U.S. of America v. County of Fresno

• Decision Date: 13 August 1975
• Docket Number: No. 2055,2055
• Citation: 50 Cal.App.3d 633,123 Cal.Rptr. 548
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. COUNTY OF FRESNO, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 548

123 Cal.Rptr. 548

50 Cal.App.3d 633

UNITED STATES of America et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. COUNTY OF FRESNO, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 2055.

Court of Appeal, Fifth District, California.

Aug. 13, 1975.

Hearing Denied Oct. 9, 1975.

Robert M. Wash, County Counsel, and James B. Waterman, Deputy County Counsel, Fresno, for defendant and appellant

Dwayne Keyes, U.S. Atty., and Richard W. Nichols, Asst. U.S. Atty., Sacramento, for plaintiffs and respondents.

OPINION

GARGANO, Associate Justice.

Appellant is the County of Fresno, a political subdivision of the State of California. Respondents are the United States of America and 17 individuals employed by the United States in the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture; for convenience, we hereinafter will refer to the United States as the government and to the 17 employees as respondents.

Appellant appeals from a judgment of the Superior Court of Fresno County setting aside a decision of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, sitting as the county board of equalization, upholding the possessory interest assessments made by the county assessor in connection with the government dwelling units respondents were occupying on the first Monday of March 1967 in parts of the Sequoia National Forest and the Sierra National Forest located in Fresno County. The superior Court first determined that respondents, as a matter of law, had no possessory interest in the dwellings they occupied and that the assessments were void for that reason. Then the court determined that the tax violated both the supremacy clause of the United States Constitution and the Act for the Admission of the State of California into the Union, contravened a federal 'in lieu of taxes' statute and was discriminatory.

The court's determination that respondents did not own possessory interests in the government dwellings they occupied on the first Monday of March 1967 was error. In addition, the trial court's other rulings regarding the invalidity of the tax were erroneous. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment and remand the cause back to the lower court to determine whether the county assessor's valuations of the possessory interests were excessive; respondents also challenged the amount of the valuations placed upon their possessory interests by the assessor but, for obvious reasons, this issue was not reached by the trial judge.

The basic facts are undisputed. On the first Monday of March 1967, respondents were living in Class A, B and C dwelling units maintained by the government in the Sequoia National Forest and the Sierra National Forest. Respondents were charged a rental for the use of the premises comparable to rentals charged in nearby communities for similar dwellings, after reasonable adjustment for inconveniences; the rental was deducted from respondents' bimonthly paychecks. Respondents also paid for all utilities.

Under guidelines promulgated by the forest service, an employee's occupancy of a dwelling unit could be required when it was necessary to have the employee available to serve the public or to protect natural resources or government property; in all other cases, an employee could reside in a government owned unit if one was available and if the employee so desired. The forest service could terminate the occupancy at any time or move the employee and his family from one unit to another so that a particular dwelling could be put to its most efficient and effective use. For example, during forest fires or other emergencies, the forest service could temporarily evict the employee and his family or it could move additional employees into the unit; the forest service could house two employees in the same residence for a substantial period of time; also, the forest service could require an unmarried employee to move out so a married employee and his family could be moved in.

Other examples of government control on the use of the dwelling units are as follows: The employee could not sublease or assign his 'right' of occupancy; the front doors were equipped with locks which could be opened by a single master key; the employee could not make structural changes in the units; the employee's supervisor could enter the dwelling on official business relating to the unit, or if he suspected that damage was being done to the premises; government radios and communication equipment were kept inside some of the residences, and at times the equipment operated 24 hours a day; when official forest service facilities were closed, the public was encouraged to contact forest service employees at their dwelling units.

In this state the right to possess and use land or improvements, 'except when coupled with ownership of the land or improvements in the same person', is treated as a possessory interest and is subject to taxation. (Cal.Const., art. XIII, § 1; Rev. & Tax.Code, §§ 103, 107, 201; see Kaiser Co. v. Reid, 30 Cal.2d 610, 618, 184 P.2d 879; Mattson v. County of Contra Costa, 258 Cal.App.2d 205, 209, 65 Cal.Rptr. 646.) Generally speaking, a possessory interest includes the right of a private individual or corporation to use government owned tax exempt land or improvements, and this right is considered a private interest taxable by the state and its taxing agencies. (De Luz Homes, Inc. v. County of San Diego, 45 Cal.2d 546, 562, 290 P.2d 544; Kaiser Co. v. Reid, supra, 30 Cal.2d 610, 618, 184 P.2d 879; People v. Shearer, 30 Cal. 645, 655--657.) But not all occupancies or uses of tax exempt government owned lands or improvements by private individuals are taxable as possessory interests. To give rise to a taxable possessory interest, the right of possession or occupancy must be more than a naked possession or use; it must carry with it, either by express agreement or tacit understanding of the parties, the degree of Exclusiveness necessary to give the occupier or user something more than a right in common with others, or, in the case of employment, something more than the means for performing his employer's purpose, so that it can be said, realistically, that the occupancy or use substantially subserves an independent, private interest of the user or ocupier. (Kaiser Co. v. Reid, supra, 30 Cal.2d 610, 618--620, 184 P.2d 879; Pacific Grove-Asilomar Operating Corp. v. County of Monterey, 43 Cal.App.3d 675, 684, 693, 117 Cal.Rptr. 874; Sea-Land Service, Inc. v. County of Alameda, 36 Cal.App.3d 837, 843, 112 Cal.Rptr. 113; Board of Supervisors v. Archer, 18 Cal.App.3d 717, 726--727, 96 Cal.Rptr. 379; Mattson v. County of Contra Costa, supra, 258 Cal.App.2d 205, 209, 65 Cal.Rptr. 646; McCaslin v. DeCamp, 248 Cal.App.2d 13, 17--19, 56 Cal.Rptr. 42; see Douglas Aircraft Co. v. Bryam, 57 Cal.App.2d 311, 317, 134 P.2d 15; cf. San Francisco v. Anderson, 103 Cal. 69, 70, 36 P. 1034.)

It seems clear to us that respondents' right to occupy and use the dwellings in question subserved, primarily, an independent, private purpose and that respondents had taxable possessory interests in the government owned improvements. (See Pacific Grove-Asilomar Operating Corp. v. County of Monterey, supra, 43 Cal.App.3d 675, 693, 117 Cal.Rptr. 874.) The units had bedrooms, bathroom, kitchens and living areas and in every way were residential in character; ¹ until such time as the forest service purported to exercise its right to terminate the occupancy or to remove the employee and his family temporarily, respondents had the exclusive right to use the premises as homes for themselves and their families; while government business was sometimes conducted from the units, the business was completely incidental to the main use of the property; respondents were charged a rental for the use of the property; they paid for all of the utilities; and preference was given to married employees, evidencing the residential character of the occupancy.

Admittedly, the rights of possession involved in this case were nontransferable and were terminable at the will of the government. However, the fact that a possessory right is nontransferable (Kaiser Co. v. Reid, supra, 30 Cal.2d 610, 620, 184 P.2d 879; Mattson v. County of Contra Costa, supra, 258 Cal.App.2d 205, 211, 65 Cal.Rptr. 646) or is revocable at the will of the government (McCaslin v. DeCamp, supra, 248 Cal.App.2d 13, 17; Rand Corp. v. County of Los Angeles, 241 Cal.App.2d 585, 588, 50 Cal.Rptr. 698, see Board of Supervisors v. Archer, supra, 18 Cal.App.3d 717, 725--726, 96 Cal.Rptr. 379) or is a condition of employment (McCaslin v. DeCamp, supra, 248 Cal.App.2d 13, 17--18, 56 Cal.Rptr. 42) or to some extent must be shared with others (Board of Supervisors v. Archer, supra, 18 Cal.App.3d 717, 725--727, 96 Cal.Rptr. 379) does not mean, per se, that there is no taxable possessory interest. These, as well as similar controls on the right of possession, are factors to be considered in fixing the value of the possessory interests. (Sea-Land Service, Inc. v. County of Alameda, supra, 36 Cal.App.3d 837, 841, 112 Cal.Rptr. 113; Board of Supervisors v. Archer, supra, 18...