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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 6-322 / 05-1422 Filed June 28, 2006

DEDHAM COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION, A Cooperative Association of the State of Iowa, Plaintiff-Appellant, vs. CARROLL COUNTY BOARD OF REVIEW, Defendant-Appellee. ________________________________________________________________

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Carroll County, Joel E. Swanson, Judge.

Dedham Cooperative Association appeals from the district court's dismissal of its appeal from Carroll County Board of Review's real property assessment. REVERSED AND REMANDED.

Christopher O'Donohoe of Elwood, O'Donohoe, Stochl, Braun & Churbuck, New Hampton, for appellant. John Werden, Carroll County Attorney, for appellee.

Considered by Mahan, P.J., and Hecht and Eisenhauer, JJ.

2 HECHT, J. Dedham Cooperative Association appeals from the district court's dismissal of its appeal from Carroll County Board of Review's real property assessment. opinion. I. Background Facts and Proceedings. Effective January 1, 2005, the Carroll County Board of Review [Board] assessed certain commercial real property owned by the Dedham Cooperative Association [Coop] at a value of $1,726,400. On May 4, 2005, the Coop filed a petition with the Board protesting the assessment. The petition was prepared on a pre-printed form provided by the Board. The form listed a menu of six reasons on which taxpayers may base their protests. The form instructed the taxpayer to (1) strike through any reason that did not apply to his protest, and (2) provide explanations in support of any reasons for the protest. The Coop's petition struck through the first five reasons and indicated that the protest filed in this case was based on "a change downward in the value of the assessment." The petition further explained "[t]he industry has consolidated greatly over the last twenty years. Fair market value of this property is $1,100,000." The Board, however, refused to adjust its prior assessment of the commercial property in its final action and instead assessed the value of the property at $1,726,400. The Board stated its reason for refusing the petition as We reverse and remand for proceedings consistent with this

3 follows: "Invalid grounds

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