Supervisor of Assessments v. STELLAR GT

961 A.2d 1119, 406 Md. 658, 2008 Md. LEXIS 624
Court of Appeals of Maryland·Decided December 12, 2008·No. 36, September Term, 2008·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinions

BATTAGLIA, Judge.

In order to determine the value of a piece of real estate upon which its tax is derived, the Maryland State Department of Assessment and Taxation assesses1 real property once every three years; any increase in the value is “phased in”2 over a period of three years. See Section 8-103 of the Tax-Property Article, Maryland Code (1985, 2001 Repl.Vol.).3 The property is valued as of “the January 1 immediately before the 1st taxable year [4] to which the assessment based on the new [662]*662value is applicable” or the “date of finality,” which is the date that “assessments become final for the taxable year next following.” Sections 1—101(i) and 8-104. Specific events, however, may occur during a three year cycle that may result in a “mid-cycle” revaluation of the property, although they are limited by Section 8-104(c) to the following:

(i) the zoning classification is changed at the initiative of the owner or anyone having an interest in the property;
(ii) a change in use or character occurs;
(iii) substantially completed improvements are made which add at least $50,000 in value to the property;
(iv) an error in calculation or measurement of the real property caused the value to be erroneous;
(v) a residential use assessment is terminated pursuant to § 8-226 of this title; or
(vi) a subdivision occurs.

The mid-cycle revaluation affects the value of the real property as of the original date of finality under 8-104(c)(2).5

In the case at bar, a mid-cycle revaluation was prompted by a sale of the property rather than any of the six statutory factors and so, we are presented with the question raised on certiorari by the Supervisor of Assessments for Montgomery County:

When the value of the subject property has increased by more than $50,000 because of substantially completed renovations in the previous calendar year, and this increase in [663]*663value is not captured in the existing assessment, is the § 8-104(c) mandate to revalue the property at a new, correct value negated when the Supervisor’s review of the property was prompted by a recent sale or the assessor had some knowledge of the renovations at the time of the last triennial assessment?

L

In this case, the purchasers of Georgian Towers,6 Stellar GT (“Stellar”), appealed a mid-cycle reassessment of the apartment building from $52,561,600 to $88,865,500, which would have resulted in a substantial tax increase. Stellar first appealed to the Property Tax Assessment Appeals Board, which ultimately affirmed, and then to the Maryland Tax Court. The Tax Court held a hearing on May 10, 2006, during which Thomas Borger, the President of Borger Management, the property and construction manager of Georgian Towers since 1988, testified that nearly 13 million dollars in renovations to the building took place between 1999 and 2003.7 Borger also testified that in October of 2003 he met with David M. Gantz, an assessor of commercial property with the Montgomery County Office of the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation, who valued Georgian Towers in anticipation of the 2004 assessment notice, and tendered8 a completed Income Questionnaire and a Construction Summary. The Income Questionnaire included income from rents, parking and retail stores as well as expenses from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2002; there was no information provided for 2003. The Construction Summary listed all renova[664]*664tions, including enhancements and deferred maintenance costs.9 Borger further stated that Gantz had not “looked at the property in any detail”; in fact, the parties stipulated that “David M. Gantz also states that he did not inspect the subject property after the renovation information ... was presented to him by Thomas Borger in October of 2003.” Borger testified that he had no further contact with the Assessment Office after he received the Notice of Assessment for $52,561,600 dated December 30, 2003.

In March of 2004, Borger testified, the property was sold to Stellar, the current owner of the property for approximately $89,000,000. Although Borger did not know of any change in the building’s assessment until late in July 2004, the record does reflect that within three months of the sale, and only six months after the date of finality, on June 1, 2004, the Montgomery County Office of the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation sent a Notice of Assessment to Stellar to inform the company that Georgian Towers had been revalued from $52,561,600 to $88,865,500, an increase of $36,303,900. The Notice stated that “State law provides that in any year of a 3 year cycle, real property shall be revalued when certain factors cause a change in value. This is to notify you that the value of your property has been changed due to new construction for the full year.” The Notice provided that the new phased-in market values, “for the next three taxable years,” were as follows: $79,875,033 for 2004; $84,370,266 for 2005; and $88,865,500 for 2006.

Daniel Ercolani, the Supervisor of Assessments for Montgomery County Office of the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation at the time of the hearing, also testified, explaining that in the reassessment cycle, the actual work year for January 1, 2004 assessments was from January of 2003 to December of 2003 during which time “Assessors are going to be reviewing the permits, sending their Income Question[665]*665naires to the owners, receiving the Income questionnaires, doing market studies of rents and cap rates and such.” He further testified that in the instant case, Gantz used the income approach for the assessment of Georgian Towers, reflecting that he “took the number of units, the type of units, he put what he assumed were the accurate rents for each type of unit, he deducted a vacancy and expense, he capitalized it by a cap rate of 10.46, and that resulted in a valuation of [$52,561,600].” Ercolani also described the process of revaluing new construction and renovated properties:

[I]n Montgomery County we have quarterly pickups. We are notified through the Montgomery County Permit Office of either additions or new construction. The permits are given to the Assessors in those areas. The Assessors make physical reviews of the properties, they determine what the values of what the new construction, what those values are, and notices are sent on a quarterly basis.

Ercolani acknowledged that he was statutorily prohibited from changing an assessment before the end of the three year cycle if the change was based upon a sale. Ercolani also acknowledged that the Montgomery County Permit Office notifies his office of additions and new construction on a quarterly basis and that he relied on that information to determine if a renovation had occurred that could have increased the value of a property by more than $50,000. According to him, were such a renovation to occur, the sales price of a building could then have been used to determine its value.

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Supervisor of Assessments v. STELLAR GT, 961 A.2d 1119, 406 Md. 658, 2008 Md. LEXIS 624 (Md. 2008).

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Supervisor of Assessments v. STELLAR GT
961 A.2d 1119 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2008)