Lamplight Court Apts. v. DeKALB COUNTY BD., A03A0295.

• Decision Date: 29 January 2003
• Docket Number: No. A03A0295.,A03A0295.
• Citation: 259 Ga. App. 642,577 S.E.2d 814
• Parties: LAMPLIGHT COURT APARTMENTS, LLC v. DeKALB COUNTY BOARD OF TAX ASSESSORS.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

577 S.E.2d 814

259 Ga. App. 642

LAMPLIGHT COURT APARTMENTS, LLC v. DeKALB COUNTY BOARD OF TAX ASSESSORS.

No. A03A0295.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

January 29, 2003.

Reconsideration Denied February 13, 2003.

Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Martin, Richard N. Hubert, Atlanta, for appellant.

Kramer & Thomas, Terence T. Thomas, Atlanta, for appellee.

BLACKBURN, Presiding Judge.

The DeKalb County Board of Tax Assessors ("DeKalb County") assessed the apartment property of the appellant, Lamplight Court Apartments, LLC ("Lamplight"), for ad valorem tax purposes as of January 1, 2001, and Lamplight appealed the assessment to the Board of Equalization. After the Board of Equalization affirmed DeKalb County's tax assessment, Lamplight filed a notice of appeal in the DeKalb County Superior Court. Following a jury trial, Lamplight appeals the jury's determination of the fair market value of its property, arguing that the trial court erred in: (1) allowing DeKalb County to offer testimony which constituted a mass appraisal, thereby resulting in an illegal and unconstitutional appraisal of property; (2) denying its motion to strike the testimony of DeKalb County's appraiser; and (3) denying its motion to challenge the jury array based on the inordinate number of persons on the jury who were governmental employees paid from tax revenues. Finding no merit to these asserted errors, we affirm.

1. Lamplight's real property at issue in this case is an apartment complex comprised of seven buildings. Lamplight argues that DeKalb County violated both the Uniform Standards of Professional Practice and the fair market value and uniformity principles of the Georgia Code because DeKalb County determined the fair market value of its property by assessing the value of each of the seven parcels of land and then adding together the individual values of the parcels. Our review of the trial transcript does not support this argument.

The object of the assessors must be to determine the fair market value of the property subject to taxation in the county and the methods employed may be varied if the object is attained. While the tax assessor must use the same standard [(i.e., fair market value) ] or system [(i.e., 40 percent of fair market value)] in determining and fixing the taxable value of all property of the same class, it is not impermissible under the uniformity of taxation provision of the constitution to apply different methods of arriving at the fair market value of tangible property. It is the duty of the board of tax assessors to see that all taxable property within the county is assessed and returned at its fair market value and that fair market values as between individual taxpayers are fairly and justly equalized so that each taxpayer shall pay as near as may be only his proportionate share of taxes. This does not require the tax assessors to use any definite system or method, but demands only that the valuations be just and that they be fairly and justly equalized among the individual taxpayers according to the best information obtainable.

(Citations, punctuation and emphasis omitted.) Rogers v. DeKalb County Bd. of Tax Assessors.¹

At trial, Delores Harper, an appraiser in the commercial section of the tax assessor's office, testified concerning the methodology used by her office to assess the value of Lamplight's real property. She stated that because the apartment complex operated as a whole unit, the complex was first valued as a whole, and the value was then distributed among the various parcels. Harper also testified that this assessment methodology is approved by the G.A.A.O., which is the Georgia Chapter of the appraising organization, and the Georgia Department of Revenue.

Harper's testimony indicates that the method of assessment employed by the county was not the one Lamplight claimed the county employed. Moreover, Lamplight has presented no authority which would indicate that the method of property assessment employed by the county is either illegal or unconstitutional. Indeed, Lamplight's own expert, on cross-examination, admitted at trial that no authority prohibits this method of assessment. Further, Lamplight presented no evidence that the valuation of its property was not equalized with valuations assessed against other taxpayers with similar property in the county. Under these circumstances, it is clear that the trial court did not err in allowing DeKalb County's appraiser to testify regarding the determination of the...