On March 31st, Dane County Circuit Judge C. William Foust rendered a decision in the Adams Outdoor Advertising v. City of Madison billboard tax assessment case in favor of Adams Outdoor Advertising.
The decision is the third victory for Adams Outdoor Advertising in its lawsuit which was initially brought in 2002. The lawsuit challenged the City of Madison’s value assessments of the company’s billboard sign structures for the purpose of personal property taxes. Madison was the first city in the U.S. to value the income generated from Adams sign structures, along with permit value and other intangible items, which was in contradiction to the nationwide standard for assessing billboards.
In July 2006, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled the City of Madison’s tax assessment of Adams’ sign structures was flawed and issued an order requiring the city assessor to reassess Adams’ sign structures. The City of Madison did comply with the court order and reassessed the values. However, the City of Madison’s values remained virtually unchanged from the amounts the Wisconsin Supreme Court had previously rejected.
Adams challenged the new values, and the City of Madison Board of Review ruled in Adams favor by rejecting the City’s excessive assessment figures. As a result, the case was sent to trial before Judge Foust.
In his decision, Judge Foust states, “I am satisfied that Adams has overcome the presumption in favor of the City’s assessment. Further, Adams persuades me that it is entitled to a judgment for the amount of taxes levied based on the City’s assessed values in excess of the values assigned by Dr. Aguilar (Adams’ Appraiser).”
Chris Eigenberger, General Manager of Adams Outdoor Advertising in Madison, said “It has been a long seven years since we began the process of challenging these excessive taxes. We are ecstatic that Judge Foust has followed the direction given by the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the City of Madison Board of Review. We are now hopeful that this third victory will bring this case to an end, and we’ll be able to move on with our business, and improve our working relationship with the City of Madison”.
A judgment will soon be entered pursuant to Judge Foust’s decision.
