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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-09-28 Minutes TAX BOARD OF REVIEW MEETING MINUTES APPEAL HEARINGS Wednesday, September 28, 2022 Aupuni Center | Aupuni Center Conference Room 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, Hawaii CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Nelson Harano called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Present: Board Members Nelson Harano, Diane Blancett-Maddock, Michael Okumoto, Deputy Corporation Counsel Sinclair Salas-Ferguson, Real Property Tax Assistant Administrator Keita Jo, Appraisal Supervisor Dionne Costa, Real Property Tax Administrator filling in for Board Clerk Lisa Miura Dale Tokuuke was excused. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC There were no statements from the public. APPROVAL OF MINUTES No minutes to approve PRESENT VIA TELEPHONE Diane Kennedy (representative for Hawaii Petroleum) was called at 9:02 a.m. TAX APPEAL CASE HEARINGS Note: Prior to the start of the case hearings, Deputy Corporation Counsel Sinclair Salas- Ferguson announced the general procedures of the appeal hearing and advised all Appellants and the Department of the procedure the Board would be following for the rendering of their decision and the Appellants’ further right to appeal to the Tax Appeal Court located in Honolulu within 30 days from the date of the decision letter that the appellant will be receiving via certified mail. For each appeal case, the appraiser submitted a packet of information to the Board, unless there had been a prior settlement with the Appellant or withdrawal. If the Appellant was not present, any information sent in by the Appellant was presented to the Board along with the appraisers’ packet. CASE #44581 – MS LEILANI TMK 2-2-037-048-0000 The subject property is a gas station located on the corner of Leilani Street and Kanoelehua Avenue. The land and building values are under appeal. Appellant representative Diane Kennedy was present via telephone for the hearing. Appellant requested land value be lowered to $300,200 and building value be lowered to $61,300. County recommended sustaining the county values of $330,100 for land and $290,600 for building. No rebuttals from the appellant or county. Board reviewed documentation. Board asked questions to the appellant and county. Mr. Harano asked if there were no further questions, can we entertain a motion at this time. Mr. Okumoto moved to sustain the County’s values, the land at $330,100 and the building value of $290,600 for a total of $620,700 because the assessed value of the property exceeded by more than 20% the ratio of assessment to market value. Ms. Blancett- Maddock seconded the motion. Mr. Harano called for discussion. Ms. Blancett-Maddock stated the figures the appellant put on the appeal form is based on the 2021 assessment so that means they didn’t think anything went up in the past year, but values increased on everything. Mr. Harano stated that when he looked at the county’s pictures from the street level, you have good access for coming off the main highway as well as the stations are very open, the bays are open, good access coming out getting onto the highway. She agreed. Mr. Harano called for further discussion. Motion passed by a vote of 3:0 to sustain the county values. CASE #44583 – KALEPA COMPANY LLC TMK 3-6-010-006-0000 The subject property is a gas station and convenience store located in Laupahoehoe on Highway 19. The canopy over the gas station in the aerial view was sitting on the ground at the time of the inspection. The 2022 land and building values are under appeal. Appellant representative Diane Kennedy was present via telephone for the hearing. Appellant requested land value be lowered to $210,900 and building value be lowered to $227,400. County recommended sustaining the county value’s of $221,500 for land and $357,600 for building. Rebuttal by appellant - after the canopy was hit by a truck, we did take the canopy down as it was unsafe. We are waiting for the insurance company to repair the canopy and put back up. No rebuttal by the County was made. Board reviewed the documentation. Mr. Harano stated the Board could ask questions. Mr. Harano made a motion to go into Executive Session at 9:36am for a legal questions. It was seconded by Ms. Blancett-Maddock for discussion. Mr. Harano stated he wants to talk to the Board’s attorney about the Boards powers. Motion passed with a vote 3:0. Discussion on related party sales vs a bulk sale and what is considered an open market sale. County and Ms. Kennedy was called (by phone) back in once Board was ready to reconvene. Mr. Harano made a motion to go out of Executive Session at 9:48 a.m. It was seconded by Mr. Okumoto. Motion passed with a vote 3:0 Mr. Harano asked if there were any questions from the Board to the County or appellant? Seeing none, Mr. Harano asked for a motion for discussion. Ms. Blancett-Maddock moved to sustain the county’s building value of $221,500 and building value at $357,600 for a total of $579,100 as the taxpayer has not proven the assessed value exceeds more than 20% the assessment to market value Seconded by Mr. Okumoto. Mr. Harano asked for discussion. Mr. Okumoto stated like the previous case, the county presented a bulk sale and the acreage is way above the county assessments so there is room for error and the values the county presented are reasonable. Ms. Blancett-Maddock noted again, the taxpayers appeal form, the building and land values are the same as 2021, everything and values has increased in the past year. Mr. Harano called for further discussion. Seeing none he called for the vote to sustain the county values. Motion passed by a vote of 3:0. CASE #44582 – HAWAII PETROLEUM INC TMK 5-5-015-024-0000 The subject property is a gas station located in North Kohala in Hawi Town. The 2022 land and building values are under appeal. Appellant representative Diane Kennedy was present via telephone for the hearing. Appellant requested land value be lowered to $389,700 and building value be lowered to $207,000. County recommended sustaining the county value’s of $331,600 for building and $409,000 for land. No rebuttals by appellant or county was made. Board reviewed documentation and asked questions to both the appellant and the county. Mr. Harano asked if there were any questions from the Board to the appellant or the county. Requested motion for discussion. Mr. Okumoto moved to sustain the county values for land at $409,000 and a building value of $331,600 for a total of $740,600 based on the assessed value does not exceed by more than 20% of the assessed to market value. Ms. Blancett-Maddock seconded the motion. Mr. Okumoto stated his reason is the same as the first two appeals. The average sales price of the gas stations of the comparables are higher than the assessed value of the subject. Ms. Blancett-Maddock commented her reason is the same as before that the appellant is using the 2021 land and building values and everything increased. Mr. Harano stated when he looked at the subject and compared to Comparable #1 as it is the closest to the subject property. The value of the subject is more than half of the sale, due to the increase in values, Hawi seems to be an area that people are definitely interested in living and they have had their share of growth in the area. Agree with sustaining the values. Any further discussion, seeing none. Mr Harano called for the vote. Motion passed with a vote of 3:0. CASE #44579 – MINIT STOP TMK 6-1-003-008-0000 The subject property is a gas station located in Kawaihae. There is a convenience store. The 2022 building value is under appeal. Appellant representative Diane Kennedy was present via telephone for the hearing. Appellant requested building value be lowered to $323,600. County recommended sustaining the building value of $495,000. No rebuttals by appellant or county. Board reviewed documentation and asked questions of both the appellant and the county. Mr. Harano asked if there any further questions. Seeing none, Mr. Harano asked if we entertain a motion at this time for discussion purposes. Ms. Blancett-Maddock sustains the County building value at $495,000 as the land value is not under appeal based on the fact that the taxpayer has not proven the assessed value exceeds more than 20% of the assessed to market value. Mr. Okumoto seconded the motion. Mr. Harano asked for discussion. Mr. Okumoto stated again the reasoning is the same. The County did provide a sale and the average price of the sale for an individual service station is way above what they are assessing at so I think the values presented by the County is reasonable. Ms. Blancett-Maddock stated she had the same comment as before that the taxpayer appeal is stating the building value is the same as it was in 2021 but the market did increase. Mr. Harano seeing no further discussion. Called for the vote. Motion passed by a vote of 3:0 CASE #44580 – HAWAII PETROLEUM INC TMK 6-4-034-054-0000 The subject property is a gas station and convenience store located in Waimea. The 2022 land and buildings value are under appeal. Appellant representative Diane Kennedy was present via telephone for the hearing. Appellant requested land value be lowered to $581,700 and building value be lowered to $1,133,600. County recommended sustaining the county value’s of $698,000 for land and $1,599,500 for building. No rebuttals by appellant or county. Board reviewed documentation and asked questions to both the appellant and county. Mr. Harano asked if there were any other questions the Board has to the County or the appellant? Seeing none, asked for a motion for discussion purposes. Mr. Okumoto moved to sustain the county values for land at $698,000 and building value at $1,599,500 for a total of $2,297,500 because the assessment value of the property did not exceed more than 20% the assessment to market value. Ms. Blancett-Maddock seconded the motion. Open for discussion. Mr. Okumoto stated again the county presented sales that average more than the assessment so the assessment is inline with what the market shows. Ms. Blancett-Maddock repeating comment again the taxpayer used the 2021 values for their 2022 appeal values. Mr. Harano added the lot size is very big to the closest one of the of the comps used is 7,000 square feet less and the age of the building as newer compared to the older comparables. The assessment is well justified as it is still well within the gas station sales in 2021 was paid for. I think its justified. Mr. Harano asked for further discussion. Seeing none, called for the vote. Motion passed with a vote of 3:0. ANNOUNCEMENTS The next meeting will be on Tuesday October 11, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. in the former Liquor Board Conference Room #B2 at the West Hawaii Civic Center. ADJOURNEMENT Meeting was adjourned at 10:29am Respectfully Submitted, Lisa Miura Real Property Tax Administrator (filling in as Tax Board Clerk)