Opinion

City of Philadelphia v. Delaware County Board of Assessment Appeals

  • 691 A.2d 992
  • 1997 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 96
Court
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
Filed
Feb 28, 1997
Status
Published
Author
McGinley
On the bench
Flaherty, McGinley, Mirarchi
Cited by
2 cases

The opinion

McGINLEY, Judge,

dissenting.

I respectfully dissent to the majority’s conclusion that the USPS budding is not a self-sustained “general service” budding subject to taxation under Paragraph 8 of the Agreement.

As the majority notes Paragraph 8 of the Agreement provides:

It is agreed by ad parties hereto that if such a significant portion of a general service budding ... shad be leased to tenants for commercial purposes so as to make that budding at lease self-sustained to the City considering ad operating and debt service costs, then such budding shad be taxable by the Delaware County Authorities signatory hereto....

Unlike the majority, I bedeve the terms of this paragraph are clear and unambiguous. Simply stated, Paragraph 8 provides that where significant portions of a general service budding are leased and the rents derived therefrom are sufficient to make the budding self-sufficient, i.e. no City funds are necessary to maintain the budding, the budding is taxable.

Here, the record reveals that USPS pays the City annual rents for the budding ranging from $1,118,948.00 to $1,611,285.00. In addition, there is no evidence in the record which would support a conclusion that the City expends funds to maintain the budding. Ergo, I believe that the USPS budding is a self-sustaining general service budding subject to tax under Paragraph 8 of the Agreement.

Accordingly, I would reverse the trial court’s grant of summary judgment.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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