Court Opinion

ID: 9657774
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 20:37:27.814011+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:48.218051
License: Public Domain

VANDE WALLE, Justice,
concurring specially.
My concern with this case, which was not raised by the appellant nor answered by the majority opinion, relates to the relevance of the formula. As I understand the formula used, it totals the supply of sunflower seeds available in the State and divides that figure by the total available processing capacity in the State. The difference between that figure and one hundred percent is the “economic obsolescence” factor for a given year. Hypothetically, it would make no difference in the formula if the entire supply were all locked in one corner of the State and delivered to a plant in that corner. Each plant would be assigned a portion of the available supply, according to its processing capacity, whether or not there was any possibility that a portion of the supply would be delivered to that plant for processing. In fact, this plant operated only 290 days since it opened in 1982.
It is apparent that appraisal of property for tax purposes is far from an exact science but the method of appraisal should *902bear some relationship to the realities of the situation. Further, once the figures used in the formula are adjusted by ignoring a low figure because of drought, the perception that the formula is subjective and result-oriented is made more acute. Drought in North Dakota in recent years may be more a reality than an aberration. But, I assume that an abnormally high production rate due to ideal weather and growing conditions, which rarely, if ever, exist, would also be ignored in the formula.
Nevertheless, I agree that there is sufficient evidence in the record to sustain the conclusion of the majority that the appraiser did not subjectively determine the amount of economic obsolescence by adopting an estimate arrived at through a compromise in a similar case, but, rather, used a facially objective formula. I therefore concur in the result reached by the majority opinion.