Shell Western E & P, Inc. v. County of Lake

Revenue and Taxation Code section 1604, subdivision (c) (hereinafter section 1604(c)) provides that if a taxpayer applies to a county board of supervisors acting as the county assessment appeals board for a reduction in the assessed value of real property, and if the board does not act on the application within two years thereafter, and if the parties have not in writing mutually agreed to extend the two-year period, then the taxpayer’s opinion of the property’s market value is to be accepted as the basis of the value “upon which taxes are to be levied.” On this appeal we address (1) whether there was a writing that extended the two-year period, and (2) whether section 1604(c) establishes a mandatory duty that is to be enforced according to its plain language. Answering the first inquiry in the negative and the second in the affirmative, we find it unnecessary to reach a contention that section 1604(c) is unconstitutional.

Background

At all pertinent times plaintiff Shell Western E & P, Inc., was the lessee of rights to develop and sell the geothermal resources extracted from three parcels of land in the County of Lake owned by the United States. With respect to the…