Court Opinion

ID: 9654937
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 18:54:53.949531+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:14.793690
License: Public Domain

*681SHANNON, Chief Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the affirmance of the judgment.
The taxpayers filed their petition in the district court of Travis County for review of the determination of the value of certain property by the Travis County Appraisal Review Board (The Board). Upon trial to a jury, the district court rendered judgment fixing the value of the property for 1984 and 1985. The Board perfected an appeal from that part of the judgment fixing the value of the property for 1985.
In their original petition, the taxpayers requested the district court to fix the value of the property for the 1984 tax year. The taxpayers later amended their pleading to include a request for determination of the value of the property for 1985.
In 1985, the Board neither lowered nor raised the valuation of the taxpayers’ property, nor did the taxpayers render their property at a lower value. Stated differently, there was no new appraisal made of the property in 1985 and its value remained the same as in 1984. The taxpayers’ petition for review of the 1984 appraisal pended in district court during 1985.
The Board attacks the judgment fixing the valuation for 1985 asserting that the district court was without power to entertain the taxpayers’ claim for determination of the 1985 valuation of the property because the taxpayers failed to follow the administrative remedies afforded by the new Texas Property Tax Code Ann. (1982 and Supp.1987). In support of its position, the Board suggests, correctly, that the new Code makes the administrative and judicial review proceedings, therein set out, mandatory and exclusive. Tex.Prop.Tax Code Ann. § 42.09; Valero Transmission Co. v. Hays Consolidated Independent School Dist., 704 S.W.2d 857 (Tex.App.1985, writ ref’d n.r.e.); Texas Architectural Aggregate v. Adams, 690 S.W.2d 640 (Tex.App.1985, no writ).
Under the Code, administrative review of the Board’s appraisal is set in motion by a change in valuation “that will result in an increase in the tax liability of the property owner.” Section 41.11(a). (Emphasis added). The Board must notify the property owner in the event the change in valuation will result in an increase in his tax liability. Id. The property owner must then file a notice of protest within a time certain. Section 41.44. The Board then schedules a public hearing on the protest. Section 41.-45. After hearing, the Board determines the protest and notifies the property owner. Section 41.47. The property owner is entitled to appeal. Section 42.01. To pursue an appeal, the property owner must file a written notice of appeal with the Board within fifteen days from notification of the Board’s order. Section 41.06. The property owner must then file his petition for review in district court within forty-five days after he received notice of the Board’s final order. Section 42.21.
Should the appraised value of the property remain constant and should the property owner dispute that valuation, he may render it for the contended value. Section 22.01(c); § 22.03(a). The chief appraiser then makes a determination of the property owner’s claim, § 22.03(b), and delivers him a written notice of the appraiser’s determination. Section 22.03(c). If not satisfied, the property owner must then file written notice of protest, § 41.44, and so on.
As I understand, the administrative process becomes operative, pursuant to the Code, when the value of the subject property is increased, § 41.11(a), or when the property owner seeks a decrease in tax liability by rendering his property at a lower value. § 22.01(c); § 22.03(a). No language in § 22.01(c) or § 22.03(a), however, mandates that the property owner must render his property.
In this appeal, the appraised value of the property was not increased in 1985; instead, the value remained appraised at the 1984 value. The taxpayers did not render the property in 1985 at a lower value. The parties do not refer the Court to applicable provisions of the Code nor do the parties supply any on point authority to guide the Court. Under these facts, it seems to me doubtful that the provisions of the Code detailing administrative review govern the taxpayers’ 1985 claim.
*682The taxpayers properly filed suit in district court attacking the Board’s 1984 appraisal. The appraisal value of the property remained unchanged in 1985. Under such facts, and resolving any doubt in favor of the taxpayers, Calvert v. Coke, 458 S.W.2d 913 (Tex.1970), I conclude that the Code did not require the taxpayers to run the administrative gantlet in 1985 to obtain a judicial determination of the 1985 value. Instead, the taxpayers could, as they did, amend their petition to request a judicial determination of that value.