5 Or. Tax 651 | Or. T.C. | 1974
Decision on stipulated facts for defendant rendered November 22, 1974.
In its Order No. VL 74-20 (dated January 31, 1974), the defendant Department of Revenue denied the plaintiffs' appeal on the ground that the defendant was without power to take affirmative action because the plaintiffs had not exhausted their administrative remedies. The plaintiffs have appealed that decision to this court, pursuant to ORS
The facts are undisputed. As of the assessment date, January 1, 1972, the County Assessor of Deschutes County, Oregon, had assessed certain real property in Deschutes County owned by the plaintiffs in fee simple, the property being described as Assessor's Account No. 171233CB and Tax Lot No. 10000, Code 1-1. The assessed value of the improvements on the land was set by the assessor at $450,000. Seeking to reduce the assessment, plaintiffs duly petitioned the county board of equalization in May 1972 (pursuant to ORS
Following the hearing of November 15, 1972, and before the issuance of defendant's Order No. VL 73-307 on September 12, 1973, plaintiffs failed to take any steps to protect their position regarding the assessed valuation of the improvements for the following tax year, 1973-1974.
During the hiatus following the hearing on the 1972-1973 value, held November 15, 1972, and before the issuance on September 12, 1973, of defendant's Order No. VL 73-307, it was incumbent upon the county assessor to prepare the assessment roll for 1973-1974, showing the true cash value of each item of taxable property as of January 1, 1973. (ORS
It can be assumed that the County Assessor of Deschutes County knew of the pending appeal relating to the subject property, as to which a hearing had been held on November 15, 1972. However, as of January 1, 1973, the assessment date for the tax year 1973-1974, and prior to the delivery of the assessment roll to the county board of equalization in May 1973, the county assessor had no cause to change his assessed value of subject property as of January 1, 1972. He continued it on the assessment roll as of January 1, 1973. In the normal course, the tax collector is assumed to have delivered tax statements for 1973-1974 *654
by mail on or before the first day of November 1973 (ORS
ORS
"(1) [a]ny taxpayer aggrieved by an act or omission of a county assessor or tax collector which affects his property and for which there is no other statutory remedy * * *." (Emphasis supplied.)
The taxpayers here are aggrieved because the assessed valuation placed upon the subject property by the assessor as of January 1, 1973, was the same as that placed on the property by him as of January 1, 1972 (as to which an order of the defendant was then pending). Plaintiffs' statutory remedy, plainly, was to utilize the appeal to the county board of equalization (ORS
The concept implicit in plaintiffs' appeal to this court is that, under the facts of this case, plaintiffs had no responsibility to protect their 1973-1974 assessment on the subject property while the appeal to the defendant was pending, inasmuch as there was a statutory duty that they be given notice of such continuation of value by the county authorities, and such notice was never given. At the same time, plaintiffs argue, in their brief, at 6, that "* * * [p]laintiff, however, has never contended that prior to the September 12, 1973 ruling by the Department of Revenue which lowered the previous [1972-1973] year's assessed valuation there was any requirement incumbent on the county assessor to give notice. * * *"
[1.] In its petition to the defendant, plaintiffs relied on ORS
In its appeal to this court, the plaintiffs argue that, according to ORS
"* * * that as a matter of law, when its property tax assessment for the tax year 1972-73 was reduced on September 12, 1973 by the Department of Revenue there automatically occurred a simultaneous increase in the property tax assessment made by the Deschutes County Assessor for the tax year 1973-74, which increase was more than $400 or 5% of the assessed valuation for the previous year and therefore notice was then required to be given to plaintiff by the provisions of ORS
308.280 (1)(a). It is unquestioned that plaintiff received no such notice and subsequently petitioned the Department of Revenue for relief prior to December 15, 1973 as provided for by ORS308.280 (6)." (Emphasis supplied.)
ORS
[2.] In the present case, the county assessor (and his staff), reviewing the official assessment roll for 1972-1973, did not seek to increase the assessed valuation of the subject property for 1973-1974, here in question. The assessor and his staff members may have known that a hearing before the Department of Revenue had been held on November 15, 1972, respecting the value of the property as of the preceding January 1, 1972, but it is certain that he could have had no information as to the determination eventually to be made by the Department of Revenue thereon. In the meantime, it was his duty to mail out notices of additional assessments prior to the first Monday in May 1973. He left the assessment of the subject property *658 unchanged; at least, the record is clear that no action was taken to make a change.
Following the period in which the 1973-1974 tax year's notices ordinarily sent by the assessor pursuant to ORS
In its Reply Brief, at 7, plaintiffs argue further: "* * * In this factual situation there was an actual increase by the county assessor just as much as if he had increased the assessment in the more normal pattern. * * *"
[3.] Plaintiffs' proposed rule or solution cannot be found in the statutes and it is unsupported by authority. It smacks of the acute and agile mind and *659 the "hard case."2 This is a hard case and the court understands plaintiffs' plea (Reply Brief, at 3) that "* * * [w]hat plaintiff is seeking is a modification of present judicial interpretation of the statutory appeal procedures * * *" — a "progressive, judicial decision * * *." (Reply Brief, at 4.)
A careful review of the statutes reveals a minutely detailed procedural system, imposing numerous and detailed duties upon the assessor and balancing these impositions with many requirements solely designed for the protection of the taxpayer (often at great expense to the taxing entity; i.e., at great expense to the taxpayers as a whole). The degree of protection sought by the plaintiffs in the present suit has not been reached in the statutes as of this time. For the court to accept the plaintiffs' challenge would cause it to engage in an illegal assumption of the legislative power.
[4.] The well-established and necessary doctrine that each tax year "stands on its own feet" is applicable to this suit. Plaintiffs' failure to protect its current assessments while engaged in contesting a prior year's assessment of the same property is unusual but it has occurred. T R Service v.Commission,
The defendant's order is affirmed.
"(1) Whenever, in any year, the county assessor:
"(a) Increases the assessed valuation of any separate assessment of real property more than $400 or five percent, whichever is greater, over the assessed valuation of the preceding year, * * *
"* * * the assessor shall give notice of the increase in valuation as provided in this section.
"* * * * *
"(4) The notice with respect to real property increases shall include the valuations for the preceding and current years showing separately the valuation as prescribed by paragraphs (d), (e) and (f) of subsection (1) of ORS
308.215 . Notice shall be made by mail in the manner provided in subsection (5) of this section."(5) Notices required by subsections (3) and (4) of this section shall be mailed not later than the first Monday in May to the person to whom the property is assessed at the address appearing in the tax records. * * *
"(6) A taxpayer complaining of such increased assessment may petition the county board of equalization as provided in ORS
309.100 . The failure to give any notice as provided for in this section shall not invalidate the assessment, and in such case the taxpayer, without having first petitioned the county board of equalization, may appeal directly to the Department of Revenue in the manner provided in ORS306.520 , or to the small claims division of the Oregon Tax Court as provided in ORS305.515 to305.555 . The appeal must be filed not later than December 15 of the year of assessment. Orders of the Department of Revenue are subject to appeal as provided in ORS306.545 to306.560 ."