Board of Equalization assessed commercial property values
The Cole County Board of Equalization on Thursday confirmed the values of commercial real estate whose valuations for 2021 have been challenged.
Members of the Board of Equalization include the three Cole County Commissioners; two Jefferson City government officials if property is within city limits; and two at-large positions that require someone familiar with real estate, building construction, banking, or the real estate business.
Cole County Clerk Steve Korsmeyer heads the board, but he and Assessor Chris Estes are not voting members.
If a property owner is dissatisfied with the decision of the board of directors, he can turn to the state tax commission and then to the local court.
Commercial property owners who appealed included hotels and large retail stores.
“We started looking at the big stores in 2008 and argued that the property should be lower in value as the building was only built for their needs as the building couldn’t serve any other purpose,” said Estes.
Officials at the appraisal bureau said ratings of the stores and hotels were based on the value of the land on which the buildings are located.
Confirmed valuations included Lowe’s on Missouri Boulevard, which the Assessor’s Office valued at $ 9 million while the company valued the property at $ 5.4 million. Kohl’s on Stoneridge Parkway had an appraisal of $ 6.7 million while the company valued the property at $ 6 million. None of the companies had representatives at the negotiations on Thursday.
For the Fairfield Inn on West Truman Boulevard, the BOE agreed with the Assessor’s Office that the property was worth $ 2.83 million, not the $ 2 million hotel owners expected. No one representing the hotel came to Thursday’s negotiations and no documents were presented for the owners.
The appraiser’s value of $ 9.7 million has also been confirmed for the Capitol Plaza Hotel on West McCarty Street, whose owners estimated the value at $ 6 million. And the BOE agreed with the appraiser that the Courtyard by Marriott, which opened in December on Bolivar Street, has a property value of $ 9.175 million. Nobody appeared to represent either of the two hotels.
Another commercial property for which the BOE confirmed the appraiser’s value was Texas Roadhouse on South Ten Mile Drive. On their records it was noted that the company spoke of lost sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but that it was for the Midwest in general and not specific to what might have happened on the Jefferson City property. The board of directors confirmed the appraiser’s $ 1.8 million value compared to the $ 1.5 million value that owners believed was the property’s value.
The BOE also approved some property defaults. This happened after officials from the appraisal office lowered their values after meeting property owners.
One of these occurred in an office building on the 900 block of Wildwood Drive, valued by the appraiser at $ 1.5 million while the property owner valued it at $ 800,000. The values approved by the BOE were $ 1.3 million.
The BOE also approved three benchmarks for hotels owned by Vivek Puri. The DoubleTree Hotel on Monroe Street was originally valued at $ 6.6 million but was reduced to $ 4.6 million. The Hampton Inn on Country Club Drive was valued at $ 2.9 million but was reduced to just over $ 2 million. And the Comfort Suites, next to the Hampton Inn, were valued at just over $ 3 million but reduced to $ 1.9 million. Puri said this would help after revenue was lost during the pandemic.
The board also denied two motions to consider real estate tax-exempt.
The first was for the Goodwill Store on South Ten Mile Drive. Goodwill officials applied for the exemption, as they did in 2017, as Goodwill is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit group. They found that the store employs 35 people, many of whom are economically disadvantaged and / or disabled. Attorneys representing the Assessor’s Office said the tax exemption issue needed further investigation because Goodwill had failed to show that there was no personal gain in its activities and “its purpose may not be entirely charitable”.
The BOE also denied a tax exemption request from the Missouri Community Action Network for its new property on Emerald Lane. The network is made up of local, private, nonprofit and public institutions that work to alleviate poverty and empower low-income families. MoCAN officials said they hadn’t paid property taxes in their old Williams Street office since 2010. Estes said this had nothing to do with the move as it was a change in the legal view of its attorneys, who believe the organization does not qualify for an exemption as it requires members to pay dues, and much of what it offers is t for the public.
Cole County Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Hoelscher and Western District Commissioner Harry Otto voted for MoCAN to be tax-exempt, but the remaining voting members of the BOE voted against. These included Chairman Commissioner Sam Bushman, Jefferson City Administrator, Steve Crowell, Jefferson City Finance Director, Margie Mueller, Dana Wildhaber, who represents the real estate industry, and Ken Otke, who represents the building construction industry.
The BOE approved a tax exemption application for several properties owned by the Capital Region Medical Center. The hospital’s attorney, Joe Bednar, said CRMC has been exempt since 1952 because it is a nonprofit and does not turn down anyone because of their solvency.
Estes apologized for bringing Bednar and other members of the CRMC leadership team to the BOE. Estes said he advised them to appeal because CRMC’s review of the application was not completed.
“My regular legal counsel couldn’t handle this matter because of a conflict, and I had other lawyers who started reviewing the case but never finished it,” said Estes. “I would ask the BOE to forward this to the state tax commission so that we can do a proper review and the commission can make a decision.”
“Basically, you are saying that you are undisputed about our arguments and that you, as the reviewer, are responsible for them,” Bednar told Estes. “You have no argument against us. You are waiting for a lawyer to tell you whether you were right or wrong, and I think that is inappropriate for the county government and the compensation committee. “
The BOE then voted to approve CRMC’s application for real estate and personal property tax exemption at 1125 Madison St., which is home to clinics and hospital offices, and 1500 Southwest Blvd., which is where the Capital Family Care Medical Clinic is located. The BOE also approved private property tax exemptions at the Capital Region Clinic, located at 3700 block of West Truman Boulevard, 1700 block of Christy Drive, 900 block of Eastland Drive, 3300 block of West Edgewood Drive, 1000 block Madison Street and 400 block is East High Street.
Bushman abstained on the matter as he is a former member of the capital region’s board of directors.
Since the BOE has determined that CRMC should be granted an exception, the appraiser has no right to appeal to the state tax commission.
The Assessor’s Office recently completed 45 informal hearings with homeowners on ratings for 2021, Estes said.
“There is no legal requirement for this, but we want to know if there is a problem and certify values that can prevent both sides from appealing,” he said. “Ninety-five percent of the time our values are upheld by the BOE or the state tax commission when brought to these companies.”
Estes said his office only sends notices of increases, not when there has been a decrease in value or when the appraisal has remained the same.
Notifications were sent for 1,303 of 39,408 packages in Cole County.
Only one homeowner requested a hearing from the BOE. Steve Rackers, who has a home and acreage on Wardsville Road, asked the board of directors to adjust the appraiser’s estimated $ 93,400 worth because the home is not inhabited and needs plumbing and foundation work. Officials from the appraisal office determined that the apartment is not considered uninhabitable while the property is being worked on. The BOE confirmed the value of the appraiser.