Opinion ID: 1613628
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Disposition of the 1990 Claims.

Text: Pursuant to our biennial system of real estate tax assessment, the year 1989 would have been an assessment year and 1990 an interim year. Iowa Code § 428.4. In an interim year, assessments of real estate are made only to the extent that the property was incorrectly valued in the assessment year, not listed in the assessment year, or experiences a change in value as of the assessment year. Id. To the extent a taxpayer is dissatisfied with the assessor's valuation, the aggrieved taxpayer may lodge a protest with the appropriate board of review. Iowa Code § 441.37. To this end, Iowa Code section 441.37 establishes six grounds on which a property tax assessment may be contested by the taxpayer. These six grounds correspond with the bases for protest enumerated on the petition for protest distributed by the board. Significantly, Iowa Code section 441.37 limits protests on the basis of the first five grounds to petitions filed with the board of review on or after April 16, to and including May 5, of the year of assessment.  Iowa Code § 441.37(1) (emphasis added). With regard to the sixth basis for protest, the Code states as follows: In addition to the [first five grounds for protest], the property owner may protest annually to the board of review under the provisions of section 441.35, but such protest shall be in the same manner and upon the same terms as heretofore prescribed in this section. Iowa Code § 441.37(1) (emphasis added). Iowa Code section 441.35 further elaborates upon an interim year protest as follows: In any year after the year in which an assessment has been made of all the real estate in any taxing district, it shall be the duty of the board of review to meet as provided in section 441.33, and where it finds the same has changed in value, to revalue and reassess any part or all of the real estate contained in such taxing district, and in such a case it shall determine the actual value as of January 1, of the year of revaluation and reassessment and compute the taxable value thereof, and any aggrieved taxpayer may petition for a re-evaluation of the taxpayer's property, but no reduction or increase shall be made for prior years. (Emphasis added.) Upon receipt of a final determination by the board of review, taxpayers are then entitled to seek judicial review of board actions pursuant to Iowa Code section 441.38. However, [n]o new grounds in addition to those set out in the protest to the board of review as provided in section 441.37 can be pleaded, but additional evidence to sustain those grounds may be introduced. Iowa Code § 441.38. We have consistently held that under the statutory scheme outlined above, protests first initiated in an interim year are limited to a showing of change in property value as of the immediately preceding assessment year. Equitable Life Ins. Co. v. Board of Review, 252 N.W.2d 449, 450 (Iowa 1977); Grundon Holding v. Board of Review, 237 N.W.2d 755, 758 (Iowa 1976); James Black Dry Goods Co. v. Board of Review, 260 Iowa 1269, 151 N.W.2d 534, 538-40 (1967); Simmons Warehouse Co. v. Board of Review, 229 Iowa 191, 194, 294 N.W. 286, 288 (1940). Ward contends that because the statutory scheme precludes initiation of a protest in an interim year based on any ground except change in value as of the preceding assessment year, its 1989 (assessment year) protest must necessarily be deemed to effect a protest with respect to the 1990 interim year as well. To conclude otherwise, Ward argues, would result in the assessment of a property tax without an opportunity to be heard upon the question of the validity of the tax assessed in an interim year. Security Trust & Safety Vault Co. v. City of Lexington, 203 U.S. 323, 335, 27 S.Ct. 87, 90, 51 L.Ed. 204, 208-09 (1906) (concluding that due process dictates that taxpayers receive notice and an opportunity to be heard concerning the validity of a property tax assessment before the tax can be enforced). Accordingly, Ward maintains that the district court erroneously granted the board's motion for partial summary judgment as to interim year 1990 on the basis that Ward had failed to register a 1990 interim year protest with the board of review. Our review of appeals taken from the action of the board of review are normally heard in equity wherein we review the record de novo. Iowa Code § 441.39. However, even in an equity case we cannot find facts de novo in an appeal from summary judgment. Moser v. Thorp Sales Corp., 312 N.W.2d 881, 886 (Iowa 1981) (citing Lyon v. Willie, 288 N.W.2d 884, 894 (Iowa 1980)). Therefore, on the issues adjudicated by the trial court in its partial summary judgment ... we review for correction of errors at law. Id. (citing Iowa R.App.P. 4). In essence, Ward's contention calls upon us to make a legal determination regarding whether the statutory protest scheme comports with the dictates of procedural due process. As detailed above, the statutory scheme clearly provides for an assessment year protest on any of the five grounds described in Iowa Code section 441.37. Moreover, protests first initiated during an interim year must be confined to an assertion that the real estate in question has changed in value as of the preceding assessment year. Equitable Life Ins. Co., 252 N.W.2d at 450; Grundon, 237 N.W.2d at 758; James Black Dry Goods, 151 N.W.2d at 538-40; Simmons Warehouse, 229 Iowa at 194, 294 N.W. at 288. This is not to say, however, that a taxpayer is left without recourse to challenge an interim year valuation on other grounds. On the contrary, in Farmers Grain Dealers Association v. Woodward, 334 N.W.2d 295 (Iowa 1983), we clearly established the procedure by which a taxpayer may challenge interim year assessments. Any interim year protest, other than one grounded upon a change in value as of the preceding assessment year, must begin with a prior protest brought before the board in the year of assessment as provided in Iowa Code section 441.37. Farmers Grain, 334 N.W.2d at 299-300. Having done so, the taxpayer is then entitled to sustain the protest and the grounds therefore in an interim year protest before the board of review. Id. In Farmers Grain, we concluded that this requirement of interim year renewal of protests first lodged before the board in the year of assessment rests upon the need for local governments to know which years are in contest and which are not [so as to plan and provide] for expenditures and possible refunds. Id. at 300. This system, although somewhat intricate, does provide a means by which taxpayers can challenge real estate valuations in both assessment years and interim years on all the available grounds. However, prior to contesting an interim year assessment (other than on the basis of a change in value), the taxpayer must (1) lodge a protest that details the grounds therefore with the board of review in the year of assessment and (2) renew that same protest before the board in the interim year in question. As to count I as it pertains to tax year 1990, Ward failed to file an interim year 1990 protest with the board. As a consequence, the district court properly granted the board's partial summary judgment motion insofar as Ward did not properly exhaust its administrative remedies for the year 1990. Farmers Grain, 334 N.W.2d at 299-300. As to count II as it pertains to tax year 1990, Ward's errors were twofold. Not only was there a failure to file a 1990 interim year protest on the grounds alleged in count II, but, as will be discussed in subdivision III below, Ward did not even plead the grounds detailed in count II in their 1989 board protest and, therefore, would have been precluded from lodging such a protest with the board in the interim year 1990 had they attempted to do so. Id. at 299 (prohibiting interim year protests on the first five grounds listed in section 441.37(1) unless first raised in an assessment year). Accordingly, we concur with the district court's determination that the board was entitled to summary judgment with respect to all Ward's claims involving the interim year, 1990.