Donald PETRIN, et al. v. TOWN OF SCARBOROUGH
Docket: BCD-15-103
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.
August 16, 2016
2016 ME 136 | 147 A.3d 842
Argued: December 8, 2015; Corrected: September 27, 2016
you should consider the following in determining the accuracy of any eye witness identification ... how much weight, if any, you should give to the amount of certainty expressed by a witness given that there may not be a correlation between the reliability of an eye witness identification and the amount of certainty expressed by the witness in making that identification.
[¶ 22] The court‘s instruction sufficiently covered the proposed instruction because, unlike Mahmoud‘s proposed “at best, weak correlation” language, the court‘s instruction suggested that there could be no correlation at all. Because the jury was presented with the possibility that there may be no correlation between confidence and accuracy, the court‘s instruction sufficiently covered Mahmoud‘s proposed instruction.
The entry is:
Judgment affirmed.
Robert J. Crawford, Esq., N. Joel Moser, Esq., and Michael A. Hodgins, Esq.
Panel: SAUFLEY, C.J., and ALEXANDER, MEAD, GORMAN, JABAR, and HJELM, JJ.
HJELM, J.
[¶ 1] In 2012, the Town of Scarborough reassessed the tax valuation of parcels of land located in several areas within the Town, including the Pine Point, Higgins Beach, and Pillsbury Shores neighborhoods. Donald Petrin and other plaintiffs1 (collectively, the Taxpayers) own parcels of land in those neighborhoods. As a result of the partial revaluation, the municipal assessments of their parcels of land increased. The Taxpayers unsuccessfully sought abatements from the Town Assessor and the Scarborough Board of Assessment Review. The Taxpayers now appeal from a judgment entered in the Business and Consumer Docket (Horton, J.) concluding that they do not have standing to assert one of their challenges but otherwise affirming the Board‘s decision.
[¶ 2] We conclude that the Taxpayers have standing to pursue all of their challenges. We also determine that one of the Town‘s assessment practices is contrary to Maine law and that the Board erred by concluding that the unlawful practice did not result in discriminatory assessments of the Taxpayers’ properties. We therefore remand to the Business and Consumer Docket with instructions to remand to the Board for further proceedings.
I. BACKGROUND
[¶ 3] The Town of Scarborough last conducted a town-wide valuation of the approximately 8,500 parcels of land located within the Town in 2005. As the Board found, however, on an ongoing basis the Town Assessor monitors sales of Scarborough property and conducts annual studies to ensure that, based on those sales, real estate assessments comply with applicable legal requirements. In 2012, Town Assessor Paul Lesperance revalued properties in certain neighborhoods based on his ongoing analysis of sales data. This partial revaluation resulted in decreased assessments for 475 properties but increased assessments for 279 properties, including
[¶ 4] In early 2013, the Taxpayers filed separate applications with Lesperance requesting abatements for the 2012 tax year pursuant to
[¶ 5] The testimony and evidence presented at the hearing focused on two topics: (1) the basis for the 2012 partial revaluation, and (2) assessment practices affecting the Town‘s valuation of large lots and contiguous lots held in common ownership. Because we conclude that the Board erred in its analysis of municipal valuations of contiguous lots held in common ownership, we focus our outline of the evidence on that point.
[¶ 6] At the hearing before the Board, Lesperance testified about an assessment methodology for valuing lots larger than one acre, and another methodology for valuing adjacent lots held in common ownership. Although during the Board proceedings the parties referenced these practices in an undifferentiated way as the “excess land program,” they are actually two different practices.
[¶ 7] As to the first practice—in effect, a “large lot” program—Lesperance explained that when assessing parcels that are larger than one acre, the Town recognizes the diminishing value of land in “excess” of its base lot. See
[¶ 8] In contrast to the practice that affects the assessment of single parcels larger than one acre, Lesperance testified about an “abutting property benefit” that is also available to property owners, but only upon their request. Under that practice, two separate but abutting parcels in common ownership are treated as a single
[¶ 9] Lesperance stated that there were twenty or thirty sets of parcels in Scarborough that benefitted from the abutting property program, mostly located in the Prouts Neck neighborhood. The evidence also establishes that with the exception of one of the Taxpayers, Preston Leavitt, who owns at least two abutting parcels, all of the Taxpayers own single parcels.4 None of the Taxpayers owns a parcel larger than one acre.
[¶ 10] In a written decision issued in December 2013, the Board denied the Taxpayers’ consolidated appeals. The Board found, inter alia, that Lesperance‘s “appraisal techniques were thorough and well-grounded in expert assessing methodology,” that he “did not use systematic or intentional methods to create a disparity in valuations” or rely on “unfounded or arbitrary” assumptions, and that any errors in the analysis “did not affect the overall equity of the assessments.” The Board further stated that its “primary concern [about the abutting property program] was that the second lot reduction must be requested and that this policy may not be widely known in town.” Nevertheless, the Board “concluded that the actual impact of this policy was minor and did not make the assessments discriminatory.”
[¶ 11] In January 2014, pursuant to
II. DISCUSSION
[¶ 12] The Taxpayers argue that the evidence in the record compelled the Board to find that they bear an unequal share of the Town‘s overall tax burden because (1) the Town‘s assessment practices affecting large parcels and abutting parcels in com-
[¶ 13] When the trial court acts as an appellate tribunal in reviewing a decision of a municipal Board of Assessment Review,
we review the Board‘s decision directly for abuse of discretion, errors of law, and sufficient evidence. That the record contains evidence inconsistent with the result, or that inconsistent conclusions could be drawn from the evidence, does not render the Board‘s findings invalid if a reasonable mind might accept the relevant evidence as adequate to support the Board‘s conclusion.
Terfloth v. Town of Scarborough, 2014 ME 57, ¶ 10, 90 A.3d 1131 (citation omitted) (quotation marks omitted).
[¶ 14] “A town‘s tax assessment is presumed to be valid.” Ram‘s Head Partners, LLC v. Town of Cape Elizabeth, 2003 ME 131, ¶ 19, 834 A.2d 916. To rebut this presumption, a taxpayer bears an affirmative burden of proving that the assessed value of the property is “manifestly wrong” by demonstrating “(1) that [the] property was substantially overvalued and an injustice resulted from the overvaluation; (2) that there was unjust discrimination in the valuation of the property; or (3) that the assessment was fraudulent, dishonest, or illegal.” Terfloth, 2014 ME 57, ¶ 12, 90 A.3d 1131 (quotation marks omitted). Here, the Taxpayers argue only that there was unjust discrimination in the valuation of their properties.
[¶ 15] The prohibition against unjust discrimination in property taxation derives from
[¶ 16] Here, to prevail on their claim of unjust discrimination, the Taxpayers had the burden of proving to the Board “that the assessor‘s system necessarily results in unequal apportionment.” Ram‘s Head, 2003 ME 131, ¶ 10, 834 A.2d 916 (quotation marks omitted). Because the Board concluded that the Taxpayers failed to meet that burden, we will vacate the Board‘s decision “only if the record compels a contrary conclusion to the exclusion of any other inference.” Terfloth, 2014 ME 57, ¶ 13, 90 A.3d 1131 (quotation marks omitted).
[¶ 17] We first consider the Taxpayers’ claim of unjust discrimination based on the Town‘s assessment practices affecting commonly-owned contiguous lots (the “abutting property” program), which implicates the question of standing. We then address the Taxpayers’ remaining challenges, which are directed at the large lot program and the 2012 partial revaluation.
A. Abutting Property Program
[¶ 18] The Taxpayers argue that the court erred by concluding that they lack standing to challenge the abutting property program. They go on to contend that on the merits, the Board erred by concluding that the practice is constitutional and not unjustly discriminatory. For the reasons set out below, we conclude that the Taxpayers have standing and that the program necessarily results in an unequal apportionment of the municipal tax burden, which operates to the Taxpayers’ detriment.
1. Standing
[¶ 19] The Taxpayers assert that because their properties did not receive the favorable tax treatment granted to owners of abutting parcels who requested the benefit, they have suffered a particularized injury and thus have standing to challenge that practice. Conversely, the Town argues that the Taxpayers do not have standing because they have not suffered any harm that is different from the harm experienced by all other taxpayers in Scarborough. Whether a party has standing is a question of law that we review de novo. Friends of Lincoln Lakes v. Town of Lincoln, 2010 ME 78, ¶ 8, 2 A.3d 284.
[¶ 20] When a taxpayer seeks remedial relief from a municipality‘s use of a practice that allegedly results in an unlawful assessment, the taxpayer is “required to show special or particularized injury: injury different from that incurred by every other taxpayer.” Lehigh v. Pittston Co., 456 A.2d 355, 358 (Me. 1983). In contrast, a request for preventative relief, such as an injunction, requires no such showing. See Buck v. Town of Yarmouth, 402 A.2d 860, 861-62 (Me. 1979). Here, the Taxpayers do not seek to enjoin the Town from favoring the owners of large or contiguous lots. Rather, they seek only remedial relief for the Town‘s past use of practices that affected their 2012 property tax assessments. Accordingly, the Taxpayers must demonstrate a particularized injury.
[¶ 21] The Taxpayers meet this requirement because the abutting property program does not affect all properties in the same way. The challenged practice results in differing tax treatment for two types of parcels: parcels that are given a discounted assessed value, with a resulting tax benefit to the owners of those parcels; and parcels that are assessed at full value, which deprives those parcels’ owners of the lower assessment. To qualify for the discounted assessment rate, a parcel must abut another parcel in common ownership. For purposes of municipal tax assessments, an abutting parcel therefore is assessed at a different—and lower—rate than other comparable parcels. Because the Taxpayers own properties that do not receive the comparatively favorable tax treatment that is conferred on abutting parcels, the Taxpayers have a “particular right to be pursued or protected,” Buck, 402 A.2d at 861 (quotation marks omitted)—that is, their right to have their properties taxed equitably in relation to the abutting properties, see Ram‘s Head, 2003 ME 131, ¶ 10, 834 A.2d 916; Knight v. Thomas, 93 Me. 494, 500, 45 A. 499 (1900) (stating that a taxpayer has standing, based on a “personal interest,” to chal-
[¶ 22] We now address the merits of the Taxpayers’ challenge to the Town‘s assessment of commonly-owned abutting parcels.
2. Unjust Discrimination
[¶ 23] The Taxpayers argue that the abutting property program is unconstitutional on its face and that the Board erred by concluding that it did not have a discriminatory effect adverse to their interests. This argument requires us to determine whether the Taxpayers have demonstrated that the Board was compelled to conclude that the program necessarily resulted in a discriminatory apportionment of the municipal tax burden. See Ram‘s Head, 2003 ME 131, ¶ 10, 834 A.2d 916. We conclude that the Taxpayers have met that burden.
[¶ 24] The prohibition against discriminatory tax assessments, which is rooted in the constitutional principle of equal protection, “protects the individual from state action which selects him out for discriminatory treatment by subjecting him to taxes not imposed on others of the same class.” Hillsborough v. Cromwell, 326 U.S. 620, 623, 66 S. Ct. 445, 90 L. Ed. 358 (1946). The taxing authority is therefore constitutionally required to achieve “a rough equality in tax treatment of similarly situated property owners,” thereby treating those property owners “evenhandedly.” Allegheny Pittsburgh Coal Co. v. Cty. Comm‘n, 488 U.S. 336, 343, 345, 109 S. Ct. 633, 102 L. Ed. 2d 688 (1989), quoted in Ram‘s Head, 2003 ME 131, ¶ 10, 834 A.2d 916. Although a municipality is entitled to create various classes of property and impose different tax burdens on those respective classes, “those divisions and burdens [must be] reasonable,” based on the character of the properties or on policy. Allegheny, 488 U.S. at 344.
[¶ 25] In Ram‘s Head, we recognized that “[m]ost property tax discrimination cases involve a defined methodology that results in unequal treatment” of properties within the same class. 2003 ME 131, ¶ 13, 834 A.2d 916; see also Allegheny, 488 U.S. at 345 (holding that a state may not engage in “intentional systematic undervaluation” of property (quotation marks omitted)). Additionally, we held that to demonstrate a discriminatory effect of a challenged assessment practice, taxpayers need not present evidence of the actual value of the parcels that allegedly receive favorable treatment. Ram‘s Head, 2003 ME 131, ¶ 12, 834 A.2d 916. Rather, taxpayers may establish discrimination with proof that parcels owned by other taxpayers “are assessed at drastically lower valuations; that there are no distinctions between the [two sets of] properties that justify the disparity; and that any rationale offered by the Town for the lower valuation[s] is unfounded or arbitrary.” Id.
[¶ 26] Here, the Town uses a valuation methodology by which the assessor intentionally and systematically discounts the assessed value of abutting lots in common ownership for the sole reason that there is
[¶ 27] First, this practice violates the statutory requirement that each parcel of real estate must be assessed separately. See
[¶ 28] Second, the abutting property program violates the constitutional requirement that real estate be assessed at just value. See
[¶ 29] Because each parcel of real estate must be assessed separately and according to just value, regardless of whether the parcel abuts another parcel in common ownership, the Town‘s rationale for the abutting property program is not reasonable, see Allegheny, 488 U.S. at 344, and cannot serve as the basis for the Town‘s assessments.
[¶ 30] Having concluded that the Town failed to present a rationale for the abutting property program that is reasonable and consistent with Maine law, we turn to the dispositive question of whether the Board was compelled to find that the practice necessarily results in unequal tax treatment.
[¶ 31] Lesperance testified that there are twenty to thirty taxpayers who receive favorable tax treatment in the form of a “tax savings” as a result of the abutting property program. This necessarily means that those who do not own abutting lots are subjected to taxes that are not imposed on owners of lots that happen to be abutting. This contravenes the Taxpayers’ rights of equal protection. See Hillsborough, 326 U.S. at 623; Ram‘s Head, 2003 ME 131, ¶ 10, 834 A.2d 916 (stating that the “constitutional requirement is the seasonable attainment of a rough equality in tax treatment of similarly situated property owners” (quotation marks omitted)).
[¶ 32] Arguing—as the Board found—that the undervaluation of the abutting lots does not result in a discriminatory apportionment of the municipal tax burden, the Town points to evidence of the relatively small number of taxpayers who receive favorable tax treatment under the abutting property program, relative to the 8,500 parcels located in Scarborough with a total assessed valuation of approximately $3.5 billion. The Town‘s position, however, rests on the incorrect notion that the proper remedy for unjust discrimination is an upward revision of the taxes for the properties that received favorable treatment in 2012. Instead, as is established in a long-standing constitutional doctrine, ”abatement is the proper remedy for unjust discrimination.” Ram‘s Head, 2003 ME 131, ¶ 15, 834 A.2d 916 (emphasis added) (collecting cases). Therefore, regardless of what future effect a proper assessment of abutting properties may have on the apportionment of tax burden among all of the Town‘s property owners, the evidence compelled the Board to conclude that the Taxpayers’ properties were assessed in a systematically discriminatory manner and that the Taxpayers are entitled to an abatement for the 2012 tax year. We must therefore remand this matter to the Business and Consumer Docket with instructions to remand to the Board for further proceedings to address the inequality in tax treatment affecting the Taxpayers because of the abutting property program.
B. Taxpayers’ Remaining Challenges
[¶ 33] Although we remand this matter for the Board to address the unlawfully discriminatory effect of the Town‘s abutting property program, we address the Taxpayers’ remaining challenges so that the nature and scope of the municipal proceedings on remand are clear.
[¶ 34] In their remaining arguments, the Taxpayers contend that, as with the abutting property program, the Town‘s assess-
1. Large Lot Program
[¶ 35] The Taxpayers contend that the Town has used an unfairly discriminatory valuation practice by assessing portions of larger single lots at a rate that is lower than the rate applied to the “base” portion of the lots.
[¶ 36] So long as an assessment “represents a fair and just determination of value” for the parcel “as a whole,” no constitutional harm has occurred. Roberts v. Town Of Southwest Harbor, 2004 ME 132, ¶ 4, 861 A.2d 617 (quotation marks omitted) (holding that a taxpayer failed to satisfy his burden of proving unjust discrimination when his argument “focused only on a component of his assessed value ... and not on the total assessed value“). Here, Lesperance‘s testimony entitled the Board to find that in assessing the fair market value of a single parcel that consists of a base lot and additional unimproved land, that additional land contributes in diminishing degrees to the overall market value of the parcel. Notwithstanding a conflicting view expressed by the Taxpayers’ expert, the Board was entitled to find that the Town‘s assessment of an individual parcel larger than one acre “represents a fair and just determination of value” when considering the parcel “as a whole.” See id. (quotation marks omitted). Therefore, the Board was not compelled to conclude that the large lot program is unjustly discriminatory.
2. Partial Revaluation
[¶ 37] The Taxpayers next argue that the evidence compelled the Board to find that the 2012 partial revaluation failed to equalize the apportionment of taxes within the Town because there was insufficient evidence to show that the assessment-to-sales ratios in the targeted waterfront and water-influenced neighborhoods were significantly different from those in other residential areas.8
[¶ 38] As we have previously held, although “[t]ownwide revaluations
[¶ 39] The evidence, viewed as a whole, supports the Board‘s conclusion that the partial revaluation improved the equity of the Town‘s assessments. Lesperance testified that in 2011, the average assessment-to-sales ratio in residential areas of the Town was close to 100%. That ratio is also set out in the portions of the annual State Valuation Reports9 prepared by Maine Revenue Services (MRS)10 that address municipal tax assessments in Scarborough in the 2011 tax year. In contrast, the Board received evidence that for the specific waterfront and water-influenced markets that Lesperance reassessed in 2012, the assessment-to-sales ratios were significantly below that standard.11 Lesperance stated that the valuation increases resulting from the 2012 partial revaluation directly addressed those disparities, improving the assessment ratios for the targeted areas in Higgins Beach, Pine Point, and Pillsbury Shores so that they were closer to 100%, and bringing them in line with the residential average. The post-valuation assessment ratios were also well within statutory “minimum assessing standards” that are designed to achieve just and equitable property tax assessments,
[¶ 40] Lesperance also stated that he reduced assessments in other neighborhoods where the sales data established a trend of lower sales prices. The 2012 revaluation therefore targeted locations that constitute “separate markets” and adjusted the assessments there in order to equalize assessment-to-sales ratios throughout the Town.
[¶ 41] Post-valuation studies also examined the “quality ratings” of the revalued properties. A “quality rating” measures the variance between particular sales prices and the average assessment-to-sales ratio. A lower quality rating indicates a
[¶ 42] The Taxpayers argue that the Board erred by relying on Lesperance‘s post-valuation studies as evidence that the revaluation improved the equity of the Town‘s assessments, because those studies include sales that took place before the economic downturn of 2008. They contend that when there is a significant change in the market, such as a recession, it is improper for an assessor to consider sales that took place before that event. Contrary to their contention, however, the Board received competent evidence to support its implicit findings that the 2008 recession did not have a significant adverse impact on waterfront property values in Scarborough and that therefore the inclusion of pre-2008 data in Lesperance‘s studies was proper. Although the Taxpayers presented testimony from an appraiser who offered a contrary opinion regarding the effect of the 2008 recession, the Board was not compelled to accept that view. See Adelman v. Town of Baldwin, 2000 ME 91, ¶ 14, 750 A.2d 577 (explaining that a municipal board is entitled to make credibility determinations and find facts based on its assessment of the evidence).
[¶ 43] Additionally, contrary to the Taxpayers’ contention, Lesperance‘s reliance on sales occurring since the last town-wide revaluation is consistent with our analysis in Opinion of the Justices. 2004 ME 54, 850 A.2d 1145. In that case, we considered the constitutionality of proposed legislation that would have created two different bases for tax value purposes depending on the date of acquisition. Id. ¶ 13. We concluded that the proposed bill “[ran] afoul of the [constitutional] requirement that a valid property tax must be based on [current] market value,” because some properties would be taxed based entirely on an assessment from eight years earlier. Id. ¶ 16; see also
[¶ 44] We therefore conclude that, contrary to the Taxpayers’ contentions, the Board did not err by determining that the Assessor reasonably increased assessments for targeted waterfront and water-influenced properties in Higgins Beach, Pine Point, and Pillsbury Shores in 2012, and that Lesperance‘s use of market data was not flawed.
[¶ 45] Although the Board did not err in denying the Taxpayers’ abatement applications based on several of their contentions, the evidence compels the conclusion that the Town‘s method of assessing separate but abutting parcels held in common ownership resulted in unequal apportionment because that methodology necessarily deprives the Taxpayers “of a rough equality in tax treatment of similarly situated property owners.” Allegheny, 488 U.S. at 343. We therefore remand this action to the Business and Consumer Docket with instructions to remand to the Board for a determination of the appropriate abatements.
The entry is:
Judgment vacated. Remanded to the Business and Consumer Docket with instructions to remand to the Scarborough Board of Assessment Review for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.