Clark v. Lucas County Bd. of Review, 47693

• Decision Date: 14 November 1950
• Docket Number: No. 47693,47693
• Citation: 44 N.W.2d 748,242 Iowa 80
• Parties: CLARK et al. v. LUCAS COUNTY BOARD OF REVIEW et al.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 748

44 N.W.2d 748

242 Iowa 80

CLARK et al. v. LUCAS COUNTY BOARD OF REVIEW et al.

No. 47693.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Nov. 14, 1950.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 12, 1951.

A. V. Hass, of Chariton, for appellants.

Hoegh & Meyer, of Chariton, for appellee.

BLISS, Justice.

Plaintiffs owned the Hotel Charitone building and ground in Chariton, Iowa, on January 1, 1949, as of which date, the Lucas County assessor fixed the 100%, or actual, value of the building at $48,310, and of the ground at $9,100, and the 60%, or assessed value, of each, respectively, at $28,986 and $5,460, or a total assessed value of $34,446. Plaintiffs filed a written petition to the board of review alleging that the assessment was 'illegal, excessive, discriminatory, erroneous, inequitable and confiscatory', and asked that it be reduced to $22,000, 'or such other amount as is not in excess of sixty per cent of the actual value of said real estate as of January 1, 1949'. In the petition they alleged that the actual value of the building was $30,000, and that of the land was $7,000. Therein they listed certain 'other like property' in Chariton and the assessment of each, among which were the Copeland store and office, the Nichols store and apartment, the Bates Hotel, the National Bank & Trust Company, the Chariton Leader Publishing Co., and the Larimer lots. The board of review having denied the petition and confirmed the assessment, plaintiffs appealed to the district court.

The 1949 assessment roll describes the Charitone Hotel property as the south half and the east fifty-two feet of the north half of lot seven in block eight of the original town of Chariton. The business district is built largely around a public square, which faces a cardinal direction on each side. Branden Avenue extends along the north side of the square, and Grand Avenue extends along the east side of the square and intersects Branden Ave. at a right angle. The hotel property is in the southwest corner of Block 8 at the northeast corner of the intersection of Branden and Grand Avenues and corners with the northeast corner of the public square. We insert here a roughly sketched plat showing the location of the hotel and some of the properties with which plaintiffs compare it.

The hotel building consists of two structures. The older part, a two-story brick building, was built in 1913 for a store building on the ground floor. This building is on that part of the ground which forms the lower part or base of the L, if it were upright--it is the east 52' X 82 1/2' of the hotel ground. The two-story building does not occupy all of this east portion of the ground. It has a south front 40 feet wide on Branden Ave., and extends north along the alley for 67 feet. During all the time pertinent the ground floor has been occupied by two stores, and the second floor has been used for hotel rooms.

NOTE: OPINION CONTAINS TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE

The hotel ground is the L shaped rectangle marked with the dotted or broken lines. Commencing at the northwest corner, the ground fronts west on Grand Avenue for 41 feet, thence extends east for a depth of 165 feet along and north of Branden Ave., thence north along the alley 82 1/2 feet, thence west 52 feet, thence south 41 feet, and west 113 feet to the place of beginning.

The hotel proper, which was built in 1923, is on that part of the ground which is 41' X 125' lying directly west of the two-story building on which the new building abuts. The latter building is of brick and has a full basement and four stories above, except for a width of 7 1/2 feet along a part of the north side which is but one story. The building fronts west on Grand Ave., on which side there are three large plate-glass windows with the upper halves semi-circular, and three or more similar windows on the south side on Branden Ave. These windows are all on the ground floor. The entrance to the lobby, and the entrance to the cafe, and the outside entrance to the barber shop in the basement, are all on the south side of the building. One of the exhibits, certified to this court, is a picture of the hotel taken with the camera facing northeast, giving a full view of the west and south sides of the hotel. The photograph, which appellee said flattered the hotel a little, shows quite an imposing structure of pleasing appearance, and apparently in good condition externally.

Pursuant to an order of the State Tax Commission of Iowa directing the city of Chariton to make a revaluation and reassessment of all real and personal property within the city, it employed for this purpose E. T. Wilkins & Associates, Appraisers & Consultants, of Cleveland, Ohio. These men undertook this work about August 1, 1947, and completed it, and their revaluations and reassessments were adopted as the official assessment for the year 1947, apparently as provided by what is now section 442.2 of the 1950 Code, I.C.A. In doing this work, Mr. Wilkins and his associates prepared a durable paste-board card, designated a 'Real Estate Tax List', for each piece of taxable real estate, containing the dimensions of the ground area of each, and a plat of each building, showing its dimensions, and specific and minute details as to every item of construction, with a report as to front foot values, with various factors bearing on replacement cost and physical and actual values, and physical and functional depreciation of the improvements, and the state of repair and physical condition of each building. These cards and a typewritten loose-leaf book of 65 pages containing information with respect to their theories of valuation and methods of appraisal, with cost data as to labor and material in various types of construction were all left in the office of the county auditor, for reference.

Plaintiffs introduced as exhibits the Wilkins 'tax list' for the Charitone Hotel, and the 'tax lists' for eight other so-called comparable properties above noted. No one challenges the accuracy or the correctness of the data shown on these cards, excepting some items of valuation and depreciation with respect to the plaintiffs' property. Exhibit D-2, the loose-leaf book of data and information was introduced by the defendants. Plaintiffs also introduced the 1949 assessment rolls for the plaintiffs' property, and for each of the comparable properties.

The district court in its opinion comments at some length on the evidence. It disagreed with the actual value of the land itself, and the assessment thereof, as returned by the assessor, and confirmed by the board of review, by reducing the amount of the actual value from $9,100 to $6,800. It also reduced the actual value of the buildings as returned by the assessor and as confirmed by the board of review from $48,310 to $41,800.

In concluding its opinion the court stated: 'The Court therefore finds as a fact that the value of the land and building as fixed by the assessor is excessive and inequitable and out of proportion when considered ith other real estate in Chariton used for commercial purposes.' Decree was rendered and entered in accord with the opinion, and it was adjudged and ordered that the total assessment be reduced from $34,446 to $29,160.

I. Defendants, in this court, challenge the soundness of each reduction, and charge the district court with error in each, which requires a reversal. We will discuss first the reduction of the actual value of the building. The court based the reduction upon the failure of Wilkins and the assessor and the defendants to charge a sufficiently high percentage of depreciation against the building. That was the court's only ground. Although the court did mention 'surplus construction' on the first floor based upon the testimony of one witness for the plaintiffs that the ceilings in the lobby and the dining room were too high. There might be a difference of opinion respecting the advantages and disadvantages of a high ceiling, and the proper height of a ceiling in a hotel lobby. But the court bases the reduction to depreciation, by the following statement in its opinion: 'The burden being on Appellants, it must be said that the only inequality that has been shown is the failure to allow for sufficient physical depreciation which the Court has done in arriving at the valuation figure ($41,800) above stated.'

The matter of depreciation depends upon many factors. Very important factors are the type of construction and the kind of building materials used. In the Wilkins black book of information and data, (Ex. D-2) he classifies building construction into Grades 'A', 'B', and 'C'. Of the 'tax lists' of properties, including the Charitone Hotel, put in evidence by the plaintiffs, the hotel was the only one in Grade 'A'. With the exception of the Ritz Theatre building, the plaintiffs' hotel was the only one noted by Wilkins as being in 'Good' condition. The other properties were rated as in 'Fair' condition, except the Bates Hotel, whose condition is noted as 'Poor'. These grades in construction, and ratings as to condition, are in no way challenged.

Also on the Wilkins 'tax list' card for the Charitone Hotel building are the following data respecting its construction: foundation walls of brick and tile combination; exterior walls of building--the north and east walls are of common brick on tile inner wall, and the west and south walls are of face brick on tile inner walls; the roof is a flat built up composition roof on wood joists; the basement floor is cement and the floors of the four stories of the newer building are of concrete reinforced with steel; in the toilet and shower rooms, the barber shop in the basement, and the lobby and dining room there is tiling on the concrete floors; the walls of the toilet and shower rooms are of tile; the interior finish is of pine; the partitions are plaster or gypsum on tile; the heating is by vapor with a coal stoker; the electric wirings are in pipe conduits;...