Dougherty County Bd. of Tax Assessors v. Burt Realty Co., s. 39005

• Decision Date: 04 January 1983
• Docket Number: 39006,Nos. 39005,s. 39005
• Parties: DOUGHERTY COUNTY BOARD OF TAX ASSESSORS v. BURT REALTY COMPANY. DOUGHERTY COUNTY BOARD OF TAX ASSESSORS v. The BURT COMPANY.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

Page 475

298 S.E.2d 475

250 Ga. 467

DOUGHERTY COUNTY BOARD OF TAX ASSESSORS v. BURT REALTY COMPANY.

DOUGHERTY COUNTY BOARD OF TAX ASSESSORS v. The BURT COMPANY.

Nos. 39005, 39006.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Jan. 4, 1983.

Rehearings Denied Jan. 25, 1983.

C. Nathan Davis, Lee & Davis, Albany, for Dougherty County Bd. of Tax Assessors.

Hilliard P. Burt, Albany, for Burt Realty Co. and The Burt Co.

HILL, Chief Justice.

Burt Realty Company and the Burt Company are corporations which develop residential property and own multiple residential building lots in Dougherty County which they hold solely for purposes of resale. Being dissatisfied with the 1981 valuation of their property, they filed a complaint with the Board of Tax Assessors. The property owners contended that the appraised values of their properties exceeded the present market values and that the method of valuation was unconstitutional because it lacked uniformity in that it differed from the method of valuation of merchants' inventory. They then appealed the adverse ruling of the Board of Tax Assessors to the Board of Tax Equalizers, which denied their requests for relief. On appeal, however, the superior court granted the property owners' motion for summary judgment. The Dougherty County Board of Tax Assessors brings this appeal.

The record indicates that prior to 1981, the Board allowed developers who owned multiple residential lots a developer's discount amounting to approximately 50% of the retail value (asking price). In 1981, the Board declined to allow this discount, and instead valued the lots at issue at retail value (asking price). ¹

The property owners supported their contention that the asking price is higher than market value with an appraisal which indicated that multiple lots are worth .4977 of the total asking price. The appraisal assumes the lots will be sold in three years and discounts the value accordingly; other evidence introduced by the property owners suggests that it will take 10 years to sell all the lots.

The property owners' alternative contention is that the assessment is invalid because it "is not uniformly made with other and like property included in the digest...." More specifically, they contend that the fact that merchants' inventory is valued at cost plus expenses of processing for sale, while lots held for sale are valued at retail price, violates the Constitution, which provides that: "All taxation shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax. Classes of subjects for taxation of property shall consist of tangible property and one or more classes of intangible personal property including money." Ga. Const. (1976) Art. VII, Sec. I, Par. III (Code Ann. § 2-4603).

The property owners are, of course, correct in contending that the Constitution requires that there be uniformity of taxation as between realty and tangible personalty (with certain exceptions not applicable here). Benson-Corwin, Inc. v. Cobb County School District, 239 Ga. 199, 200, 236 S.E.2d 361 (1977). Furthermore, the law provides that: "All property shall be returned for taxation at its fair market value." OCGA § 48-5-6 (Code Ann. § 91A-1007); see OCGA § 48-5-2 (Code Ann. § 91A-1001). Thus both tangible personal property and realty must be returned for taxation at fair market value, and must be taxed at the same rate. But there is no requirement that the same method be utilized to determine what the fair market value is....