WENTWORTH, J.
This case concerns whether the Indiana Board of Tax Review erred in upholding the 2009 assessment of Vern R. Grabbe's agricultural property. The Court finds it did not.
The subject property, two contiguous parcels of agricultural land, is located in Carroll County. One parcel consists of 3.664 acres and contains one hog building ("the 020 parcel"); the second parcel consists of 19.266 acres and contains two hog buildings and a utility shed ("the 015 parcel"). For the 2009 tax year, the subject property was assessed at $274,500 ($30,900 for land and $243,600 for improvements).
Grabbe believed the assessment was too high and sought review first with the Carroll County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals and then with the Indiana Board. On February 22, 2011, the Indiana Board held a hearing during which Grabbe presented four self-prepared analyses to demonstrate that the assessed value of the subject property should only be $218,262. On June 21, 2011, the Indiana Board issued a final determination finding that each of Grabbe's analyses lacked probative value. Consequently, the Indiana Board upheld the assessment in its entirety.
On August 1, 2011, Grabbe initiated this original tax appeal. The Court heard oral argument on March 9, 2012. Additional facts will be supplied as necessary.
The party seeking to overturn an Indiana Board final determination bears the burden to demonstrate that it is invalid. Hubler Realty Co. v. Hendricks Cnty. Assessor, 938 N.E.2d 311, 313 (Ind. Tax Ct.2010). Consequently, Grabbe must demonstrate to the Court that the Indiana Board's final determination is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, unsupported by substantial or reliable evidence, or otherwise not in accordance with law. See IND.CODE § 33-26-6-6(e)(1), (5) (2013).
In Indiana, real property is assessed on the basis of its market value-in-use: the value "of a property for its current use, as reflected by the utility received by the owner or a similar user, from the property." 2002 REAL PROPERTY ASSESSMENT MANUAL (Manual) (2004 Reprint) (incorporated by reference at 50 Ind. Admin. Code 2.3-1-2 (2002 Supp.)) at 2. To determine a property's market value-in-use, assessing officials refer to a series of
While Grabbe raises several issues on appeal,
Grabbe first provided an alternate value calculation based on the allocated April 17, 2008, sales price of his property. This allocation approach valued the subject property at $218,262 ($30,900 for the land and $187,362 for the hog buildings).
Grabbe's allocation approach appears to incorporate two different appraisal methodologies, the allocation method and the abstraction method. The allocation method, which is used to estimate the value of land, "is based on typical ratios of land value to improvement value for specific categories of real property." Appraisal Inst., The Appraisal of Real Estate 335, 340 (12th ed.2001); see also INT'L ASS'N OF ASSESSING OFFICERS, PROPERTY ASSESSMENT VALUATION 88 (2nd ed.1996). The abstraction method, which is also used to estimate the value of land, "involves subtracting the depreciated replacement cost of improvements from the sale price of an improved property[; t]he remainder is an indication of the land value for that property." INT'L ASS'N OF ASSESSING OFFICERS, supra, at 88-89; see also APPRAISAL INST., supra, at 339-40. The certified administrative record, however, does not indicate whether Grabbe's use of these two methodologies comported with any generally accepted appraisal principles, which is required to rebut the presumption of accuracy accorded to an assessment made pursuant to Indiana's assessment guidelines. See Manual at 5.
For example, Grabbe explained how he allocated the sales price to each parcel, stating, "I allocated $146,611 as the purchase price to [the 020 parcel] and then I allocated $203,389 to [the 015 parcel]. Now again, I really don't care which way they go because the total is what I'm more interested in." (Cert. Admin. R. at 314.). Moreover, Grabbe did not present any evidence to show that his assumptions about how much of the purchase price to allocate were reliable by relating them, for example, to the market values-in-use of similar properties. See APPRAISAL INST., supra, at 340 (explaining that the allocation approach requires the use of market data). Consequently, the Court finds that the Indiana Board's determination that Grabbe's allocation approach lacked probative value was based on substantial evidence and consistent with the law.
Grabbe also presented an estimated value of his property using a cost approach analysis, which valued the property at $188,320 ($30,900 for the land and $157,420 for the hog buildings).
The cost approach estimates the value of the land as if vacant and then adds the depreciated cost of the improvements as if new to arrive at a total estimate of value. Manual at 3. Functional obsolescence, the type of obsolescence at issue here, is a form of depreciation that reflects a loss of value caused by an improvement's internal inutilities. See Guidelines, Bk. 2, App. F at 4. Generally, the type of inutility present in an improvement influences the methodology used in quantifying functional obsolescence. See Guidelines, Bk. 2, App. F at 9-12; see also, e.g., Appraisal Inst., supra, at 403-12. Thus, Grabbe was not limited to the use of the sales comparison approach to quantify the claimed functional obsolescence. Nonetheless, Grabbe failed to present any objective evidence other than his own conclusory assumptions, and therefore, the Indiana Board's determination that Grabbe's cost approach lacked probative value is based on substantial and reliable evidence and comports with the law.
Grabbe also presented an estimate of his property's value at $191,401 using an income approach analysis.
The Indiana Board determined that Grabbe's income approach estimate lacked probative value because Grabbe improperly deducted property taxes as an expense and he did not support his use of a 20% capitalization rate.
This Court has repeatedly stated that the valuation of property is the formulation of an opinion, not an exact science. See, e.g., Millennium Real Estate Inv., LLC v. Assessor, Benton Cnty., 979 N.E.2d 192, 197 (Ind. Tax Ct.2012), review denied; Stinson v. Trimas Fasteners, Inc., 923 N.E.2d 496, 502 (Ind. Tax Ct.2010). Nonetheless, Indiana law makes clear that the probative value of an opinion depends on whether the proponent of that opinion has shown that he adhered to generally recognized appraisal principles in formulating the opinion. See Manual at 3, 5. This requirement remains the same whether an assessing official, an appraiser, or a taxpayer is the proponent of the opinion. See, e.g., Inland Steel Co. v. State Bd. of Tax Comm'rs, 739 N.E.2d 201, 220 (Ind. Tax Ct.2000) (explaining that an appraiser's use of a producer price index does not, in and of itself, establish that he complied with generally accepted appraisal standards), review denied. The Indiana Board, therefore, did not adopt an unreasonable requirement or apply some artificially high standard in determining the probative value of Grabbe's income approach.
Grabbe did not demonstrate that his deduction of property taxes as an expense was proper under generally accepted appraisal standards. See Millennium, 979 N.E.2d at 196-97 (discussing the propriety of deducting property taxes as an expense for ad valorem tax purposes). Moreover, while Grabbe's evidence provided that the capitalization rates of certain hog facilities ranged from 8% to 20%, he did not provide any evidence demonstrating why a rate of 20% is proper in this case or why the property from which he derived his 20% capitalization rate was comparable to his own property. (See Cert. Admin. R. at 204-07, 301-03.) Consequently, the Court finds that the Indiana Board's determination that Grabbe's income approach lacked probative value is supported by substantial and reliable evidence and is not contrary to law.
Finally, Grabbe calculated the value of his property using a market data
(See Cert. Admin. R. at 210-17, 304-08.)
The Indiana Board determined that Grabbe's market data approach lacked probative value because he neither explained nor submitted any documentary evidence to indicate how he determined the value of the homes, the other land, and the tool sheds on the comparison farms. (See Cert. Admin. R. at 50-51.) Grabbe claims, however, that the Indiana Board erred in finding that his market data approach lacked probative value because the certified administrative record contains evidence of the values of those items. (See Pet'r Br. at 10.) To support this claim, Grabbe directs the Court to three photocopied pages of an Indiana Board final determination in another case. (See Pet'r Br. at 10 (citing Ex. 2).) That evidence, however, was not presented to the Indiana Board during the course of the administrative proceedings in this case and, therefore, the Court may not consider it now. See State Bd. of Tax Comm'rs v. Gatling Gun Club, Inc., 420 N.E.2d 1324, 1326-28 (Ind.Ct.App.1981) (explaining that the Court generally may not consider evidence that a taxpayer fails to submit to the Indiana Board); see also IND.CODE § 33-26-6-3 (2010). Accordingly, Grabbe failed to demonstrate that the Indiana Board's determination that his market data approach lacked probative value is unsupported by substantial and reliable evidence or is contrary to law.
For the above-stated reasons, the Court finds that the Indiana Board's determination
Id. (citation omitted).