Agenda 09-17-19 Item 6-a - Refund Request from John C. and Judith K. Guibert, Lake Orange Property

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17 REQUEST FOR PROPERTY TAX REFUND John C. Guibert and Judith K. Guibert 4316 Arrowhead Trail; Hillsborough,NC 27278 (PIN#9857757373) March 13,2019 Additional supporting information, background, and details Many errors have been made related to the improper taxation of the land within the 615' and 620' elevation levels on Arrowhead Lot 10 including"clerical errors"—either in the plain meaning or the euphemistic use of that term. As indicated below, both the original owner of the Arrowhead subdivision and Orange County are party to these errors. Orange County has knowingly taxed both Lake Orange Inc. and the Arrowhead Lot 10 Owners for the same piece of land on Arrowhead Lot 10, specifically the land within the elevation contours 615' and 620'. Orange County has long known that Lake Orange Inc. is the owner of this land! This situation is in conflict with a fundamental axiom of property law: "one cannot be taxed for property that one does not own."Furthermore, Orange County has failed to directly inform/notify affected property owners of this"double taxation" situation,thereby contributing directly to the continuation of this situation for several decades. We believe that may constitute an illegal tax. Errors were made in the Plat recorded for the creation of the Arrowhead Subdivision on 12/14/1976 (Plat Book 26,Page 73)through a combination of omissions and clerical errors. These omissions and errors resulted in an incorrect representation that Mr. &Mrs. Robert Nichols were the owners of"All of the land of Lot Number 10 of Arrowhead subdivision as shown on the plat of Arrowhead,property of R. B.Nichols,recorded at Plat Book 26,Page 73, Orange County Registry." This appears to constitute a conflict with another fundamental axiom of property law: "one cannot convey that which one does not own." x Orange County was at the time and is now well aware that this is an incorrect representation, and that Lake Orange Inc. is the true owner of the land within the 615' and 620' elevation levels on Arrowhead Lot 10, as well as being the true owner of such land on all the other Arrowhead Lots not to mention all the other Lots within other subdivisions around Lake Orange. The County has been aware of this for a very long time. Yet,with a few exceptions, Orange County continues to use the erroneous Plat Book 26,Page 73 for the determination of ownership (and thereby taxation) of Arrowhead Lots. The few exceptions are Lot 5, Lot 10, and Lot 11, in which cases individual owners (including the Guiberts for Arrowhead Lot 10) discovered on their own that they were being subjected to taxation for land they did not own and then took action(conducted new surveys and recorded plats)to begin the process of correcting these errors. There is evidence that by the early 1980s (if not sooner),Mr. &Mrs. Nichols were aware of the errors in the above-mentioned Plat for the creation of the Arrowhead subdivision. In the early to middle 1980s (at the time ownership in Arrowhead Lots was being conveyed by the Nichols to the first buyers of those Lots), a new Plat was typically included as Appendix A to the General Warranty Deed for the sale/conveyance. For Arrowhead Lot 10,the initial sale/conveyance of the Lot to the first purchasers of the Lot took place on 2/21/1986 (Deed Book 558, Pages 625-627,with the new Plat shown on Page 627). I In 1967,as an essential part of the creation of Lake Orange,Lake Orange Inc. conveyed to Orange County all of the land it owned below the 615' elevation contour line around what is now known as Lake Orange. (Deed Book 212,Page 362 and Plat Book 16,Page 12).As described/shown in both that Deed and the associated Plat,Lake Orange Inc.retained ownership of the land around Lake Orange within the 615' and 620'elevation contour lines.In that Deed,Orange County specifically obtained the right of first refusal of any proposed transfer of ownership of that land by Lake Orange Inc. 3