By: Derek Hawkins//January 25, 2017//
WI Court of Appeals – District II
Case Name: Donald J. Thoma et al v. Village of Slinger
Case No.: 2015AP1970
Officials: Neubauer, C.J., Reilly, P.J., and Hagedorn, J
Focus: Tax Assessments
Donald J. Thoma and Polk Properties LLC filed this action for certiorari review of a decision of the Village of Slinger Board of Review upholding the assessment of properties in a subdivision owned by Thoma and Polk Properties. The subdivision is subject to a number of restrictive covenants, including one preventing the land from being used for agriculture. In 2012, as part of the Village’s suit to enforce the covenants, a court entered an order prohibiting the properties from being used for agriculture. For the 2014 tax year at issue in this case, the Village assessor reclassified the subdivision as residential for tax purposes. Thoma and Polk insist that the Village board of review (the Board) failed to act according to law when it accepted the assessor’s classification; the land, they assert, should have remained classified agricultural. Thoma and Polk also allege that the assessor impermissibly relied upon two sales that were not arm’s-length transactions. We affirm.