Colorado Appeals Court Reverses Separate Property Tax Assessments at County Airport

The Colorado Court of Appeals reversed the judgment upholding separate property tax assessments for a taxpayer’s interests at a county-owned airport. The dispute centered on the valuation of the taxpayer’s leasehold interest in land and buildings constructed at the airport. The court concluded that the unit assessment rule required a single assessment of the taxpayer’s possessory interest in both the leased land and improvements, rather than two separate assessments as originally issued. The case was remanded for a new, unified assessment in accordance with the applicable methodology for valuing possessory interests in tax-exempt property. [Sheltair Denver, LLC v. Jefferson Cnty. ...