Bernhardt v. Port Arthur Independent School Dist.

• Decision Date: 22 April 1959
• Docket Number: No. A-7157,A-7157
• Citation: 159 Tex. 488,324 S.W.2d 163
• Parties: Carl H. BERNHARDT et al., Petitioners, v. RORT ARTHUR INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, Respondent.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

Page 163

324 S.W.2d 163

159 Tex. 488

Carl H. BERNHARDT et al., Petitioners, v. RORT ARTHUR INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, Respondent.

No. A-7157.

Supreme Court of Texas.

April 22, 1959.

Carruth & Gray, Port Arthur, for petitioners.

Fuller & Fuller, Port Arthur, for respondent.

CULVER, Justice.

The respondent, Port Arthur Independent School District, sued petitioners, Carl H. Bernhardt and wife, for taxes, penalties and interest due and owing for the years 1954 and 1955. Petitioners defended on the ground that the assessment on their property was not equal and uniform with the assessments made by respondent on other similar property within the district; that it was illegal, arbitrary and confiscatory, and the assessment was at a much higher rate and value than other similar property.

At the conclusion of petitioners' case (nonjury) respondent's motion for judgment was granted and judgment entered against petitioners for the amount of the debt, together with foreclosure. In the affirmance by the Court of Civil Appeals (319 S.W.2d 151) we concur.

The petitioners contend that they established a prima facie case of discrimination on the part of the Equalization Board, and, therefore, the trial court was in error in granting the motion for judgment and entering judgment against them. The testimony consisted in that given by Bernhardt himself, by a real estate dealer on market values, by a member of the School Board, by a member of the Equalization Board, and under the adverse party rule, by the district's collector-assessor, who was also business manager and secretary of the Board. Conceding that in this case the motion for judgment is to be considered as having the same effect as a motion for an instructed verdict (the respondent does not maintain to the contrary), yet even so we are of the opinion that the motion was in order and was properly granted.

Petitioners' property, a brick veneer residence, is located in the City of Groves, adjoining the City of Port Arthur, fronting 216 2/3 feet on Twin Cities Boulevard, to a depth of 630 feet, comprising 3.133 acres.

Prior to s954 there had been no revaluation of the land values in the district for a number of years. In that year the Board, with the assistance of three reputable and experienced real estate dealers, began a revaluation system and at the same time increased the taxable value rate from 40 to 60 per cent of the market value.

The Board of Equalization raised petitioners' taxable land values from $1,250 to $6,410, arriving at this figure by valuing the front to a depth of 150 feet at 14 cents per square foot and the remainder at 1.4 cents per square foot, the rear portion being of much less value, inaccessible as it was for development. Petitioner himself admitted that the valuation on the rear part of his property was somewhat low. As a result solely of the increase in the taxable value rate from 40 to 60 per cent of the market value, the assessed value of petitioners' improvements was raised from $7,000 to $9,800.

When petitioners protested and pointed out the fact that their property, so far as land values were concerned, without water and sewerage connections, was assessed equally with property across the street that had those facilities, the Board granted a reduction from 14 cents to 11.2 cents per square foot, reducing the land value to $5,020, and the improvements to $9,240. Overall, the assessed value of the land averaged 4.6 cents per square foot or $1,600 per acre.

The petitioners alleged the assessed valuations on both the land and improvements to be discriminatory and presented for comparison eight properties which they say are valued for tax purposes at a much lower figure in proportion to their market value. They were referred to in the trial as the Oom property, the Foster property, the Fairhaven lands, the Stadium lands, the Mulkey, Fortescue and Smith residences. All of them are said to lie within a distance of six city blocks of petitioners' property. No plat appears in the record and it is difficult for us to determine the location of those tracts with respect to petitioners' property.

The Oom tract, approximately five acres fronting on two streets, was valued by the witness at $7,000 per acre. In fact the School Board purchased it at that price in 1955. The assessed value placed on this tract as acreage by the Board was $5,600, or approximately $1,100 per acre. According to the values placed by the witness this seems to be the only tract, when compared to petitioners' values, that is considerably undervalued by the Board and out of proportion to its market value.

The Lee tract, cornering 200 by 300 feet, was zoned 'residential' in 1954. The land only was valued by petitioners' witness at approximately $12,000 for residential use, and was assessed at a value of $6,720, a rate of 56 per cent of market value.

The Foster tract fronting 330 feet on Stadium to a depth of approximately 300 feet, the witness valued at $7,000 per acre. The taxable value was placed at approximately $3,200 per acre. The lots in the Fairhaven and Stadium additions were given a value by the witness of from one to two thousand dollars and were carried on the tax rolls at from $390 to $720. These lots were all unimproved and located in additions where the homes cost from $7,000 to $8,000. The Mulkey and Fortescue residences were of frame construction and the assessed values in...