Opinion ID: 2296314
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Adjudicative Process

Text: The Town's final argument on appeal is that DES's adoption and application of rules providing for a non-adjudicative determination of RSA 72:12-a tax exemptions was ultra vires. This argument is foreclosed by our decision in Appeal of Town of Bethlehem, 154 N.H. at 326-29, 911 A.2d 1, in which we held that towns affected by RSA 72:12-a tax exemptions have no right to formal adjudicative proceedings under the Administrative Procedure Act, RSA 72:12-a, DES's administrative rules, or our State Constitution. We repeat what we previously said: If the legislature desired to permit a municipality which opposed a tax exemption application the opportunity for a formal hearing and to become a party to an adversarial-type proceeding, it could easily have done so. It did not. Appeal of Town of Bethlehem, 154 N.H. at 326, 911 A.2d 1. Affirmed in part and reversed in part.