Tax exemption for Indy neighborhood’s ‘green space’ upheld

A green space in an Indianapolis residential subdivision should have received a common area property tax exemption for the 2016 and 2017 tax years, the Indiana Tax Court has affirmed.

College Park, the homeowners association for the residential subdivision of College Park Estates in Indianapolis, struggled for years in a battle with the Marion County assessor over a multiacre grassy area on its property. The six-acre vacant lot, known as the “Colby Green Area,” is used as green space in the community.

Under its previous ownership, the Colby Green Area was exempt from property taxation. But two years after College Park purchased the land, the Marion County assessor announced the exemption would be suspended until College Park proved the new ownership and indicated the property still met the exemption requirements.

In October 2016, College Park provided the requested materials to the assessor via email but received no response until 2017. In its reply, the assessor requested that the land also be replatted with the words “Common Area” appearing on the recorded document in order to qualify for an exemption.

College Park complied but later learned the Colby Green Area would receive the common area property tax exemption from 2018 forward, but not for the 2016 and 2017 tax years. The case went to the Marion County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals, which failed to respond in a timely manner.

Next, the Indiana Board of Tax Review found in its final determination that because College Park provided proper notice, and because the assessor failed to respond in a timely manner, the Colby Green Area was an exempt common area by default in both 2016 and 2017 under Indiana Code § 6-1.1-10-37.5(g).

Affirming in Marion County Assessor v. College Park Club, Inc., 21T-TA-1, the Indiana Tax Court rejected with the Marion County assessor’s assertion that the board’s final determination was an abuse of discretion.

The assessor on appeal argued College Park’s October 2016 email with the required documents proving new ownership did not constitute a notice required by I.C. 6-1.1-10-37.5(a) and (d). As such, he wasn’t required to send a written statement to College Park.

On that point, the Tax Court upheld the Indiana board’s finding that the assessor’s failure to comply with the requirements of subsection (f) resulted in the Colby Green Area being deemed an exempt common area by operation of I.C. 6-1.1-10-37.5(g).

“Here, College Park explicitly stated in its email of October 14, 2016, that it was seeking the common area property exemption for the Colby Green Area under Indiana Code § 6-1.1-10-37.5, that it had complied with all of the requirements of that statute, which expressly included the requirement that the area’s property restrictions were recorded, and that its email ‘shall serve as such notice concerning the [] parcel.’ Thus, the Indiana Board did not err when it determined that College Park’s email was sufficient notice under Indiana Code § 6-1.1-10-37.5(d),” Judge Martha Blood Wentworth wrote.

Additionally, the Tax Court rejected the assessor’s argument that his Sept. 23, 2016, letter to College Park constituted the written statement required by subsection (f), pointing out that it was issued before College Park issued its October notice, not after as required by statute.

Further, the assessor’s letter was a form letter that was not intended to be used with respect to the common area property tax exemption process set forth in I.C.  6-1.1-10-37.5, Wentworth wrote.

“The Assessor has not demonstrated to the Court that the Indiana Board’s final determination granting a common area property exemption to the Colby Green Area under Indiana Code § 6-1.1-10-37.5(g) for the 2016 and 2017 tax years constituted an abuse of discretion,” she concluded. “The Indiana Board’s final determination is therefore affirmed in its entirety.”