Ames v. Town of Danby

• Court: Vermont Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Before BARNEY; BILLINGS
• Citation: Ames v. Town of Danby, 385 A.2d 1075, 136 Vt. 78 (Vt. 1978)
• Decision Date: 04 April 1978
• Docket Number: No. 251-75,251-75
• Parties: Edward AMES v. TOWN OF DANBY.

Page 1075

385 A.2d 1075

136 Vt. 78

Edward AMES v. TOWN OF DANBY.

No. 251-75.

Supreme Court of Vermont.

April 4, 1978.

Bloomer & Bloomer, Rutland, for plaintiff.

Griffin & Griffin, Rutland, for defendant.

Before BARNEY, C. J., and DALEY, LARROW, BILLINGS and HILL, JJ.

BILLINGS, Justice.

This is an appeal by taxpayer Ames from a judgment rendered by the Rutland Superior Court ordering the Town of Danby to set the taxpayer's real property located in Danby in the list at $16,500.00 as of April 1, 1973, in lieu of the former listed valuation of $17,480.00. In 1973, the Town of Danby conducted a reappraisal of properties within it. The sole method used by the Town in the reappraisal was a sliding scale based on acreage with reductions for ledge, swamp, or steep property. Under the sliding scale, as the number of acres in the property increased, the per acre value given to the property decreased. As a result of the reappraisal, the taxpayer's 72 acres of unimproved land within the Town received an increase in valuation from $4,320.00 to $27,583.00. Following the grievance meeting required by statute, the Listers reappraised the taxpayer's property by combining it with his adjoining properties in the Towns of Pawlet and Wells. The increase in acreage thus resulting placed the taxpayer's property in a higher per acre category on the scale, and his property was therefore appraised at a lower value, $19,890.00 or $276.25 per acre. Upon appeal to the Board of Civil Authority, the appraisal was lowered to $17,480.00, because a portion of the land was ledge.

Pursuant to 32 V.S.A. § 4467, the taxpayer appealed de novo to the superior court. At trial, the Town submitted the appraisal done by the Board of Civil Authority. In addition to that appraisal, the Town also offered the expert testimony of a real estate appraiser. The expert appraised the fair market value of the taxpayer's property in Danby, as of April 1, 1973, to be $18,000.00 or $250.00 an acre. In making his appraisal, he considered a number of factors, including the size, type, location and quality of the property. He also viewed the property in comparison with six other properties within Danby that he considered comparable to the taxpayer's property. Each of the comparables used by the expert had been sold within a few years prior to April 1, 1973, and the price was put into evidence. The comparables had been listed in accordance with the sliding scale. Only one landowner of the six appealed the listing as far as the Board of Civil Authority. The trial court concluded that the sliding scale method of appraisal used by the Town of Danby did not comply with the requirements of the applicable statutes. Based on the evidence submitted by the Town relating to the listed value of comparable properties within the Town, the taxpayer having submitted no evidence on this issue, the court concluded that the value of the taxpayer's property "as of April 1, 1973, corresponding to the listed value of comparable properties within the Town, was $16,500.00, or about $230.00 an acre."

One of the difficulties in this cause is that not only in the presentation of the evidence by the parties, but also in the findings and order of the trial court, there exists a confusion concerning the concepts of appraisal, or fair market, value and listed value. The parties and the court used these terms interchangeably, though their meanings are quite distinct. The appraisal value of property is required by statute to be its fair market value, 32 V.S.A. §§ 3431, 3481, which is that price the property will being in the market when offered for sale and purchased by another. Bookstaver v. Town of Westminster, 131 Vt. 133, 136-37, 300 A.2d 891, 893 (1973). The listed value of property, during the time here material, was fifty per cent of its fair market value, 32 V.S.A. § 3481 (since amended to define listed value as one hundred per cent of fair market value), reduced or increased, if necessary, to correspond to listed values of comparable properties. New England Power Co. v. Town of Barnet, 134 Vt. 498, 505, 367 A.2d 1363, 1367-68 (1976); 32 V.S.A. § 4467. Of course, it is clear from the statutory scheme relating to appraisal that the listed value may not be increased above the fair market value of the subject property. See 32 V.S.A. §§ 3431, 3481, 4467.

In a de novo appeal to the superior court, 32 V.S.A. § 4467 mandates that the court make a finding of the fair market value of the subject property. See Town of Walden v. Bucknam, 135 Vt. ---, ---, 376 A.2d 761, 763 (1977). Also, § 4467 mandates that if the "court finds that the listed value of the property subject to appeal does not correspond to the listed value of comparable properties within the town, the . . . court shall set said property in the list at a corresponding value." Because of the trial court's confusion of fair market value and listed value, it made a finding of listed value only, thereby failing to comply with the requirements of § 4467. This is prejudicial error and alone requires a reversal. Bookstaver v. Town of Westminster, supra, 131 Vt. at 141, 300 A.2d at 896.

The sliding scale method of appraisal used by the Town of Danby does not comply with the requirements of the applicable statutes; we previously so stated in Bloomer v. Town of Danby, 135 Vt. 56, 57-58, 370 A.2d 194, 195-96 (1977). Appraisals of real estate are required by statute to be made at fair market value, 32 V.S.A. §§ 3431, 3481, "taking into consideration all the elements of the availability of the property, its use both potential and prospective, any functional deficiencies, and...