City of Richmond Heights v. Board of Equalization of St. Louis County

• Decision Date: 11 September 1979
• Docket Number: No. 61240,61240
• Citation: 586 S.W.2d 338
• Parties: CITY OF RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Missouri and Clayton School District, Appellants, v. BOARD OF EQUALIZATION OF ST. LOUIS COUNTY et al., Respondents. CITY OF RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Missouri, Appellant, v. STATE TAX COMMISSION of Missouri, Respondent.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 338

586 S.W.2d 338

CITY OF RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Missouri and Clayton School

District, Appellants, v. BOARD OF EQUALIZATION OF ST. LOUIS COUNTY et al., Respondents.

CITY OF RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Missouri, Appellant, v. STATE TAX COMMISSION of Missouri, Respondent.

No. 61240.

Supreme Court of Missouri, En Banc.

Sept. 11, 1979.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 10, 1979.

William J. Travis, Donald U. Beimdiek, St. Louis, for appellants City of Richmond Heights, et al.

Theodore D. Ponfil, Louis F. Bonacorsi, Clayton, for appellant Clayton School Dist.

Karen Weinhaus Levy, Asst. County Counselor, Thomas W. Wehrle, George Lang, II, Clayton, for respondent Board of Equalization of St. Louis Co., et al., State Tax Comm.

Samuel C. Ebling, Gregory F. Hoffmann, Millar, Schaeffer & Ebling, St. Louis, for respondent Clayton Road Dev. Co. WELLIVER, Judge.

Appellants seek to obtain judicial review of action taken by the St. Louis County Board of Equalization in reducing the assessed valuation of certain property within the city limits of appellant City of Richmond Heights and within the boundaries of appellant Clayton School District. This court has appellate jurisdiction in the case because it involves a construction of the revenue laws of Missouri.

The real estate in question comprises the Westroads Shopping Center and is owned by respondents Clayton Road Development Co., Westroad Development Co., Westroad Realty Co., Andrew Sansone and Jane A. Moore. Respondent Frank J. Antonio, the St. Louis County Assessor, set the combined value of the Westroads Shopping Center properties at $2,703,560.00 for the year of 1974. The property owners filed a combined appeal of the 1974 assessment to the St. Louis County Board of Equalization (hereinafter referred to as the "Board"), which reduced the assessed value of the Westroads Shopping Center properties to $1,851,390.00. As a consequence of this reassessment appellant City of Richmond Heights lost $6,817.37 and appellant Clayton School District lost $31,445.07 in 1974 property tax revenues.

The City of Richmond Heights then filed a petition with the Circuit Court of the County of St. Louis, Division 6 to review the decision of the Board pursuant to § 536.100, RSMo 1978 (Rule 100.03). Appellant Clayton School District was later added as a party plaintiff, and the petition was amended to include an alternative count for certiorari pursuant to § 536.150, RSMo 1978 (Rule 100.08). Upon the trial court's order, the property owners paid their 1974 taxes, based upon the reduced assessment, into the court registry, and the court stayed all interest and penalties upon any additional taxes ultimately found to be due. The trial court sustained respondents' motion to dismiss, citing State ex rel. St. Francois County School District R-III v. Lalumondier, 518 S.W.2d 638 (Mo.1975) as its authority. The City and Clayton School District brought this appeal.

In addition to the petition for review and for certiorari, the City also filed an appeal of the Board's decision with the State Tax Commission. Upon receipt of a written offer of proof submitted by the City, the Commission dismissed the appeal on the ground that the City had no right to appeal. The City appealed the Commission's action to the Circuit Court of the County of St. Louis, Division 14. The circuit court sustained the Commission's action. The City appealed. These appeals were consolidated in the court of appeals.

The Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, initially filed an opinion dated November 21, 1978, in which it affirmed the judgment of the circuit court dismissing the proceedings for review filed by appellants, also relying on Lalumondier. This initial opinion reasoned that § 536.100 provides no standing in appellant to seek judicial review of the Board's assessment because the proceeding before the Board was not a "contested case" within the meaning of § 536.010(2). The court of appeals withdrew its initial opinion on January 12, 1979, after appellants had filed a motion for rehearing. On January 30, 1979, the court of appeals ordered the case transferred to this court, stating that resolution of the case requires construction of the revenue laws of Missouri. The transfer order further suggested that the case requires resolution of an apparent conflict in the court's construction of Mo.Const. art. V, § 18. We decide the case the same as on original appeal.

The appeal before us raises three questions: (1) does a city have standing under § 138.430 to appeal an assessment by the board of equalization to the State Tax Commission; (2) does a city or school district have standing under § 536.150 to seek review in circuit court of a board of equalization's assessment of property within its boundaries; and (3) does a city or school district have standing under § 536.100 to seek review in circuit court of a board of equalization's assessment of property within its boundaries. We answer each of these questions in the negative and the trial court will be affirmed.

I.

Appellant city sought review of the board of equalization's reduction in the assessment of Westroads Shopping Center properties before the State Tax Commission. The city argued before the Commission and the trial court that § 138.430 gives the city standing to appeal to the commission the Board's reassessment and that if § 138.430 does not provide such standing, the statute violates Mo.Const. art. X, § 14. We hold that the city has no standing to appeal to the State Tax Commission. ¹

In Lalumondier, the court adopted the rule that "in the absence of express statutory authorization no appeal or other review is provided for political subdivisions of the state in regard to alleged underassessments." 518 S.W.2d at 642. Section 138.430, RSMo 1978 provides:

Every owner of real property or tangible personal property and every merchant and manufacturer shall have the right of appeal from the local boards of equalization under rules prescribed by the state tax commission. Said commission shall investigate all such appeals and shall correct any assessment which is shown to be unlawful, unfair, improper, arbitrary or capricious.

This provision expressly grants the right of appeal only to owners, merchants and manufacturers. It does not extend the right of appeal to a city or any other political subdivision of the state. The City of Richmond Heights is not an owner of property. The absence of statutory authorization for a city to appeal to the State Tax Commission does not conflict with Mo.Const. art. X, § 14, which provides:

The General Assembly shall establish a commission . . . to equalize assessments as between counties and, under such rules as may be prescribed by law, to hear appeals from local boards in individual cases and, upon such appeal, to correct any assessment which is shown to be unlawful, unfair, arbitrary or capricious.

This section does not require that the Generally Assembly prescribe any rule permitting a political subdivision of the state to appeal to the State Tax Commission. "(T)he legislature may grant the right of appeal or review of tax assessments to either the taxpayer or the state (or one of its political units), and it may also limit or deny the right to either the taxpayer or the state." Lalumondier, 518 S.W.2d at 641; In re St. Joseph Lead Company, 352 S.W.2d 656, 659 (Mo.1961). The State Tax Commission correctly dismissed the city's appeal in this case, and the circuit court correctly upheld the action of the commission.

II.

Appellants amended the original petition to add an alternative count for review by certiorari of the board of equalization's reassessment directly in circuit court pursuant to § 536.150 RSMo 1978 and Rule 100.08. ² Our decision in Lalumondier is authority for the denial of this claim.

In Lalumondier, the St. Francois County School District sought review by certiorari under § 536.150 and Rule 100.08 of the failure of the St. Francois County Board of Equalization to increase the assessed valuation of real property which was located within the school district. The owner had not appealed the board of equalization's assessment. The court examined the language of § 536.150 and concluded that it contained no express authorization for a school district to secure judicial review of the board of equalization's determination by certiorari. Consequently, the court held that relator did not have standing to seek such review. This reasoning applies with equal force to the city and school district in the present case.

III.

Appellants' contend that they are entitled to seek judicial review of the board of equalization's reassessment under § 536.100 and Rule 100.03. The right to seek judicial review depends upon its express authorization by either a statute or rule. Section 536.100 provides that "(a)ny person who has exhausted all administrative remedies provided by law and who is aggrieved by a final decision in a contested case . . . shall be entitled to judicial review thereof." Rule 100.03 contains identical language. There is no dispute concerning appellants' contentions that they are persons within the meaning of § 536.100, that they are aggrieved by the Board's decision, and that they have exhausted all administrative remedies. The issue is whether the proceeding before the board of equalization constituted a "contested case" within the meaning of Missouri's Administrative Procedure Act. Appellants argue that the board of equalization proceeding was a "contested case" "because the Westroads property owners' interest in lowering their tax assessment was directly opposed to the interest of the County, the City of Richmond Heights and the Clayton School District." The existence of opposing interests alone fall short of meeting the statutory definition of a "contested case". The term "contested case" is defined for this purpose at § 536.010(2) to mean "a proceeding before an agency in which legal rights, duties or privileges of...