This case involved the assessed value of a 93-acre parcel comprising a 1.5-acre house site surrounded by 91 acres enrolled in current use, including 1,100 feet of lake frontage. Such arrangements raise the issues of (1) whether the value of the house site, itself, is actually enhanced by the adjacent land in current use and, if so, (2) whether it violates public policy principles of current use taxation to include that enhanced value in the assessed value for property taxation.
The property was enrolled in current use in 1980. The LLK Trust (LLK) purchased it in January 2006 for $4,600,000. At the time, the total assessed value was $326,151, of which $104,500 was attributed to the house site. In August 2006, the Town adjusted the value of the house site in its assessment records to more than $2.9 million, which it later reduced to $1,214,351. The board of selectmen denied a request for abatement under RSA 76:16, as did the superior court on appeal under RSA 76:17.
On appeal to the Supreme Court, LLK claimed that, as a matter of law, it was improper to enhance the assessed value of land because it is surrounded by land in current use. However, the Court held that the issue had not been properly preserved for appeal because, without objection by LLK, the “experts testifying at trial agreed that the fact that the house site is surrounded by current use land enhanced its value.” This issue will have to await a future case.
LLK also claimed that the Town had impermissibly changed the assessed value of the property in August, rather than in April. The Court, however, reviewed the statutory scheme whereby the first property tax bill due July 1 is based on the previous year’s assessment. Adjustments to value as of April 1 can be calculated in subsequent months and reflected in the December tax bill.