Tug Valley Recovery Center, Inc. v. Mingo County Commission, s. 14455

• Citation: 164 W.Va. 94,9 A.L.R.4th 413,261 S.E.2d 165
• Decision Date: 13 December 1979
• Docket Number: Nos. 14455,14456,s. 14455
• Parties: , 9 A.L.R.4th 413 TUG VALLEY RECOVERY CENTER, INC. v. MINGO COUNTY COMMISSION, etc., et al. LINCOLN CITIZENS FOR TAX REFORM et al. v. Louis ABRAHAM et al., etc.
• Court: Supreme Court of West Virginia

Page 165

261 S.E.2d 165

164 W.Va. 94, 9 A.L.R.4th 413

TUG VALLEY RECOVERY CENTER, INC. v. MINGO COUNTY COMMISSION, etc., et al.

LINCOLN CITIZENS FOR TAX REFORM et al. v. Louis ABRAHAM et al., etc.

Nos. 14455, 14456.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Dec. 13, 1979.

Syllabus by the Court

1. In the absence of any specific indication to the contrary, words used in a statute will be given their common, ordinary and accepted meaning.

2. When two statutes relate to the same general subject, and the two statutes are not in conflict, they are to be read In pari materia.

3. Insofar as W.Va.Code §§ 18-9A-11 and 11-3-25 both relate to the standing of taxpayers and residents to insure full and proper assessment of all the county's land, they are to be read together. Any interested party may compel compliance with the State Tax Commissioner's report through a writ of mandamus, as provided in W.Va.Code § 18-9A-11; persons likewise have standing to contest the assessment of property in their home counties by way of statutory appeal after having appeared before the Board of Equalization and Review. W.Va.Code § 11-3-25.

4. Every person affected by the tax base, has a financial interest in seeing that all property in the county is properly taxed. By increasing the taxable basis, the rate necessary for the operation of government will be reduced and the individual's tax correspondingly lowered. This constitutes the "direct and substantial interest" required to give a party standing in a given controversy.

5. In all cases, it is incumbent upon the circuit court, as it is upon the county commission and the assessor, to set the assessed value of all parcels of land at the amount established by the State Tax Commissioner. W.Va.Code § 18-9A-11.

Kathleen Strasbaugh, Huntington, Robert E. Wise, Jr., Charleston, for Lincoln Citizens.

Jane Moran, Williamson, Robert E. Wise, Jr., Charleston, for Tug Valley.

Elliot E. Maynard, Pros. Atty., Williamson, for Mingo County Commission.

No appearance for Lincoln County Commission.

McGRAW, Justice:

These two cases present essentially identical issues. Both regard the standing of concerned taxpayers to contest deficient property tax assessments in their home counties. In terms of the law applicable, the cases are functionally indistinguishable, and for that reason have been consolidated for decision.

The Tug Valley case involves an attempt by interested residents of Mingo County to have the assessment of certain mineral estates raised to a figure based upon the property's actual commercial value. The Tug Valley Recovery Center, petitioner below and appellant here, is a corporation registered with the State of West Virginia. Its main place of business is designated as Williamson, West Virginia, and it is itself a property owner and taxpayer in Mingo County. The respondents are elected members of the Mingo County Commission, and in this capacity, sat as a Board of Equalization and Review during the month of February, 1978. ¹

On February 18, 1978, the petitioner, by representative and attorney, appeared before the Board for the purpose of presenting evidence that mineral interests in Mingo County were undervalued. The focus of petitioner's presentation was upon the holdings of the Cotiga Development Company. It appears from the record that Cotiga is one of Mingo County's larger mineral owners, holding approximately 39,000 acres in combination of fee, surface, and mineral ownership. The evidence presented indicates that the average assessed value of Cotiga's holdings was less than Eighteen Dollars ($18.00) per acre.

In support of petitioner's claims, the following evidence was submitted. First, a copy of a sale proposal by Cotiga to the State of West Virginia was introduced. This proposal was in the form of a letter to Governor John Rockefeller, and quoted a price not to exceed Four Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($4,500.00) per acre. Additionally, petitioners presented a copy of the West Virginia Tax Commissioner's 1977 coal appraisal summary. ² This report suggested a true market value of One Hundred Sixty Eight Dollars ($168.00) per acre for all coal interests in Mingo County. (Since the commencement of this action, the Tax Commissioner has revised the coal appraisal summary for Mingo County to suggest a true value of Three Hundred Sixty Dollars ($360.00) per acre.)

At this point, the record in the case becomes sparse. It appears that at the meeting of February 18, the Board of Equalization and Review received petitioner's presentation and indicated that the motion for reassessment of the county's mineral estates would be granted. Apparently, as a result of this meeting, notice was sent to the county's largest mineral owners that their assessments would be increased to the $168.00 per acre level prescribed by the State appraisal summary. Subsequently, the county commission seems to have reconsidered, and on February 28, 1978, it was decided that reassessment would be delayed until the following year, thereby leaving all coal assessments at their original level.

Thereupon, the petitioners appealed the order of the Board to the Circuit Court of Mingo County. The petition for appeal alleged that valuation of land rights belonging to Cotiga Development Company was below true and actual value. It asked that the circuit court correct the underassessment by setting an amount based upon actual commercial value.

Petitioners based their claim in circuit court upon injuries resulting from (1) discriminatory treatment as taxpayers (in that their property was more likely to be assessed at actual value than was Cotiga's), and (2) deprivation of governmental services (which assumably would flow from the additional tax revenue generated by any increased property assessment).

After hearing arguments, the Mingo County Circuit Court granted a motion to dismiss the petition, expressly holding that the petitioner lacked standing to maintain the action. It is from this order, dismissing the appeal in circuit court, that the Tug Valley Recovery Center has appealed to this Court.

The facts in the Lincoln County case are similar, but in sufficient contrast to warrant brief treatment at this point.

In that case, the petitioner, Lincoln Citizens for Tax Reform, is not an incorporated body, but rather a voluntary association of approximately twenty-three Lincoln County residents, each named as a party. Of the members, twenty are resident property owners and taxpayers of Lincoln County, two are resident taxpayers, and one is a resident and parent of school-aged children. The appellees, as in the companion case, are elected members of the county commission (Lincoln County, in this case), sued in their capacity as members of the County Board of Equalization and Review.

The record indicates that the petitioners appeared before the Board on at least six occasions during the month of February, 1978. The purpose of these appearances was to present evidence showing a systematic, county-wide problem with undervaluation of mineral estates. ³ Petitioners requested that appellees raise the assessment of all mineral estates to true and actual value.

Following several meetings, the Board officially stated that Lincoln County mineral assessments were, indeed, assessed below actual value. The Board, however, refused to revalue the estates during the 1978 term, proceeding under the declared belief that there was "not enough time" to raise the assessments legally. This decision was appealed to the Circuit Court of Lincoln County.

In that proceeding, a final order was entered in July of 1978, finding the county's mineral assessments to be too low, and ordering the assessment to be increased for the Following tax year. The order of the Lincoln County Circuit Court was based on a finding that "the legislature did not intend for (the court) to engage in the setting of tax amounts and that to do so for the tax year in question would deny due process to mineral holders whose taxes would be raised in this manner." The court specifically declined to rule on whether the petitioners had standing to pursue the appeal. It is from this order that the petitioner, Lincoln Citizens for Tax Reform, has appealed to this Court.

The cases present us with essentially two issues. First, does an interested resident or taxpayer have standing to contest the assessment of land not belonging to him? Secondly, to what extent does a circuit court have the power to set tax rates when the responsibility and duty to do so have been neglected by the Board of Equalization and Review?

I

In each of the two cases, the procedure followed by the petitioners was the same. The problem was first brought to the attention of the county commission sitting as a Board of Equalization. At that point in the procedure, the petitioners introduced evidence and made allegations that certain holdings within the county (that is, coal estates) were grossly undervalued, far below the true and actual value required by state law.

W.Va.Code, § 11-3-1 explicitly requires that:

All property shall be assessed annually . . . at its True and actual value; that is to say, at the price for which such property would sell if voluntarily offered for sale by the owner thereof, upon such terms as such property, the value of which is sought to be ascertained, is usually sold . . . .

Any assessor who knowingly fails, neglects or refuses to assess all the property of his county, as herein provided, shall be guilty of malfeasance in office.

This statutory provision is legislative vindication of the language of W.Va.Const. art. 10 § 1 that "taxation shall be equal and uniform throughout the State, and all property, both real and personal, shall be taxed in proportion to its value to be ascertained as directed by law."

In each case the county commission failed to act upon petitioner's request for the stated reason that they considered there to be too little time in...