By Joanna Dodder Nellans | The Daily Courier
An Arizona Tax Court case involving some of Yavapai County’s biggest ranches is going to trial this week.
The ranchers, who combined own 430,000 of the approximately 750,000 private ag acres in the county, say Yavapai County Assessor Pam Pearsall is valuing their land too high.
Judge Dean Fink already ruled Friday on a major issue, saying that it’s up to County Assessor Pam Pearsall whether to include public land lease values when calculating the value of ag acres. Leases on public lands typically are cheaper than private lands.
Fink said the trial would go forward today so he can determine whether Pearsall categorically excluded public leases or excluded them after review because she thought they weren’t typical arm’s length rental agreements between parties of equal standing. Pearsall said it was the latter, that the agreements were not typical.
Statement by Rose Law Group of counsel and Tax Appeal attorney Kelley Gorry:
“This case is interesting. The assessor does have to conduct the market lease study and certainly sounds like she categorically excluded the trust land leases, which would bring the average rents way up, thus much higher net operating incomes. Since the statute doesn’t allow the assessor to categorically exclude trust land leases, the ranchers should indeed win, and it will be a good win.”
