Program Centers of Grace Union Presbytery, Inc. v. Earle

726 S.W.2d 628, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 6994
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 18, 1987
DocketNo. 2-86-118-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 726 S.W.2d 628 (Program Centers of Grace Union Presbytery, Inc. v. Earle) 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
Program Centers of Grace Union Presbytery, Inc. v. Earle, 726 S.W.2d 628, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 6994 (Tex. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

BURDOCK, Justice.

This is the second time we have considered this property tax case on appeal. See Earle v. Program Centers of Grace Union Pres., 670 S.W.2d 777 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1984, no writ). In the first appeal of this cause we reversed the trial court on the basis of the wording of certain special issues unrelated to the issues now before us.

Appellant, Program Centers of Grace Union Presbytery, Inc., is a land owner in Denton County, Texas. Appellant filed a petition in the district court seeking review of an unfavorable ruling on its application to the Appraisal Review Board (ARB) of Denton County for an exemption on church property. In partial response to the appellant’s petition, appellees, the Denton County Appraisal District (DCAD), its Board of Directors, the chief appraiser, deputy chief appraisers, and the appraisal supervisor, filed their “Plea in Bar and Motion to Dismiss,” alleging the court did not have jurisdiction to hear appellant’s complaint. The court below granted the motion, and this appeal follows.

We affirm.

In its first, second, third, fourth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh points of error, appellant maintains the trial judge misconstrued the Property Tax Code when it granted appellees’ Motion to Dismiss.

Appellant had sought an exemption under sections 11.19 and 11.20 of the Code for approximately 67 acres of land owned and operated as a church camp by an affiliate of the Presbyterian Church of the United States. According to appellant’s petition, “Program Centers is chartered for the purposes of owning and operating church camps and program centers and engaging in the joint and threefold religious, educational and physical development of boys and girls, young men and women.”

After hearing appellant’s argument for an exemption, the Denton County ARB granted appellant’s request for an exemption for only one acre of land, on which a minister’s home and chapel were located. In addition, the ARB ordered the chief appraiser and the DCAD to correct their records to reflect a valuation of appellant’s property of $485,526.

After receiving notice of the ARB’s determination of its protest, appellant filed a notice of appeal with the DCAD within the time prescribed by law. When appellant subsequently filed its petition for review in the district court, appellees responded with the Motion to Dismiss. In that motion, appellees alleged appellant had given notice of its appeal to the DCAD, not the ARB, as [630]*630required by statute. According to appel-lees, such failure to notify the ARB of appellant’s intention to appeal deprived the trial court of jurisdiction to review the ARB’s decision.

A review of the record before us reveals appellant failed to serve written notice of appeal on the ARB. However, the record does reflect appellant timely served written notice of its intention to appeal the decision of the ARB on the DCAD at its offices in Denton. Appellant argues this satisfied the notice requirements of section 42.06 of the Code.

Section 42.06 provides:

(a) To exercise his right of appeal, a party must file written notice of appeal within 15 days after the date he receives the notice required by Section 41.47 or, in the case of a taxing unit, by Section 41.07 of this code that the order appealed has been issued.
(b) The notice must be filed with the body that issued the order appealed.

TEX.TAX.CODE ANN. sec. 42.06 (Vernon 1982); see also Towne Square Associates v. Angelina County, 709 S.W.2d 776, 777-78 (Tex.App.—Beaumont 1986, no writ). The failure to file a notice of appeal within 15 days is jurisdictional. Rockdale Ind. Sch. v. Thorndale Ind. Sch., 681 S.W.2d 225, 227 (Tex.App.—Austin 1984, writ ref’d n.r.e.).

The appraisal district and the appraisal review board are separate and distinct bodies. Corchine Partnership v. Dallas Cty. Appraisal, 695 S.W.2d 734, 735 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1985, writ ref’d n.r. e.). Tax Code sections 6.01 and 6.03 establish appraisal districts and their boards of directors. Section 6.41 provides for appraisal review boards. Towne Square, 709 S.W.2d at 778. Failure to give notice to the proper body is also jurisdictional. Texas Conference Ass’n v. Cent. Appraisal, 719 S.W.2d 255, 257 (Tex.App.—Waco 1986, writ ref’d n.r.e.); Corchine Partnership, 695 S.W.2d at 735. Here, the notice of appeal was not properly given. As a result, the trial court correctly dismissed appellant’s petition for judicial review.

Appellant alleges this case is governed by the requirements of section 42.21, as it appeared in 1982. In support of this argument, appellant relies on Corchine Partnership, 695 S.W.2d at 735, for the proposition that section 42.21 governs an appeal from an ARB decision.

Prior to its amendment in 1983, section 42.21 provided:

A party who appeals as provided by this chapter must file a petition for review with the district court within 45 days after the party received notice that a final order has been entered from which an appeal may be had; failure to timely file a petition bars any appeal under this section. Citation is issued and served in the manner provided by law for civil suits generally.

Property Tax Code, ch. 841, sec. 42.21,1979 Tex.Gen.Laws 2217, 2311.

In 1985, section 42.21 was amended with the addition of the following paragraphs:

(b) A petition for review brought under Section 42.02 of this code must be brought against the appraisal review board and against the owner of the property involved in the appeal. A petition for review brought under Section 42.031 of this code must be brought against the appraisal district and the appraisal review board and against the owner of the property involved in the appeal. Any other petition for review under this chapter must be brought against the appraisal district and the appraisal review board.
(c) An appraisal district is served by service on the chief appraiser. An appraisal review board is served by service on the chairman of the appraisal review board. Citation of a party is issued and served in the manner provided by law for civil suits generally.

TEX.TAX CODE ANN. sec. 42.21 (Vernon Supp.1987).

Appellant argues that under section 42.-21, as it existed in 1982, there was no requirement that a district court suit to review a decision of the ARB name both the appraisal district and the appraisal review board as parties. In appellant’s view, [631]*631imposition of such a requirement amounts to retroactive application of the requirements of section 42.21, as amended.

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726 S.W.2d 628, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 6994, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/program-centers-of-grace-union-presbytery-inc-v-earle-texapp-1987.