The Christian County Board of Review v. The Property Tax Appeal Board

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State: Illinois

Court: 5th District Appellate

Docket No: 5-04-0731 Rel

Case Date: 07/25/2006

Preview:Rule 23 order filed September 12, 2006; Motion to publish granted October 30, 2006.

NO. 5-04-0731 IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

FIFTH DISTRICT ________________________________________________________________________ THE CHRISTIAN COUNTY BOARD OF REVIEW, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of ) Christian County. Plaintiff-Appellant, ) ) v. ) No. 01-MR-13 ) THE PROPERTY TAX APPEAL ) BOARD, CAROL PRESNELL, and JACK ) PRESNELL, ) Honorable James J. Eder and ) Honorable Michael R. Weber, Defendants-Appellees. ) Judges, presiding. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------THE CHRISTIAN COUNTY BOARD OF ) Appeal from the REVIEW, ) Circuit Court of ) Christian County. Plaintiff-Appellant, ) ) v. ) No. 01-MR-15 ) THE PROPERTY TAX APPEAL ) BOARD and ALLEN C. BRAUNE, ) Honorable James J. Eder and ) Honorable Michael R. Weber, Defendants-Appellees. ) Judges, presiding. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------THE CHRISTIAN COUNTY BOARD OF ) Appeal from the REVIEW, ) Circuit Court of ) Christian County. Plaintiff-Appellant, ) ) v. ) No. 01-MR-17 ) THE PROPERTY TAX APPEAL ) BOARD and ROBERT A. NOREUIL, ) Honorable James J. Eder and ) Honorable Michael R. Weber, Defendants-Appellees. ) Judges, presiding. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE CHRISTIAN COUNTY BOARD OF REVIEW,

) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of ) Christian County. Plaintiff-Appellant, ) ) v. ) No. 01-MR-16 ) THE PROPERTY TAX APPEAL ) BOARD, ) ) Defendant-Appellee and Cross-Appellant, ) ) and ) ) BELINDA SEXSON, ) Honorable James J. Eder and ) Honorable Michael R. Weber, Defendant-Appellee. ) Judges, presiding. ________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE WELCH delivered the opinion of the court: In 1999, the Christian County Board of Review (County) assessed five manufactured homes located in Christian County as real property. Each owner of the manufactured homes separately appealed the assessments to the Property Tax Appeal Board (PTAB) and argued that the manufactured homes should be assessed as personalty and not real property. The PTAB agreed with each owner of the manufactured homes and found that because the manufactured homes do not rest on a permanent foundation and because the County did not have a lawful method of assessing manufactured homes or like-kind property prior to 1979, they were improperly assessed as real property pursuant to the Property Tax Code (35 ILCS 200/1-1 et seq. (West 2002)). The PTAB found that the manufactured homes should be treated, for taxation purposes, as mobile homes subject to the provisions of the Mobile Home Local Services Tax Act (35 ILCS 515/1 et seq. (West 2002)). The County appealed each PTAB decision to the circuit court of Christian County. On review, the circuit court upheld the PTAB's findings that none of the manufactured homes rested on a permanent foundation. The circuit court also held that regarding four of the manufactured homes, the PTAB's findings that the County did not have a lawful method 2

of assessing manufactured homes or like-kind property prior to 1979 and that therefore the classification of the property did not freeze under section 24-5 of the Property Tax Code (35 ILCS 200/24-5 (West 2002)) were not against the manifest weight of the evidence. However, regarding the fifth manufactured home, the circuit court held that because the evidence was uncontradicted that the fifth manufactured home had been assessed as real property prior to 1979, the PTAB's findings "with respect to the assessment of [this manufactured home]" were against the manifest weight of the evidence. The County appeals the circuit court's adverse decisions on the four manufactured homes, and the PTAB appeals the circuit court's adverse decision on the fifth manufactured home. These cases have been consolidated. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the decisions of the PTAB, and we affirm in part and reverse in part the decisions of the circuit court. Before addressing the issues raised on appeal, we note that this appeal comes to us from several decisions by the circuit court of Christian County. However, because the PTAB is an administrative agency subject to the Administrative Review Law (735 ILCS 5/3-101 et seq. (West 2004)), our review focuses exclusively on the decisions of the PTAB and not the decisions of the circuit court. Senachwine Club v. Putnam County Board of Review , 362 Ill. App. 3d 566, 568 (2005). We also note that our review of an administrative agency's findings of fact is performed under a manifest-weight-of-the-evidence standard of review. Dowrick v. Village of Downers Grove, 362 Ill. App. 3d 512, 515 (2005). Furthermore, we review de novo an administrative agency's conclusion on a question of law. Comprehensive Community Solutions, Inc. v. Rockford School District No. 205, 216 Ill. 2d 455, 471 (2005). Finally, where there is a mixed question of law and fact, we review an administrative agency's decision for clear error. Elementary School District 159 v. Schiller , 221 Ill. 2d 130, 143 (2006). Essentially, there are three issues raised by the parties on appeal. These issues can be

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summarized as follows: first, whether the PTAB's decisions that the County did not have a lawful method for assessing manufactured homes or like-kind property prior to 1979 and thereby improperly assessed the manufactured homes as real property pursuant to section 245 were against the manifest weight of the evidence, second, whether the PTAB erred in defining the term "permanent foundation" as it is used in the Property Tax Code, and third, whether the PTAB erred in assessing as real property air conditioner units attached to some of the manufactured homes. The evidence presented to the PTAB was as follows. There are four owners of the five manufactured homes. Belinda Sexson is the owner of two of the manufactured homes. Carol and Jack Presnell, Allen C. Braune, and Robert A. Noreuil each own one manufactured home. Each owner of a manufactured home also owns the property where the manufactured home is located. Four of the manufactured homes were constructed after 1980. The fifth manufactured home, which is one of the two manufactured homes owned by Sexson, was built prior to 1979 and was on the property purchased by Sexson in 1995. Each manufactured home rests on concrete blocks. Wood shims lie between the frame of the manufactured homes and the concrete blocks, to level the manufactured homes. The concrete blocks are not mortared together. The concrete blocks rest on concrete pads, piers, or gravel. None of the concrete pads or piers extends more than a few inches below the ground. Each manufactured home has an exterior skirting surrounding its perimeter. The skirting does not support the homes in any way. Some of the manufactured homes have a central-air-conditioning unit attached. The County assessed these attached air conditioners as real property. Ronald Finley, the chief county assessment officer of Christian County, has been employed with the Christian County assessment office as the supervisor of assessments from

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October 16, 1978, to May 16, 1994, and since December 1, 1996. Evidence was presented by Finley in regard to Christian County's methods for assessing mobile home property prior to 1979. According to an affidavit submitted by Finley, he "made an exhaustive review of the records and documents" from 1975 through 1978, and based upon this review he concluded that the County had a general policy of assessing mobile homes as follows: "[A]ll factory[-]assembled structures designed for permanent habitation which are not located in a mobile home park or are not situated on leased ground [and] which have wheels, tongues[,] and hitches removed were and are treated as real estate and assessed as real estate for the purposes of ad valorem taxation. Those with wheels, tongues[,] and hitches intact, or those located in a mobile home park or, for the most part, on leased ground, were and are treated for taxation purposes under the Mobile Home Local Services Tax Act ***." The affidavit, however, noted some instances where the County assessed mobile homes located on leased property as real property. In addition, the affidavit pointed out that during 1980 or 1981, Finley had conducted a review of all "factory[-]assembled dwellings" to determine if similar properties were being assessed by the same method and he learned that some mobile homes that had the tongues, hitches, and wheels intact were improperly assessed as real property and that some mobile homes with tongues, hitches, and wheels removed were improperly assessed as personalty. discovery. Finley testified that the criterion used by Christian County to determine whether a mobile home should be taxed as real property or personalty is whether the owner of the mobile home owns the underlying property where the mobile home is located. Finley testified that it was never the policy of the County to tax mobile homes based on whether they rested on a permanent foundation. These improper assessments were corrected upon

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Upon reviewing the evidence, the PTAB found that the County failed to establish that it had a uniform consistent practice of classifying and assessing mobile homes as real property prior to 1979. As a result, the PTAB found that because the County did not have a lawful method for assessing mobile homes or like-kind property prior to 1979, section 24-5 did not "freeze" the classification of manufactured homes. In addition, the PTAB found that the manufactured homes did not rest in whole on a permanent foundation and were therefore improperly assessed as real property pursuant to the Property Tax Code. The first issue raised on appeal pertains to section 24-5 and the PTAB's findings that the County did not lawfully assess mobile home property or like-kind property prior to 1979. Section 24-5 was enacted in 1979 to prevent the reclassification of personal property to real property after the General Assembly abolished the ad valorem personal property tax. Oregon Comm unity Unit School District No. 220 v. Property Tax Appeal Board , 285 Ill. App. 3d 170, 176 (1996). The current version of section 24-5 provides as follows: "No property lawfully assessed and taxed as personal property prior to January 1, 1979, or property of like kind acquired or placed in use after January 1, 1979, shall be classified as real property subject to assessment and taxation. No property lawfully assessed and taxed as real property prior to January 1, 1979, or property of like kind acquired or placed in use after January 1, 1979, shall be classified as personal property." 35 ILCS 200/24-5 (West 2002). Under section 24-5, if a property was lawfully assessed as real property or personal property prior to January 1, 1979, that property and property of like kind must be classified the same way after January 1, 1979. In the instant case, the PTAB found that the County did not have a lawful method of assessing mobile home property prior to 1979 and that, therefore, the status of mobile home property or property of like kind did not freeze. The County disputes the PTAB's findings,

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arguing that the evidence demonstrated that the County had a lawful consistent method of assessing mobile homes as real property prior to 1979 and that, therefore, the mobile homes in the instant case were properly assessed as real property pursuant to section 24-5. Under section 24-5, classifications are only "frozen" if the property was "lawfully assessed" prior to 1979. Oregon Community Unit School District No. 220 , 285 Ill. App. 3d at 183. "It is well established that it is unlawful for an assessor to exempt one kind of property while classifying the same kind of property in the same district as nonexempt." Oregon Community Unit School District No. 220, 285 Ill. App. 3d at 178. "The uniformity clause of the constitution [(Ill. Const. 1970, art. IX,

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