City of Springfield v. Board of Assessors

The city of Springfield (city) owns a hydroelectric plant in the town of Granville (town), and for forty years paid a property tax to the town based on an assessed valuation of $1,100,000. The city challenged the 1973 assessment on grounds of overvaluation and dispro*160portionate assessment. We hold that the fair cash value of the plant is fixed at $1,100,000 by St. 1928, c. 267, § 4, and that the statute has not been shown to be unconstitutional, but that the city is entitled to an abatement by reason of disproportionate assessment.

The case was tried in the Appellate Tax Board (board) on the…