Court Opinion

ID: 9689958
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 18:50:20.02875+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:52.870163
License: Public Domain

Boslaugh, J., dissenting.
The property owner’s complaint in this case was that the improvements on the property were assessed at a value in excess of their actual value. For purposes of taxation, the terms actual value, market value, and fair market value mean exactly the same thing. Many elements enter into the determination of actual value, some of which are set out in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-201 (Reissue 1986). Gradoville v. Board of Equalization, 207 Neb. 615, 301 N.W.2d 62 (1981).
The record shows that the improvements were assessed on a cost of reproduction basis less depreciation as prescribed by the Marshall-Swift manual. Such a procedure may or may not result in an assessment at actual value. The testimony of the assessor and Tim Rounds, the expert employed by the appellee, shows that no effort was made to correlate the values arrived at through the cost of reproduction less depreciation method with the actual value of the improvements. In fact, the assessor *120admitted that some of the buildings were probably valued higher than it would cost to buy them in the market. The substance of the testimony of the assessor and Rounds was that the taxpayer had been treated fairly and that values throughout the county were equalized.
The owner produced the testimony of two expert real estate appraisers. They testified that in their respective opinions the improvements had a market value of $65,000 and $87,200 — as contrasted with the value of $170,355 set by the board of equalization. I think it is apparent from the record that the appraisal method used by the assessor failed to allow adequate functional depreciation, which resulted in an assessment far in excess of the market value of the improvements.
The president of the corporate owner of the property and the tenant operating the improvements testified that many of the improvements were not usable. One house was originally an old Army barracks, converted into a home. Some of the floor joists of this building were rotted. It was not occupied as a residence, but was being used as an office. It was valued at $23,414. A trailer house on the property, valued at $6,900, was actually sold in December 1986 for $1,500. The caboose, valued at $3,526, was placed on the property only for aesthetic purposes and was not being used.
The barn roof leaked badly and was therefore unusable for storage. The barn, which was valued at $12,532, was used only to tie up a few horses and as a place to saddle them. A shed used to store machinery was in such poor condition that during a snowstorm in 1987, 80 percent of the building caved in. Before it fell down, it had been assessed at $1,040. A granary, assessed at $13,482, could not be used for any extended storage of grain because it was not weathertight. The lessee of the ranch testified that because of the capacity of the mill and the storage facilities on the property, they were of no use to him because they were too small for the size of his feeding operation or a feeding operation that would be economically feasible. The three grain bins were in poor shape and could not be used for storage for extended periods. The Quonset was used for machinery storage, but could not be used for grain storage because it leaked. The Morton steel building was the newest and most *121useful building on the property.
In my opinion, the evidence was such that on trial de novo, the actual value of the improvements should be determined to be $87,200.