O'Neil v. Conejos County Board of Commissioners

Citations

• 2017 COA 30
• 395 P.3d 1185
• 2017 WL 929214
• 2017 Colo. App. LEXIS 260

Syllabus

Real Property—Residential—Commercial—Ad Valorem Taxes—Burden of Proof. James and Mary Ellen O'Neil purchased the subject property and built a log house on it for their use as a vacation home and as an inheritance for their sons. The house was initially classified for tax purposes as residential. After the O'Neils listed the property as available for short-term, overnight rental, the Conejos County Assessor (Assessor) reclassified the property, for ad valorem tax purposes, from residential to commercial. The O'Neils filed a petition for abatement with the Conejos County Board of Commissioners (County), which was denied, and then appealed to the Board of Assessment Appeals (Board), which overturned the Assessor's action and returned the property's classification to residential for the relevant years. On appeal, the County contended that the Board improperly classified the O'Neils' property as residential. The County asserted as a procedural error that that the Board failed to apply the presumption in favor of the Assessor's property classification. The Board's order demonstrated that it implicitly applied the presumption in favor of the County, and the O'Neils met their burden of proof to overcome that presumption. On the merits, the Board determined that the proper classification of the property was \residential\ because its \predominant and actual use was as a second home.\ The Board's determination had a reasonable basis in law and was supported by substantial evidence in the record. The order was affirmed.