Poffenberger v. Board of Revision

375 N.E.2d 65, 54 Ohio App. 2d 89, 8 Ohio Op. 3d 137, 1977 WL 199612, 1977 Ohio App. LEXIS 7019
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 12, 1977
DocketCA635
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 375 N.E.2d 65 (Poffenberger v. Board of Revision) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Poffenberger v. Board of Revision, 375 N.E.2d 65, 54 Ohio App. 2d 89, 8 Ohio Op. 3d 137, 1977 WL 199612, 1977 Ohio App. LEXIS 7019 (Ohio Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

BettmAN, J.

This case arises from a complaint as to the valuation of appellants’ property determined by the Auditor of Clermont County for the tax year 1973. The valuation fixed by the Auditor was upheld by the Board of Revision and the Court of Common Pleas. Appellants assign three errors, the essence of which is that the trial court’s decision is contrary to law. The underlying question presented is whether a county auditor may lawfully fix the tax value of a parcel of real estate solely on the basis of its fair market value while at the same time fixing the value of comparable properties by a different method.

The evidence, all of which was stipulated, was that appellants own 215 acres of agricultural land located *90 within' a triangle formed by Woodville Pike, Deerfield Road and State -Route 132 in Goshen Township, Clermont. County. Appellants’ land is agricultural but, lying east, of Milford and Loveland, Ohio, is in the path of urban development. Its highest and best use is for residential development. All other parcels of real estate • reviewed in-evidence are similarly situated and all evidence as to values refers to land only, without improvements. Values of this type of real estate are determined on per acre basis.

On the 1972 tax duplicate, in carrying out the mandatory sexennial appraisal of all parcels in the county, the County Auditor fixed the tax valuation of appellants5' parcels at $20,300, or $94 per acre. On the 1973 duplicate he raised the tax value to $70,500, or $326 per acre. This value was based on 35 per cent of a fair market value of $200,000, the price at which the property had sold on October 10, 1972.

Evidence was introduced by appellant as to the 1973 assessed valuation of seven other parcels. Appellees stipulated that these seven parcels had similar utilities, access,, zoning and the same characteristics as appellants5 parcels. All were located within the same triangle mentioned above,, in Goshen Township. These properties, none of which had been sold subsequent to the 1972 county-wide appraisal, were assessed at values ranging from $107 to $189 per acre. The average assessed value per acre of the seven “comparable55 parcels was $129. In other words, the assessed valuation of appellants’ land was 150 per cent greater than that of comparable surrounding land. •

To justify the assessment, appellees introduced, by stipulation, an appraisal comparing appellants5 parcels, with four other parcels located in the same triangle. This appraisal was “as of January 1, 1975.55 However, it was offered by appellees in support of the -1973 appraisal and stated:■“* * * [T]hé time span for speculative development land is not significant in this ease.” From this -we must assume that the true value of all parcels considered in the case was substantially the same on both January 1, 1973, and January 1, 1975.

*91 The value set by the appraiser for appellants’ land was made on the basis of the recent sale prices of appellants’ parcels and the four “comparable” parcels. By this method, the Auditor sought to justify his position that the value fixed was in accordance with law and the words of the Supreme Court that “* * * the value, or true value in money of property for the purpose of taxation, is the amount which should result from a sale of such property on the open market.” State ex rel. Park Investent Co. v. Bd. of Tax Appeals (1964), 175 Ohio St. 410, 412. As we shall discuss hereinafter, the lawful determination of value involves further considerations.

What to us was evidence of critical significance is that two of the parcels shown in the appellees’ appraisal as “comparables” were among the seven “comparables” listed by appellants in their complaint. The first, owned by one Dorme, Inc., was assessed on the 1973 duplicate at a value of $107 per acre. Appellees’ appraiser valued this parcel at $2,121 per acre which, using the 35 per cent formula, would make its per acre value, for tax purposes, $742. The second, owned by one Stephens, was assessed on the 1973 duplicate at $126 per acre. The appraiser placed its fair market value at $3,013 per acre which, again applying the 35 per cent formula, would make its per acre value, for tax purposes, $1,055.

In other words, by proof offered by the Auditor himself, parcels in the immediate proximity and comparable to appellants’ land were valued for tax purposes by some “method” which resulted in their being listed for tax purposes at one seventh to one eighth of what they should have been had he used the same “method” applied to appellants’ parcels.

Section 2, Article XII, of the Ohio Constitution has provided since the founding of the state that “Land and improvements thereon shall be taxed by uniform rule according to value.” As far back as 1853, the Supreme Court said in Exchange Bank of Columbus v. Hines (1853), 3 Ohio St. 1, 15:

“What is meant by the words ‘taxing by a uniform *92 rule’l and to what is the rule applied by the constitution?' No language in the constitution, perhaps, is more important than this; and to accomplish the beneficial purposes, intended, it is essential that they should be truly interpreted, and correctly applied. ‘Taxing’ is required to be ‘by-a uniform rule;’ that is, by one and the same unvarying-standard. Taxing by a uniform rule requires uniformity,, not only in the rate of taxation, but also uniformity in the mode of assessment upon the taxable valuation. Uniformity in taxing implies equality in the burden of taxation; and this equality of burden cannot exist without uniformity in the mode of the assessment, as well as in the rate of taxation.”

Despite foot-dragging by the taxing authorities, the Supreme Court of Ohio has consistently held that within the limits of feasibility the Constitution mandates uniformity and equality in the determination of the taxable values of real property. State, ex rel. Park Invest. Co., v. Bd. of Tax Appeals (1971), 26 Ohio St. 2d 161, and cases cited therein.

In Griffith v. Clermont County Bd. of Revision, unreported, First Appellate District, No. CA 546, decided April 14, 1975, and Sidio v. Clermont County Bd. of Revision, unreported, First Appellate District, No. CA 550, decided, June 30, 1975, we concluded that where comparable properties are subjected to unequal methods of valuation, the principle pronounced in paragraph one of the syllabus of Koblenz v. Board of Revision (1966), 5 Ohio St. 2d 214, governed. We consider that principle applicable to the facts before us. That paragraph states:

“In a situation involving the assessment of real property for tax purposes where it is impossible to secure both the statutory standard of true value in money and the uniformity and equality required by the Ohio Constitution and the United States Constitution, the latter requirements are to be preferred as the just and ultimate purpose of the law.”

In Koblenz,

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Bluebook (online)
375 N.E.2d 65, 54 Ohio App. 2d 89, 8 Ohio Op. 3d 137, 1977 WL 199612, 1977 Ohio App. LEXIS 7019, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/poffenberger-v-board-of-revision-ohioctapp-1977.