Appeal of Public Service Company of New Hampshire d/b/a Eversource Energy
165 A.3d 695
| N.H. | 2017Background
- PSNH (Eversource) appealed BTLA denials of tax abatements for 86 municipal assessments of utility property for tax years 2011–2012; consolidated eight-day BTLA hearing; appeal to New Hampshire Supreme Court.
- PSNH owns generation/transmission assets (hydro and fossil) and is PUC-regulated; both PSNH and DRA (state) submitted unit-method appraisals valuing the utility as a whole then allocating to towns.
- PSNH offered appraisals/testimony from Tegarden and DRA appraiser Dickman (and rebuttal expert Heaton); municipalities offered multiple assessor experts (Sansoucy, Roberge, Smith, Corcoran/Hurley) using cost (RCNLD), sales comparison, and income approaches.
- BTLA granted 9 abatements but denied the remainder, finding Tegarden’s and Dickman’s appraisals not credible and concluding PSNH failed to prove municipal assessments disproportional; BTLA declined to resolve many methodological criticisms because methodology alone cannot establish disproportionality.
- PSNH appealed arguing (1) BTLA wrongly rejected Tegarden/DRA appraisals and failed to account for regulation, (2) BTLA treated its challenges as merely methodological, (3) estoppel should bar municipalities from assessing above DRA values, and (4) constitutional/statutory uniformity and proportionality violations.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether BTLA erred in rejecting Tegarden and DRA unit-method appraisals | PSNH: appraisals credible; regulation limits buyers to NBV; unit method previously accepted | Municipalities: appraisals flawed in assumptions, income and cost approaches, allocations, and appraiser qualifications | Court: Affirmed BTLA — its factual findings rejecting those appraisals are supported by record; regulation did not compel NBV result and unit appraisals had specific defects |
| Whether PSNH proved municipal assessments were disproportional (vs. merely methodological critiques) | PSNH: methodological critiques + expert testimony showed assessments exceeded market value | Municipalities: flaws in methodology do not, by themselves, prove disproportionality; BTLA credited municipal experts | Court: Affirmed — PSNH failed to meet burden to show disproportionate taxation; BTLA permissibly treated many criticisms as methodological only |
| Whether judicial or quasi‑estoppel bars municipalities from assessing above DRA equalized values | PSNH: municipalities implicitly accepted DRA values and should be estopped from taking contrary local positions | Municipalities/DRA: DRA equalization is not a litigated position by towns; towns report local values and DRA may substitute its own allocations | Court: Estoppel doctrines inapplicable — DRA process is not a party-litigation position and towns did not take inconsistent legal positions; quasi‑estoppel not shown |
| Whether differing local vs. DRA assessments violate state constitutional/statutory uniformity and proportionality | PSNH: municipalities taxing at higher local values than DRA equalization causes disproportionate tax burden | Municipalities: each taxing district must value property uniformly within the district; PSNH pays same proportion as other municipal taxpayers | Court: No constitutional/statutory violation — constitutional test concerns proportion within the taxing district; any disparity with DRA statewide allocation does not show PSNH pays more than its local proportional share |
Key Cases Cited
- Porter v. Town of Sanbornton, 150 N.H. 363 (2003) (taxpayer bears burden to show assessment disproportional by showing higher percentage of fair market value)
- Appeal of Pennichuck Water Works, 160 N.H. 18 (2010) (utility valuation methods and deference to trier of fact; multiple valuation approaches acceptable)
- Appeal of Public Serv. Co. of N.H., 124 N.H. 479 (1984) (if regulation so restrictive that purchaser limited to NBV, NBV may equal market value)
- Town of Charlestown, 166 N.H. 498 (2014) (BTLA findings prima facie lawful; standard of review)
- Appeal of City of Nashua, 138 N.H. 261 (1994) (constitutional mandate that taxpayers be assessed at the same proportion of fair market value within a town)
- Stevens v. City of Lebanon, 122 N.H. 29 (1982) (abatement test is whether taxpayer pays more than proportional share of taxes)