GAC PROPERTIES, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
SAMUEL J. COLDING, TAX ASSESSOR OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, ET AL., APPELLEES
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The court held that the trial court erred in granting a motion for involuntary dismissal because the appellant presented a prima facie case sufficient to overcome the presumption of correctness of the tax assessment.
Appellant challenged a property tax assessment, presenting expert testimony and evidence of a sale option price. The trial court granted the appellees…
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GRIMES, Judge.
The Tax Assessor of Collier County assessed a parcel of appellant’s property for the year 1973 at $8,601,700. After unsuccessfully exhausting the administrative remedies, the appellant brought suit contending that the amount of the assessment was arbitrary and discriminatory and grossly in excess of its fair market value. At the non-jury trial, appellant’s expert witness gave his opinion of the value to be $4,544,000. There was also evidence that in March of 1973 appellant gave an option for the sale of the property at a price of $5,300,000. At the conclusion of the appellant’s case, the court granted the appellees’ motion for involuntary dismissal and entered judgment against the appellant.
Assessors are accorded wide discretion in the valuation of property for taxation purposes. Harbond, Inc. v. Anderson, Fla.App.2d, 1961, 134 So. 2d 816. Though their assessments are presumed to be correct, the presumption is rebuttable. See Dean v. Palm Beach Mall, Inc., Fla. 1974, 297 So. 2d 298.
The appellant made a prima facie case sufficient to overcome the presumption. At that point in the trial, there had been no evidence introduced in support of the assessment. Hence, the motion for dismissal should not have been granted.
Reversed and remanded for a new trial.
McNULTY, C. J., and HOBSON, J., concur.
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Citator
Cited By
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LEE Cnty. Elec. Co-Operative, Inc. v. Lowe, 344 So. 2d 308 (Fla. 2d DCA 1977)…st DCA 1973). The property owner has carried the burden of establishing the prima facie invalidity of the assessment of his property. The motion to dismiss the property owner’s suit should not have been granted. See GAC Properties, Inc. v. Colding, 308 So. 2d 646 (Fla.2d DCA 1975). With respect to the other assignments of error, suffice it to comment that the statutory requirement for assessment at “just value” as of January 1 for the tax year does not require physical appraisal to be made on that date. See…
Authorities Cited
- Harbond, Inc. v. Van Anderson, 134 So. 2d 816 (Fla. 2d DCA 1961)
- Dean v. Palm Beach Mall, Inc., 297 So. 2d 298 (Fla. 1974)