Agenda - 04-19-2005-5d - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: April 19, 2005 Action Agen~rda f Item No. of SUBJECT: Property Tax Refund (Best vs. Orange County) DEPARTMENT: Assessor's Office PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: ,John Smith, ext. 2101 Resolution Spreadsheet TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough Chapel Hill Durham Mebane 732-8181 968-4501 688-7331 336-227-2031 PURPOSE: To consider adoption of a refund resolution related to one (1) request for property tax refund. BACKGROUND: The Assessor's Office has received a request from one (1) taxpayer for refund of property taxes paid in prior fiscal years. General Statute 105-381(b), "Action of Governing Body" provides that "upon receiving a taxpayer's written statement of defense and request for release or refund, the governing body of the Taxing Unit shall within 90 days after receipt of such a request determine whether the taxpayer has a valid defense to the tax imposed or any part thereof and shall either release or refund that portion of the amount that is determined to be in excess of the correct liability or notify the taxpayer in writing that no release or refund will be made", North Carolina law allows the Board to approve property tax refunds for the current and four previous fiscal years. It should be noted that this refiand is an order owing to Default Judgment issued in the case of Best vs, Orange County, which involved a question of tax situs related to the uncertain location of the Orange-Alamance boundary line. Although this property is only 9.78 acres in size, it qualifies for the use value program under NCGS § 105-277,3 (a)(1), which provides that "individually owned agricultural land consisting of one or mare tracts, one of which consists of at least 10 acres...." is designated a special class of property that is eligible for taxation under the present use value program, In practice, this means that once there is one qualifying tract, other tracts (whether contiguous or not) may be qualified even if they individually, standing on their own, would not qualify, The property owner in this case owns several tracts, In Orange County there is a qualifying tract that is 16 acres, and there is a 27 acre tract taxed in Alamance County immediately across the road from the tract in question. County staff have previously site visited the 16 acre tract and the tract in question and have confirmed their qualifying agricultural use,