MONROE — A number of city residents and a large retail corporation have something in common; both felt their recent property assessments were too high.
But unlike residential owners who met with the assessor or the Board of Review, Walmart representatives have decided to file a second lawsuit in two years against the city.
The store sits on 26 acres of land along 6th Avenue West, just north of Wisconsin 11. Filed Nov. 16, the complaint made by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. lawyers Christopher Lee Strohbehn and Russell James Karnes contends that the 2018 tax value is no more than $7.8 million.
City Assessor Ryan Anderson, who works for the contracted company Associated Appraisal Consultants Inc. of Appleton, appraised the property at just under $10.55 million, which Strohbehn and Karnes argue allows for excessive taxation.
Lawyers for the company made this claim in its previous lawsuit, which is still ongoing with the city. The complaint in that case, filed July 25, also called for the assessment of the business to be no more than $7.8 million in 2017 tax value. Anderson had assessed Walmart of Monroe to be at a value of $8.63 million.
Walmart had scheduled a hearing with the Monroe Board of Review, but requested a waiver of the hearing in both cases. Company representatives, who had indicated that the retail conglomerate intended to pursue action in court regardless of the meeting with city officials, met with the BOR June 1, 2017 and were denied their request for a change in assessment. This year, the waiver was granted by the board and no meeting took place.
Anderson had stated during the previous meeting that he was following state instruction in his assessment of the property and that “dark store” values should not be used. The wording refers to the argument by companies that the total should be based on the sale of previously unsuccessful businesses which were vacant when sold rather than the cost of constructing the building and the business’ income potential.
State lawmakers have created legislation to address the issue of dark store claims in the form of Senate Bill 292, which would prevent assessors from calculating active stores’ property values by comparing them to dark stores. It was introduced by senators in June 2017, but has not been passed by lawmakers.
A survey by the Wisconsin Policy Forum for the League of Municipalities has found that this type of tax appeal has been increasing steadily since 2015. Officials from 215 communities were surveyed and responded that last year, 79 tax appeals under the dark store claim were filed against their municipalities. According to survey data, that number was 66 in 2015.
The group oversaw referendum questions in 23 counties or municipalities throughout the state. The advisory, or non-binding, questions passed in each one with majority numbers and voter percentages ranging from 67 to 79 percent, according to a press release by the league, in conjunction with Wisconsin Counties Association and Wisconsin Towns Association.
Representatives from the groups have the led the campaign to “close the loopholes” because they have said if large businesses pay less in taxes, a higher burden is shifted to homeowners within communities.