The Phelps County Board of Equalization on Tuesday ruled against two commercial property owners who appealed the assessments of their real estate holdings in the county.
In rendering its decisions, the BOE unanimously voted to uphold the county assessor’s recommendations and found that the fair-market values and assessed values of the properties exceeded the values proposed by the owners.
One of the property assessments contested was the Forum Plaza, former home to the Goody’s Family Clothing Store, a large retail store in Rolla that filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in January and subsequently closed the doors of its leased building.
In a telephone conference call with a representative for Forum Plaza Partners, LLC, a St. Louis-based company that owns all of Forum Plaza in Rolla, BOE members listened to arguments offered by the owner, who stated the market valuation and assessed value of the property should be reduced because of an overall decline in the market and the loss of revenue incurred by the vacating Goody’s.
“That space will sit empty, in all likelihood,” the Forum representative argued to the board. “The impact of the vacancy of Goody’s will affect the value of the property.”
The Phelps County Assessor’s Office assessed a fair market value of $4.66 million for the Forum property, and the owner appealed for a decision to reduce it to $3.78 million.
County Assessor Kevin Rasmussen told the board before it made its decision that, regardless of its decision, the decision would remain on the books through the 2010 tax year.
Moreover, he said, Goody’s was still in operation in January.
Rasmussen did tell the BOE, however, that the assessor’s office previously had adjusted the valuations of several other, and unrelated, properties after the owners provided income statements reflecting losses of revenue because of vacating tenants.
After deciding to deny the Forum appeal, the BOE reviewed an appeal filed by Gramercy Realty, a Jenkintown, Penn., company that owns the commercial property located at 210 W. 8th St. in Rolla — property that is leased to the Bank of America. The property also is listed for sale.
The owner appealed the assessment claiming the property should have a fair-market value of $99,250, based upon rental income of $99,000.
Rasmussen told the board the Assessor’s Office used a “cost approach” method to revise its original fair-market valuation of $483,000 to $255,000, with an assessed valuation of $81,000.
The BOE unanimously approved the assessor’s valuations based upon “functional obsolescence and an analysis of the income, expenses and deferred maintenance costs.”
The Phelps County six-member Board of Equalization is composed of the three county commissioners, Randy Verkamp, presiding, Bud Dean and Larry Stratman; County Surveyor Lou Gilbert; and two Commission-appointed citizens, Harold Bennish, former contractor/engineer, and Gene Gaddy, former banker.
Assessor Rasmussen also serves as a non-voting member of the board, and County Clerk Carol Bennett serves as a non-voting secretary to the board.
The Phelps County Commission also received notification from the State Tax Commission regarding its recent assessment of the county assessor’s personal property. The STC assesses every county’s assessor to guard against any potential claim of conflict of interest. The STC stated Rasmussen’s residential property was assessed with a market value of $114,400 and with an assessed value of $21,740.
Other matters discussed, reviewed or taken action upon by the Phelps County Commission at its Thursday session included the following items:
• The Commission reviewed financial statements presented by Phelps County Clerk Carol Green that detailed sales-tax revenues earned through the month of June.
The county received $217,827 in local sales taxes, which reflected a mere 1/20 of 1 percent decrease from the same month in 2008; law-enforcement sales taxes brought the county $163,345, which also declined by 3/50 of 1 percent.
• The Commission reviewed, but did not discuss, the 6th Quarterly Report of the Rolla West Funding Cooperators, which was sent by John Butz, Rolla’s city administrator.
• The Commission reviewed the 2nd Quarterly Report for the Phelps County “Tough on Trash” Program. The report stated the program diverted 0.176 tons of aluminum, 0.285 tons of tires, and one water heater from county roads. In addition to tonnage diverted from the landfill, a total of 3.27 tons of litter was removed from county roads.
• The Commission reviewed a letter from Marcus Oglesby, State Emergency Management Agency planner and area coordinator for Region I, who expressed his gratitude for the use of a Phelps County facility for the hosting of a Federal Emergency Management briefing. Oglesby also cited the support, professionalism and assistance of County Clerk Carol Bennett.
• The Commission reviewed a notification from the Department of Natural Resources that stated Stimulus-fund grants were available for the Transform Missouri Intended Use Plan for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund Program.
The notification stated it was important for applicants to “move expeditiously” to take advantage of the funds. Furthermore, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Stimulus Bill) requires that states give priority to projects that are “shovel-ready,” the notice stated.
Copies of both Transform Missouri Intended Use plans can be found at Web site address transform.mo.gov/resources/dnr.htm, the notification stated.
