2b. Abatement/David Habiger - Laserfiche WebLink

INVESTIGATION OF ABATEMENT APPLICATION ABATEMENT NO. 4217 Following is a report on the investigation of the abatement application of: David Habiger Cass County Board of Commissioners and State Tax Commissioner: The applicant is asking that the valuation be reduced on his property located in Amenia Township for the years 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. He's asking that the valuation be reduced to $17,500 from $21,400(97), $21,400(98), $21,600(99), $22,000(00), and $23,200(01). Mr. Habiger states that the house has water damage in the basement and that the property is worth no more than $17,500. The Amenia Twp. Board recommended denial of the abatement. NDCC 57-23-04 states that the application must be filed on or before November 1 st of the year following the year in which the tax becomes delinquent. The 1999 tax becomes delinquent in 2000 and the year following is 2001. The 1999 and previous year's taxes are not eligible for abatement because the application wasn't filed until December 19, 2001. I did take photos of the property recently and I did inspect the property some years ago. The property is located 4 miles west of Amenia on County Rd 32. For the most part, the site is being used as an auto salvage yard. In addition to the shop building, there is also a house and a few small storage buildings. Most of the improvements are in poor to fair condition. I did review the sales file and there are few, if any, sales of commercial lots and structures in rural Cass County. I did find three sales of smaller rural tracts with minimal buildings. The prices were $15,000, $25,000 and $40,000 (see attached list). The applicant is asking for an 18%-25% reduction in value or an absolute value of $3,400- $5,700. The 2000 taxes were $327. There is no evidence to indicate that the assessment is invalid, inequitable or unjust. If the property was sold as a salvage yard, it would be my opinion that it would sell close to the assessment. There are not that many sites available that are zoned for this type of operation. Also, the applicant has not produced any documentation indicating that the property is worth $17,500. SUGGESTED MOTION: "I move that Abatement #4217 be denied, as recommended by Amenia Township and the Director of Equalization for the reasons stated above. Dated this 26th day of April, 2002. Francis Klein Director of Tax Equalization j:\tax\wp\abate