Carkonen v. Williams
| Citation | 458 P.2d 280,76 Wn.2d 617 |
| Decision Date | 04 September 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 40868,40868 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Washington |
| Parties | George J. CARKONEN and Orline E. Carkonen, his wife et al., Appellants, v. Melvin J. R. WILLIAMS, King County Treasurer; Allen B. Morgan, King County Assessor; Verne Sievers, Snohomish County Treasurer; Carroll L. Barlow, Snohomish County Assessor; the County of King; and the County of Snohomish, Appellants, George Kinnear, Director, Washington State Department of Revenue, Respondent. |
Schweppe, Doolittle, Krug & Tausend, and Robert R. Beezer, Charles O. Carroll, Pros. Atty., William L. Paul, Jr., Deputy Pros. Atty., Seattle, Robert E. Schillberg, Pros. Atty., Elmer El Johnston, Jr., Deputy Pros. Atty., Everett, for respondent.
Plaintiffs, as residents and taxpayers in King and Snohomish Counties, State of Washington, and for the most part property owners within the boundaries of Northshore School District No. 417, a bicounty district, on behalf of themselves and other taxpayers similarly situated, initiated this action against their respective counties, county assessors, and county treasurers seeking relief from 1967 real property taxes paid under protest. They predicated their claim for relief upon allegations that the 1966 property valuations, upon the basis of which the 1967 taxes were levied, were unconstitutionally discriminatory The defendants, in response to plaintiffs' claim, in essence, admitted that their respective property assessment ratios, I.e., the relationship of assessed valuation to true and fair value, were less than 50 per cent and that there existed a disparity of approximately 5 per cent between the assessment ratios utilized by the respective counties and perforce between assessment ratios applied within the bicounty school district. The defendants contended, however, that the assessment ratios applied were substantially uniform within each county and that each county, within its staff and budgetary limitations, systematically and continuously, on a cyclical basis, revalued all taxable properties within its boundaries. In addition, Snohomish County and its designated officials, by way of a third-party complaint, sought to implead the Director of the State Department of Revenue upon the basis that any injunctive ruling concerning assessment ratios should be applied statewide through the director.
unequal, and lacking in uniformity within and between the two counties, and within the bicounty school district, thereby giving rise to unequal and nonuniform tax exactions. Plaintiffs asserted the alleged lack of uniformity, inequality, and discrimination were attributable to the failure of the respective county officials to assess properties within their counties at the constitutionally prescribed 50 per cent of true and fair value 1 and to properly pursue a compatible and consistent property revaluation program as required by statute. 2 In their complaint plaintiffs prayed for a refund of those taxes paid under protest, for an injunction restraining the defendant officials from levying or collecting further taxes pending compliance with all assessment requirements, and for such further relief as would be just and equitable
At this stage of the pleadings, the trial court denied a motion to dismiss the third-party complaint interposed by the Director of the Department of Revenue, following Trial of the principal case consumed several days, at the conclusion of which the trial court, in substance, found as facts that (1) the assessment ratios applied in each of the defendant counties were less than the constitutionally prescribed 50 per cent of true and fair value; (2) a disparity existed between the assessment ratios employed by the respective counties, which perforce resulted in a like disparity within the bicounty school district; (3) the under-assessment of real property for tax purposes existent in both counties was consistent with a statewide pattern followed by all counties for many years; (4) a variance existed between the respective counties in appraisal and revaluation practices and schedules, and that neither county, by reason of budgetary limitations, was able to strictly adhere to statutory cyclical revaluation requirements; (5) reassessed valuations were currently posted upon the assessment rolls of both counties, as opposed to being held back until completion of a county-wide revaluation program; and (6) although uniform millage rates were applied to the assessed values within the bicounty school district, the disparity between the assessment ratios and the revaluation practices and schedules utilized in the two counties created some disparity in the taxes levied and collected as between residents of the respective counties as well as within the bicounty school district.
which the director sought a writ of prohibition in this court to forbid the trial court from proceeding further upon the third-party complaint. Hearing on the director's petition was deferred pending conclusion of a trial on the merits in the principal case, and then consolidated for argument with the appeal from the trial court's judgment in the principal case. As assistant attorney general assigned as counsel for the Department of Revenue attended upon the trial.
The trial court's findings in the foregoing respects, where not otherwise based upon admissions of the parties, are supported by the evidence.
From the findings of fact as a whole, and from the evidence admitted, the trial court, in substance, concluded Based upon the findings of fact and conclusions of law, the trial court entered judgment, the net effect of which was to (1) order that all taxable real property in King and Snohomish Counties be placed on the assessment rolls by the respective county assessors as of January 1, 1970, at a ratio of assessed value to true and fair value of 50 per cent; (2) direct the assessor of King County to correct certain designated appraisal practices theretofore utilized in the revaluation process; and (3) deny any refund to plaintiffs.
that, although the assessment and revaluation practices did not in all respects conform to constitutional and statutory requirements, such inequalities as resulted therefrom were not due to arbitrary, capricious or intentional discriminatory actions on the part of the respective county officials, were not actually or constructively fraudulent, did not violate the constitutional standards of uniformity and equality, and did not deprive plaintiffs as taxpayers of any significant rights to which they would otherwise be entitled.
Plaintiffs appealed and both defendants, King and Snohomish Counties and the designated officials, cross-appealed. As above indicated, these appeals were consolidated for argument before this court with the pending petition of the Director of the Department of Revenue for a writ of prohibition.
Following oral argument of the consolidated causes, and after extensive conference consideration, this court, because of the wide public import of some of the issues presented, issued an order prefatory to this opinion indicating that a majority of its members had determined that (1) the director's petition for a writ of prohibition should be denied, and (2) the trial court's judgment should be affirmed insofar as it (a) required that assessment ratios within King and Snohomish Counties be brought up to the 50 per cent level as of January 1, 1970, and (b) denied plaintiff's claim for a tax refund.
Before proceeding to a discussion of the issues raised by the assignments of error, we deem it appropriate to briefly outline some of the facts about which revolve the various contentions of the parties and which form the basis upon Geographically speaking, King County covers an area of some 2,131 square miles, or 1,363,840 acres, and Snohomish County some 2,098 square miles, or 1,342,720 acres. Within the confines of King County there were approximately 400,000 parcels of property and within Snohomish County approximately 250,000 parcels of property for which the respective county assessors maintained assessed valuation records and which were at the pertinent times subject to and undergoing revaluation. The budget allocated to the King County Assessor permitted him to retain only 81 qualified appraisers while the Snohomish County Assessor was allowed only 26. Both assessors indicated that their staffs were wholly inadequate to permit annual inspection and revaluation of assessable parcels of property within their counties and very meager from the standpoint of carrying out a fixed cyclical revaluation schedule. Both assessors testified that timely and substantial budget requests which would permit them to expand or otherwise supplement their operations had not been readily forthcoming. Both counties were and are undergoing marked economic expansion and population growth, with resultant and sometimes abrupt changes in the uses and market values of properties in various parts, if not throughout, the respective counties.
which the trial court predicated its disposition of the matter.
Insofar as revaluation schedules were concerned, the evidence indicated, and the trial court so found, that King County sequentially revalued properties by ranges and townships on approximately a 6 to 7-year cycle, and that Snohomish County sequentially revalued its parcels by school districts on a 4-year cycle. Each county listed its reassessed valuations on a current basis, that is, by placing them on the assessment rolls as of January 1st of the year following completion of the reassessment, a practice followed generally by assessors statewide.
Northshore School District No. 417, the bicounty district involved, encompasses some 22,000 acres and approximately In 1966, the average assessment ratio for all...
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