Board of County Commissioners v. Vail Associates, Inc.

No. 98SC869 (19 P.3d 1263) (Colo. February 26, 2001)

ELR Digest

The court holds that a Colorado statute that exempts from taxation certain possessory interests in tax-exempt property violates the state constitution. A ski area operator, whose ski resort is located on federal land, filed suit challenging the appraisal of its owed taxes on the basis that taxation of possessory interests in tax-exempt property violates § 39-3-136, 11 C.R.S. The court first holds that § 39-3-136 unconstitutionally exempts from taxation certain possessory interests in tax-exempt property that, like the ski area at issue, evidence significant incidents of ownership. The statute states that some possessory interests in tax-exempt property, such as the operation of a ski resort on federally owned land, are exempt from taxation. However, the state General Assembly cannot provide statutory exemptions from taxation that are not within the constitutional exemption categories of Article X of the Colorado Constitution, and private possessory interests in tax-exempt lands are not among the exemption categories contained in Article X. Additionally, taxation across each class of property must be uniform, and § 39-3-136 does not tax the entire class of "possessory interests" uniformly. Thus, the operator's possessory interests in federal property and improvements thereon for its ski area constitute real property that is subject to taxation under the Colorado statutes and Article X of the Colorado Constitution.

A dissenting judge would hold that the legislative intent not to tax possessory interests manifest in § 39-3-136 is controlling and does not contravene the Colorado Constitution or other statutory provisions.

The full text of this decision is available from ELR (28 pp., ELR Order No. L-343).

Counsel for Petitioner
James R. Fritze, County Attorney
Eagle County Attorney's Office
500 Broadway, Eagle CO 81631
(970) 328-6373

Counsel for Respondents
James D. Butler
Holme, Roberts & Owen
1700 Lincoln St., Ste. 4100, Denver CO 80203
(303) 861-7000

[31 ELR 20501]

[OPINION OMITTED BY PUBLISHER IN ORIGINAL SOURCE]