Wennar v. Town of Georgia

ENTRY_ORDER.93-007; 161 Vt. 632; 641 A.2d 101

[Filed 27-Jan-1994]

                                 ENTRY ORDER

                       SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 93-007

                             DECEMBER TERM, 1993


 Martin H. Wennar                  }          APPEALED FROM:
                                   }
                                   }
      v.                           }          Franklin Superior Court
                                   }
                                   }
 Town of Georgia                   }
                                   }          DOCKET NO. S270-90Fc


              In the above entitled cause the Clerk will enter:


      Taxpayer appeals from a decision of the Franklin Superior Court setting
 the 1990 assessed valuation of two lots with frontage on Lake Champlain in
 the Town of Georgia, as well as frontage on Georgia Shore Road, a public
 highway.  One of the lots includes the taxpayer's residence.  We affirm.

      The first issue relates to the appraisal of the taxpayer's residence.
 The town bases house valuations on 1980 construction cost figures updated by
 a time-location factor, which was set at 1.8 for lakefront property.
 Taxpayer argues that the town's adjustment factor results in impermissibly
 valuing the house above its replacement value.  Underlying this argument is
 taxpayer's assertion that a house must be valued the same wherever it is
 located.

      Our precedents clearly reject taxpayer's position.  The governing
 statute, 32 V.S.A. { 3481(1), requires valuation to be based on fair market
 value.  See Sondergeld v. Town of Hubbardton, 150 Vt. 565, 567, 556 A.2d 64,
 66 (1988) (touchstone of property tax valuation is fair market value as
 mandated by { 3481).  Taxpayer's argument confuses a method of arriving at
 fair market value in appropriate cases with fair market value itself.  See
 Town of Barnet v. Central Vermont Pub. Serv. Corp., 131 Vt. 578, 580-81, 313 A.2d 392, 393 (1973) ("Approaches, such as reproduction cost, . . . are only
 devices to assist in arriving at fair market value.").  Indeed, we have
 found error in relying solely on reproduction costs without relating it to
 fair market value.  See Jeffer v. Town of Chester, 142 Vt. 23, 27, 451 A.2d 823, 824 (1982); In re Hughes, 132 Vt. 334, 339, 318 A.2d 676, 679 (1974).
 Here, there was evidence that structures on lake front lots were valued
 higher than structures elsewhere.  The court so found, and its finding was
 supported by the evidence.

      Taxpayer also argues that the court erred in accepting a base
 valuation of his land at $400 per lakefront foot, when the base for another
 property, owned by a lister, was $350 per lakefront foot.  The town
 
 

 differentiated the two situations because the other lot was a working farm,
 and the court accepted this difference as bearing on fair market value.
 Arguing that this is really an equalization problem, taxpayer asserts that
 farmland and non-farmland can be directly compared.  This is not an equal-
 ization issue.  See Bowen v. Town of Burke, 153 Vt. 131, 134-35, 569 A.2d 452, 454 (1989) (Dooley, J., concurring) (initial valuation comparability
 "has nothing to do with equalization").  The valuation difference between
 farm and non-farm property is supported by the evidence, and we uphold it.
 Moreover, we note that taxpayer subsequently sold part of one parcel of
 lakefront land at a price that suggested an initial valuation of $750 per
 lakefront foot, adjusted to $562.50 per foot after the equalization ratio is
 applied.  This sale supported the town's action.

      Affirmed.



                                    BY THE COURT:




                                    Frederic W. Allen, Chief Justice


 [ ]  Publish                       Ernest W. Gibson III, Associate Justice

 [ ]  Do Not Publish
                                    John A. Dooley, Associate Justice


                                    James L. Morse, Associate Justice


                                    Denise R. Johnson, Associate Justice