Appraisal District and Harris County Appraisal Review Board v. Amerada Hess Corporation--Appeal from 189th District Court of Harris County

Reversed and Rendered and Opinion filed July 3, 2003.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals

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NO. 14-02-01192-CV

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HARRIS COUNTY APPRAISAL DISTRICT and

HARRIS COUNTY APPRAISAL REVIEW BOARD, Appellants

V.

AMERADA HESS CORPORATION, Appellee

On Appeal from the 189th District Court

Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 00-41350

M E M O R A N D U M O P I N I O N

The Harris County Appraisal District and the Harris County Appraisal Review Board appeal the trial court's decision to grant interstate allocation of property tax on an aircraft owned by appellee, Amerada Hess Corporation. We reverse and render.

During tax years 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998, appellee owned a Learjet 35A, for which it leased hangar space at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. The Harris County Appraisal District appraised the Learjet for ad valorem taxes for each of these years. Appellee filed renditions for the Learjet, but did not request that the value of the property be allocated, i.e., apportioned based on its usage in different taxing jurisdictions. Within the time period under the statute, appellee filed motions to correct the appraisal rolls for tax years 1995 through 1998 to allocate the value of the Learjet. See Tex. Tax Code Ann. ' 25.25(c)(3) (authorizing review board to change appraisal roll to correct Athe inclusion of property that does not exist in the form or at the location described in the appraisal roll@). The Harris County Appraisal Review Board denied the motions by orders dated June 29, 2000. Appellee the brought this lawsuit in district court to appeal the board=s orders. On October 11, 2002, the trial court signed a final judgment granting the allocation, and this appeal followed.

The issue in this appeal is controlled by this Court=s recent decision in Harris County Appraisal District v. Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation, 99 S.W.3d 849 (Tex. App.CHouston [14th Dist.] 2003, pet. filed).[1] We held that Asection 25.25(c)(3) does not provide a means to allocate the appraised value of a business aircraft.@ Id. at 852. Thus, we again must conclude the trial court erred in ordering changes to the tax rolls.

Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the trial court, render judgment that appellee take nothing, and order that the tax rolls for the years 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998 reflect the full value of the Learjet as established by the Harris County Appraisal District.

PER CURIAM

Judgment rendered and Opinion filed July 3, 2003.

Panel consists of Chief Justice Brister and Justices Fowler and Edelman.

[1] In addition to our case, this issue is presently before the Texas Supreme Court in at least one other case, Keller Aviation Co. v. Travis Cent. App. Dist., 99 S.W.3d 704 (Tex. App.CAustin 2003, pet. filed). This Court denied appellee=s motion to abate this appeal until the Texas Supreme Court has ruled.