Peil v. Waller County Appraisal District

737 S.W.2d 33, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 7902
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 23, 1987
DocketNo. C14-86-882-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 737 S.W.2d 33 (Peil v. Waller County Appraisal District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peil v. Waller County Appraisal District, 737 S.W.2d 33, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 7902 (Tex. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

SEARS, Justice.

Appellant appeals the dismissal of his suit to have the revocation of his “open-space” exemption for the 1984 tax year declared null and void, to have the district court determine the proper amount of property taxes and to order a refund of the amounts in excess of that figure which Appellant previously paid under protest. We affirm the decision of the trial court.

This dispute concerns the decision of the Chief Appraiser of Waller County to require new applications for an “open space” exemption for the 1984 tax year for all properties previously granted this exemption. The purpose of this requirement was to establish that such properties still remained eligible for the exemption. Appellant’s 490 acres of farmland had been granted an open space exemption for the 1982 and 1983 tax years, and thus was one of the properties affected by the decision.

In February, 1984, notices of the Chief Appraiser’s decision and application forms for the open-space exemption were mailed to every property owner affected by the decision, including Appellant. A second notice was mailed on April 16, 1984, to all persons who failed to respond to the first notice. Appellant did not respond to either notice and asserts that he never received them. The statutory deadline for filing the new exemption application was May 1, 1986.

A notice of appraised value reflecting the increased appraised value due to loss of the exemption was mailed to Appellant in May 1984. The notice contained a notification of the right to appeal the appraisal by filing a written notice of protest with the Waller County Appraisal Review Board by June 12, 1984. Appellant acknowledges that he received this notice and asserts that at this time he contacted the Appraisal District office by telephone but was told that it was too late to file “an appraisal.” The record does not reflect the date upon which Appellant made this call. The Waller County Appraisal Review Board approved the appraisal records in June of 1984. Appellant paid the assessed taxes under protest on July 24, 1984. The next communication between Appellant and the Appraisal District occurred in November 1984. Appellant then inquired as to when the notices requiring new applications were sent and the District replied by providing this information, pointing out Appellant’s failure to protest after receiving notice of the increased appraised value, and by forwarding to Appellant the application forms for the open space exemption for the 1985 tax year. Further correspondence occurred in March, 1985.

Finally, on July 24, 1985, Appellant’s attorney made a written request for a late hearing on the loss of the exemption. He discussed the matter with the Chief Appraiser who then wrote a letter on August 8, 1985, advising Appellant’s attorney that the 1984 tax roll had been approved and certified; therefore, the Waller County Appraisal Review Board lacked the authority to make any valuation changes. No hearing was held and no order was issued regarding Appellant’s request. The record reflects that no written protest of the valuation was ever filed prior to the approval of [35]*35the tax roll. Appellant filed this lawsuit on September 11, 1985.

Appellant brings two points of error in which he contends that it was error for the trial court to deny his Motion for Summary Judgment and to grant Appellees’ Motion to Dismiss. Appellant’s arguments are based upon his position that the Chief Appraiser exceeded his authority when he revoked all open-space exemptions for property within the Appraisal District without first determining that each specific property no longer qualified for the exemption. We find that Appellant has misconstrued the Chief Appraiser’s actions.

The chief appraiser of each appraisal district is charged with the duty of preparing appraisal records for each property located within that district. Tex.Tax Code Ann. § 25.01 (Vernon 1982). In doing so, he must determine the valuation to be placed on each property. Qualified land may receive an “open-space” exemption which results in a lower valuation of the land for appraisal purposes. Chapter 23, Subchap-ter D of the Property Tax Code provides the procedure under which land may qualify for the open-space exemption. Section 23.54 prescribes the manner in which an application for the exemption must be made. It further provides that if a proper and timely application is made by the property owner, and open-space land status is allowed, the land is eligible for the open-space appraisal in subsequent years without a new application absent an ownership or land use change. However, this provision is limited by Section 23.54(e):

However, the chief appraiser if he has good cause to believe the land’s eligibility under this subchapter has ended, may require a person allowed appraisal under this subchapter in a prior year to file a new application to confirm that the land is currently eligible under this sub-chapter by delivering a written notice that a new application is required, accompanied by the application form, to the person who filed the application that was previously allowed. (Emphasis added).

Tex.Tax Code Ann. § 23.54(e) (Vernon 1982). The applications must be filed before May 1, however, the chief appraiser may extend this deadline by up to 60 days for good cause. Section 23.57 then provides that the chief appraiser “shall determine separately each applicant’s right to have his land appraised under this subchap-ter.” (Emphasis added). Once the application and relevant information have been considered, he must then either approve or deny the application, or, disapprove it and request additional information from the applicant. Tex.Tax Code Ann. § 23.57 (Vernon 1982). Section 23.57(c) requires the chief appraiser to make his determination of the validity of each application before he submits the appraisal records to the appraisal board for review.

Appellant contends that this system “puts the appraiser on a one-on-one relationship with the taxpayer” and requires the appraiser to make an individual determination that the specific parcel of land is no longer eligible for the exemption before requiring a new exemption application. We do not agree.

The statutory language reveals that the purpose of authorizing the appraiser to require new applications is to provide a mechanism by which he may obtain the information necessary to determine whether the individual property remains eligible for the exemption. No purpose would be achieved by determining that the land was not eligible and then requesting a new application to determine eligibility.

The Chief Appraiser stated in his affidavit that he had good reason to believe that Appellant’s property may have ceased to be eligible for the exemption because it is located in an area subject to frequent and sudden changes in use. The requirement for a new application is not, as Appellant asserts, the equivalent of declaring all land in the district no longer eligible for the open-space exemption. When the new application is received, the chief appraiser then must re-determine the eligibility of each individual property. If a person fails to file a timely, valid application, the land is ineligible for the exemption for that year. Tex.Tax Code Ann.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
737 S.W.2d 33, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 7902, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peil-v-waller-county-appraisal-district-texapp-1987.