOFRIO, Presiding Judge.

This is an appeal by five Arizona counties and the State Department of Property Valuation from an adverse judgment which awarded the plaintiff, Four Corners. Pipe Line Company, stated sums against each of the counties ■ out of taxes which-had been paid under protest. Certain, phases of this litigation have been considered by the Arizona Supreme Court. Navajo County v. Superior Court, 105 Ariz. 156, 461 P.2d 77 (1969); Navajo County v. Superior Court, Maricopa County, 105 Ariz. 248, 462 P.2d 797 (1969).

The judgment with which we are here-concerned was the result of five independent property valuation tax appeals brought by the appellee Four Corners after payment pursuant to the provisions of A.R.S.. § 42-146. The appeals were filed in the [349]*349Superior Courts of Navajo, Mohave, Co-conino, Apache and Yavapai counties. They were then transferred and consolidated for trial before the Superior Court of Maricopa County, Division 16, the Honorable Morris Rozar, judge. After a lengthy trial before the court, judgment was rendered against the appellants.

The sole issue before us is the validity of the 1968 valuation, for ad valorum tax purposes, of the Arizona portion of the pipeline owned by the appellee, Four Corners.

It was the position of the appellants at the trial that the full cash value of the Four Corners pipeline located within the boundaries of Arizona was $19,799,985. Four Corners, on the other hand, contended that the value of the property was $8,-141,128. The trial court determined that the latter amount was the correct valuation.

The pipeline involved is sixteen inches in diameter and carries crude oil from oil fields in the “Four Corners” area (northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah, southwestern Colorado, and northwestern New Mexico) to the Los Angeles area of Southern California. The Arizona portion represents 45.4% of the value of the pipeline which, when completed in 1958, cost $45,-000,000.

The Director of the Department of Property Valuation must annually determine the full cash value of all pipelines within the State. A.R.S. § 42-124.01. Full cash value is defined by A.R.S. § 42-201, subsec. 7:

“ ‘Full cash value’ for property tax purposes is synonymous with market value which means that estimate of value that is derived annually by the use of standard appraisal methods and techniques.”

The appellants contend that under the statutory definition, supra, the method used by Four Corners for determining valuation, denominated by the appellants as the “wasting assets” method, is insufficient as evidence of the value of a crude oil pipeline system and that therefore no evidence was presented to the trial court upon which the court could reach a proper adjudication of the full cash value of the Arizona portion of the pipeline for the year 1968.

One of our first questions involves the burden and sufficiency of the evidence.

Under A.R.S. § 42-147, subsec. B, a valuation of the State Board of Property Tax Appeals is presumed correct:

“At the hearing both parties may present evidence of any matters that relate to the full cash value of the property in question as of the date of its assessment. The valuation as approved by the state board shall be presumed to be correct and lawful.”

In State Tax Commission v. Phelps Dodge Corp., 62 Ariz. 320, 157 P.2d 693 (1945) the Arizona Supreme Court in interpreting the substantially similar predecessor to A.R.S. § 42-147, subsec. B, A.C. A.1939, § 73-110, stated:

“The presumption, although declared by statute, is one of fact, and may be rebutted and overcome by the evidence * * *. If this were not true, the provisions of the statute authorizing the Superior Court to hear 'evidence of any matters that relate to the full cash value of the property’ * * * would be meaningless * * 62 Ariz. at 330, 157 P.2d at 697.

It is the position of Four Corners that when it introduced evidence contrary to the State’s valuation, the presumption disappeared and the case became one to be received by the trier of fact as if no presumption had ever existed.

The appellants, however, contend that the evidence presented by the appellee in the trial court was too speculative to be competent as evidence. They are of the opinion that because there was, in their view, no competent evidence presented, the presumption of the correctness of the higher valuation should stand. We cannot agree.

The question to be decided is a narrow one, namely, whether the evidence reflect[350]*350ed in the trial court’s finding was competent to support the judgment.

The trial lasted twelve days, with the receipt in evidence of eighty-seven exhibits bearing on valuation. The appellee offered testimony of several expert witnesses in the areas of real estate and non-real estate property appraisal and petroleum geology. Appellants presented their own expert witnesses in these areas.

The testimony of two of appellee’s witnesses, Mr. Larry Burke, M.A.I., a Phoenix real estate appraiser, and Mr. Sidney Blaxill, a general partner in a New York investment banking firm, indicated the existence of three standard appraisal methods for the estimation of value of property. These are: the income approach, the cost approach, and the market data or comparable sales approach.

Briefly, the three aforementioned valuation theories were defined at the trial as follows:

1. Income: the value of the present expectation of receiving income from the property in the future.

2. Cost: the cost of reproducing or replacing the property, less depreciation.

3. Comparable sales: comparable sales ■of similar properties.

It was asserted by both Burke and Blax-ill that the income approach is best suited for the valuation of the Four Corners pipeline. This they urged is true because the cost approach is inapplicable where, as here, the property concerned is not new. They further argued that the comparable sales or market data approach is useless where there have been no comparable sales of similar properties as in the instant situation. These witnesses explained that in the case of an asset producing income which has a foreseeable date of termination, the proper technique to use in applying the income approach is to determine the present worth of each of the remaining years of the economic life of the asset. Such a technique was asserted to be applicable in establishing tax valuation of the pipeline because testimony of the petroleum geologist witnesses taken as a whole indicated depletion of oil resources in the Four Corners area.

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

Related

New Pueblo Constructors, Inc. v. State
696 P.2d 185 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1985)
Navajo County v. Four Corners Pipe Line Company
479 P.2d 174 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1970)
Lane v. Hognason
474 P.2d 839 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1970)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
470 P.2d 496, 12 Ariz. App. 348, 38 Oil & Gas Rep. 162, 1970 Ariz. App. LEXIS 654, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/navajo-county-v-four-corners-pipe-line-co-arizctapp-1970.