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ATTORNEY FOR PETITIONER: ATTORNEY FOR RESPONDENT: JEROME L. WITHERED MARILYN S. MEIGHEN WITHERED BURNS & PERSIN, LLP MEIGHEN & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Lafayette, IN Carmel, IN _____________________________________________________________________

IN THE INDIANA TAX COURT

_____________________________________________________________________
Nov 05 2012, 11:58 am

FILED
of the supreme court, court of appeals and tax court

MILLENNIUM REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT, ) LLC, an Indiana Limited Liability Company, ) CLERK ) Petitioner, ) ) v. ) Cause No. 49T10-1008-TA-42 ) ASSESSOR, BENTON COUNTY, INDIANA, ) ) Respondent. ) _____________________________________________________________________ ON APPEAL FROM THE FINAL DETERMINATION OF THE INDIANA BOARD OF TAX REVIEW FOR PUBLICATION November 5, 2012 FISHER, Senior Judge Millennium Real Estate Investment, LLC appeals the final determination of the Indiana Board of Tax Review upholding the assessments of its real property for the 2008 tax year. The Court affirms. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Millennium owns three parcels of land in Boswell, Indiana, consisting of approximately twenty-one and a half acres and containing an industrial building and three Quonset storage buildings. For the 2008 tax year, the Benton County Assessor assigned Millennium's property a total assessed value of $639,800 ($230,800 for land

and $409,000 for improvements). Millennium believed the assessments were too high and, therefore, sought review first with the Benton County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals and then with the Indiana Board. On April 7, 2010, the Indiana Board held a hearing during which Millennium offered the testimony of its managing partner, Gene McGowen, and an appraisal, completed in conformance with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). Millennium's Appraisal estimated the value of its property at $325,000 as of March 1, 2008, and stated that the property was sold in December 2003 for $182,000. Millennium also presented an Asset Purchase Agreement, which provided that it purchased its property for $193,817 on June 30, 2008. In contrast, the Assessor presented an appraisal, also completed in conformance with USPAP, which valued the property at $640,000 as of January 10, 2007.1,2 On July 6, 2010, the Indiana Board issued its final determination upholding Millennium's assessments. On August 16, 2010, Millennium initiated this original tax appeal. The Court heard oral argument on February 18, 2011. necessary. STANDARD OF REVIEW The party seeking to overturn an Indiana Board final determination bears the burden of demonstrating its invalidity. Hubler Realty Co. v. Hendricks Cnty. Assessor, 938 N.E.2d 311, 313 (Ind. Tax Ct. 2010) (citation omitted). Consequently, Millennium Additional facts will be supplied as

1

The Assessor's Appraisal was prepared by a third party for financing purposes in December 2006. (See Cert. Admin. R. at 235, 298.)
2

It appears that neither of the Appraisals valued all three of Millennium's parcels; nonetheless, because the Indiana Board appears to have assumed otherwise, so shall this Court. (See Cert. Admin. R. at 157, 218-19, 232.)

2

must demonstrate to the Court that the Indiana Board's final determination is, for example, arbitrary, capricious, or unsupported by substantial evidence. See IND. CODE

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