Non-Uniform Property Taxation Heading to Supreme Court in September
For those of you out there who are following whether commercial real estate can be taxed at a different rate than residential property, FFW Enterprises v. Fairfax County, et al. has been slated for the Supreme Court's September arguments docket. Like most other states, in the Commonwealth of Virginia the Constitution contains a "Uniformity Clause" which was intended to prevent the General Assembly from allowing the taxation of different classifications of real property in an inequitable manner. Specifically, Article X, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia provides:
"...All taxes shall be levied and collected under general laws and shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, except that the General Assembly may provide for differences in the rate of taxation to be imposed upon real estate by a city or town within all or parts of areas added to its territorial limits..."
The core of the dispute is whether Fairfax County may tax only commercial property owners, such as FFW Enterprises, without taxing residential property owners, to fund transportation projects. The General Assembly, through Section 58.1-3221.3 of the Code of Virginia, granted authority to Northern Virginia localities to levy special taxes for transportation projects, and in combination with this authority, Fairfax County created a special tax to fund portions of the Silver Line metro project using Section 33.1-431 of the Code of Virginia. In a nutshell, Fairfax County taxed commercial property owners a special transportation surcharge and exempted residential property owners from having to do so to fund metro improvements.
Last summer, the Circuit Court of Fairfax County (see here for opinion) held that the Uniformity Clause does not prohibit localities from "...provid[ing] for differences in the rate of taxation to be imposed upon real estate..." so long as these differences are not imposed upon the "same class of subjects." However, in 1947 pursuant to City of Hampton v. Ins. Co. of North America, the Supreme Court has already held that the test to determine the constitutionality of such a tax is:
"[Alre there others, who are benefited as much or more than those smarting under the tax imposition, who go unwhipped of its burden?"
FFW Enterprises plead just that, asserting that residential property owners will benefit as much from the construction of the Silver Line as commercial property owners in Fairfax, however commercial property owners will bear the sole brunt of the costs and taxes. Nonetheless, the Circuit Court of Fairfax County found FFW Enterprises failed to establish this, and that the 1947 standard is no longer relevant or applicable. These questions will now be put to the Supreme Court in just a few weeks - we'll keep you posted.
The US EPA was
Supporting developers in their efforts to combat tightening run-off regulations may feel a bit like suing Santa Claus to many, but this regulation could be extremely expensive and burdensome. Some very conscientious builders have indicated to me that the regulations do little if anything to attack primary nitrogen sources, such as air pollution from vehicles, agriculture, or fertilizers used by existing home owners.
We have finally reached the last of the five cases from
The EPA's
In the last several months, both Haiti and Chile have been rocked by significant earthquakes. The difference between the tremendous devastation and loss of life in Haiti and the far lower impact in Chile, despite a much more serious earthquake, is at least in part the direct result of building codes and construction practices.
The next wave of the
Modular home construction presents significant potential improvements to home construction: significantly reduced construction time; less material waste; and reduced expense. If not handled appropriately in terms of contracts and risk, modular homes can translate to a gigantic headache for both the designers, contractors, and the owner.
Adaptive reuse of discarded materials is one of the best ways to improve our economy's sustainability, and using shipping containers for modular construction is really an interesting approach. Don't believe shipping containers make good construction materials? Browse through a search of the articles at the highly informative
After much back and forth, the Soil and Water Conservation Board announced on January 14th that they voted to suspend their hotly debated changes to stormwater regulations to permit an additional 30-day comment period. The stage was
Rockville based contractor Hann & Hann will pay $600,000 plus the plaintffs' legal fees to settle a wage and overtime based class action suit. .jpg)
Abuse of independent contractor status continues to get significant regulatory and legislative attention. Critics of this practice argue that misclassifying employees as independent contractors is an unfair competitive advantage and robs federal and state governments of justly due employment related taxes.
Wading through the various layers of requirements, enticements, incentives and regulations that apply to green building can be overwhelming to anyone, let alone the uninitiated. This process is made far more complicated by adding the layering of federal, state, and local government efforts in this field.
The Washington Post reported on Sunday that the
In one corner, we have the firefighters and sprinkler manufacturers arguing that sprinkler installation in homes and townhouses will save lives and reduce property damage. In the other corner, we have the home builders arguing that adding a sprinkler requirement is piling on more costs on an already battered industry without appreciable benefits. This debate has raged on the national stage for the last several years and now continues on the state level accross the country.
As noted in our previous
The Virginia Department of Transportation and the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board are each respectively in the process of examining and issuing regulations impacting the development and construction industry. The proposed