Tax — property taxes

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Wisconsin Court of Appeals

Civil

Tax — property taxes

Where the assessor relied on comparable sales in assessing property, the circuit court properly upheld the assessment.

“Based on State ex rel. Markarian v. City of Cudahy, 45 Wis. 2d 683, 173 N.W.2d 627 (1970), the circuit court correctly acknowledged that ‘the methods of valuation should be recent sale or comparable sales, and … if that information is not available, we turn to income and other sources.’ See id. at 686. The circuit court explained that the preference for comparable sales valuation is because ‘what the property can generate [in income] is really substantially what we expect to be factored into … the sale [price]. So long as you have comparable sales that you feel are reliable … that income approach ought [to] already be sort of built into the valuation under that Tier 2 approach.’”

“The circuit court specifically found that Weissenfluh’s method of analysis was more reliable than Pitts’s method, both as to the tier-two comparable sales approach, and as to the tier-three income approach, which Weissenfluh used only as a check on the accuracy of the comparable sales conclusion.”

Affirmed.

Recommended for publication in the official reports.

2013AP1944 Joseph Hirschberg Revocable Living Trust v. City of Milwaukee

Dist. I, Milwaukee County, Martens, J., Kessler, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Marcuvitz, Alan, Milwaukee; Boerke, Nicholas J., Milwaukee; For Respondent: Quinn, Christine M., Greendale