Jordan Marsh Co. v. Board of Assessors of Quincy
| Decision Date | 09 July 1975 |
| Citation | 331 N.E.2d 61,368 Mass. 322 |
| Parties | JORDAN MARSH COMPANY v. BOARD OF ASSESSORS OF QUINCY. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
David J. Saliba, Boston, for Jordan Marsh Co.
Before TAURO, C.J., and BRAUCHER, HENNESSEY, KAPLAN and WILKINS, JJ.
The taxpayer appeals from the decision of the Appellate Tax Board (board) granting abatements of taxes on commercial real estate for 1971 and 1972. Two issues were raised: overvaluation and disproportionate assessment. The latter was disposed of by a stipulation that property in Quincy was assessed at forty per cent of fair cash value. Cf. Assessors of Lynn v. Shop-Lease Co., Inc., --- Mass. ---, ---, a 307 N.E.2d 310 (1974). 1 As to overvaluation, the board reduced the assessed value for both years from a figure in excess of $8,000,000 to a figure of $7,000,000, based on fair cash value of $17,500,000. We affirm.
The case was argued by the taxpayer in May, 1974, but there was no brief or argument by the assessors. The findings of the board included a detailed description of the premises and a recitation of the testimony of three witnesses, and concluded with a statement that the board had considered all the evidence. The taxpayer argued that the board had erred in not making subsidiary findings fufficient to support its conclusion, and we remanded the case for an appropriate statement of reasons and subsidiary findings taking such cognizance of matters set forth in the taxpayer's claim of appeal as the board might think warranted. The board filed such a statement on May 14, 1975, and we give a brief partial summary.
The premises are used as a regional distribution center, probably the largest facility of its kind in New England. The taxpayer is the lessee under a lease from an affiliated corporation, and the board gave the lease terms little weight. The board gave great weight to the testimony of an officer of the taxpayer's parent corporation that the facility was constructed in 1969--1970 and that its original cost was nearly $16,500,000. For sufficient reasons, the board discounted the testimony of the taxpayer's expert, based on capitalization of income, that the fair cash value was $6,700,000. The board also relied on testimony of the assessors' expert that the value was $18,662,000, although his estimate of construction costs was unreliable. There was no evidence of the sale price or assessed value of comparable property, and no credible evidence of inflation of construction costs by inclusion of costs normally...
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