City of Pharr v. Boarder to Boarder Trucking, Svc., Inc.

Appellants, the City of Pharr, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District and Hidalgo County, Texas, appeal the District Court’s judgment which lowered the amount of taxes the appellee, Boarder to Boarder Trucking Inc. (Boarder), owed. Appellants argue through six points of error that: (1-4) the District Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to (a) reduce the appraised values of Boarder’s property, (b) make findings of facts on this matter, (c) make conclusions of law on this matter, and (d) permit a taxpayer to defend a delinquent tax suit based on partial non-ownership of the property being taxed; (5) Boarder trucking failed to exhaust its administrative remedies; and (6) there is insufficient evidence to support the District Court’s findings of fact. We affirm.

This case arises out of taxes assessed on Boarder’s personal property between 1989 and 1995. The taxes were based on an appraised value set by the Hidalgo County Appraisal District. The personal property value totaled $768,653, of which $754,800 is attributed to twelve vehicles, all of which Boarder denies ownership. In 1989 Boarder protested that value arguing that the trucks in question were leased or owned by owner-operators.*fn1 Their protest was denied. Appellants subsequently filed suit to collect delinquent ad valorem taxes. Following a bench trial, the District Court ruled that appellee did not own personal property having a value as great as had been assessed to it for taxation. The judgment reduced the taxes owed to reflect the appellee’s non-ownership of the twelve vehicles.