Oakridge Development v. Property Tax Appeal

938 N.E.2d 533
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedNovember 15, 2010
Docket2-09-0737
StatusPublished

This text of 938 N.E.2d 533 (Oakridge Development v. Property Tax Appeal) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oakridge Development v. Property Tax Appeal, 938 N.E.2d 533 (Ill. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

938 N.E.2d 533 (2010)

OAKRIDGE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, Algonquin Randall, LLC, and Miller Family Partnership, Petitioners,
v.
The PROPERTY TAX APPEAL BOARD, The McHenry County Board of Review, and Community Unit School District No. 300, Respondents.

No. 2-09-0737.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District.

September 17, 2010.
As Modified Upon Denial of Rehearing November 15, 2010.

*534 Sandra S. Kerrick, William I. Caldwell, Jr., Caldwell, Berner & Caldwell, Woodstock, for Algonquin Randall, LLC, Miller Family Partnership, Oakridge Development Company.

Lisa Madigan, Attorney General, Michael A. Scodro, Solicitor General, Evan Siegel, Assistant Attorney General, Chicago, for Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board.

Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County State's Attorney, Donald B. Leist, Assistant State's Attorney, Woodstock, for McHenry County Board of Review.

Scott E. Nemanich, Stephen R. Swofford, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, Chicago, for Community Unit School District No. 300.

Justice O'MALLEY delivered the opinion of the court:

Petitioners, Oakridge Development Co. (Oakridge); Algonquin Randall, LLC; and Miller Family Partnership (the Miller Family), appeal for review of the decision of respondent, the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board (Board), upholding the rejection by respondent, the McHenry County Board of Review, of petitioners' property tax appeal. (Their appeal also names a third respondent, Community Unit School District No. 300.) On appeal, petitioners argue that the Board erred in concluding that the subject property was not eligible for farmland classification for property tax purposes. For the reasons that follow, we confirm the decision of the Board.

The parties do not dispute the relevant facts. The Miller Family owned the subject property at all pertinent times prior to 2006, and for the eight years preceding 2006 it used the property for farming in each year. According to an affidavit filed by Oakridge's president, "[i]n early 2006 the [Miller Family] and their tenant readied the land for cultivation by using a herbicide," but, when the time to plant crops came, "the family concluded that Oak Ridge would close a sale, so they *535 abandoned their plans to plant crops." According to an affidavit of the Miller Family's managing partner, the land was used as farmland in 2004 and 2005 and was "spray[ed] * * * for weeds in anticipation of planting a 2006 crop" in April 2006. However, according to the same affidavit, in anticipation of the sale to Oakridge the Miller Family declined to plant a crop that year. The sale to Oakridge closed in December 2006. Although the property had been assessed as farmland for the 2004 and 2005 tax years, it was assessed as urban land for tax year 2006. The change in classification caused the assessed value of the subject property to rise from approximately $11,000 to over $3 million. Petitioners appealed the change in assessment to the McHenry County Board of Review. They argued to the board of review that the subject property qualified for farmland assessment in tax year 2006 because it had been used as a farm the previous two years and because that use had not discontinued as of January 1, 2006. The board of review, however, rejected petitioners' claim. The Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board likewise rejected petitioners' claim, on the basis that the relevant statutes required that, in order to be assessed as farmland for a particular tax year, property must have been used as a farm during that year. Petitioners now appeal directly to this court.[1]

Section 16-195 of the Property Tax Code (Code) (35 ILCS 200/16-195 (West 2008)) provides that "[f]inal administrative decisions of the [Board] are subject to review under the provisions of the Administrative Review Law [(735 ILCS 5/3-101 et seq. (West 2008))], except that in every case where a change in assessed valuation of $300,000 or more was sought, that review shall be afforded directly in the Appellate Court * * * and not in the circuit court." The parties do not dispute that petitioners seek a change in valuation greater than $300,000, and, therefore, direct appeal to this court is proper.

In an administrative review action, we will reverse administrative findings of fact only if they are against the manifest weight of the evidence, but we will consider de novo any legal issues. Cook County Board of Review v. Property Tax Appeal Board, 395 Ill.App.3d 776, 784, 335 Ill.Dec. 361, 918 N.E.2d 1174 (2009). Out of deference to an agency's expertise in applying the laws it administers, a reviewing court will not disturb the agency's determination of mixed questions of law and fact—those issues in which the facts and law are settled and all that remains is their application—unless the determination is clearly erroneous. AFM Messenger Service, Inc. v. Department of Employment Security, 198 Ill.2d 380, 391, 261 Ill.Dec. 302, 763 N.E.2d 272 (2001); City of Belvidere v. Illinois State Labor Relations Board, 181 Ill.2d 191, 205, 229 Ill.Dec. 522, 692 N.E.2d 295 (1998). The sole question presented in this appeal is whether the property tax statutes governing farmland assessment require land to be used as a farm in the relevant tax year, or whether use for the prior two years suffices. This *536 matter of statutory interpretation is an issue of law, and we will review it de novo. Davis Bancorp, Inc. v. Board of Review of Department of Employment Security, 393 Ill.App.3d 135, 142, 331 Ill.Dec. 895, 911 N.E.2d 1125 (2009).

For a court charged with interpreting a statute, the primary goal is to ascertain and give effect to the legislative intent underlying the statute, and the best indicator of that intent is the statute's language, given its plain, ordinary, and popularly understood meaning. DeRose v. City of Highland Park, 386 Ill.App.3d 658, 660, 325 Ill.Dec. 836, 898 N.E.2d 1115 (2008). Indeed, where statutory language is unambiguous, a court must give the language effect without resort to other, extrinsic aids of construction. DeRose, 386 Ill. App.3d at 660, 325 Ill.Dec. 836, 898 N.E.2d 1115. However, as we examine the statutory language, we must "give effect to the entire statutory scheme rather than looking at words and phrases in isolation from other relevant portions of the statute." Primeco Personal Communications, L.P. v. Illinois Commerce Comm'n, 196 Ill.2d 70, 87-88, 255 Ill.Dec. 621, 750 N.E.2d 202 (2001). "In other words, statutes should be construed as a whole, with each provision evaluated in connection with every other section." Primeco Personal Communications, 196 Ill.2d at 88, 255 Ill.Dec.

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Bluebook (online)
938 N.E.2d 533, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oakridge-development-v-property-tax-appeal-illappct-2010.