City board of review rejects plea to lower commercial value

A request from a retail business owner to drop its property tax assessment by nearly a third was rejected by the city of Medford board of review on Monday night.

The city had adjourned the board of review last month without having made a decision on two objections raised to the value set by the city’s assessor.

De Pere- based Park Place Holdings, which owns the Maurice’s building on Hwy 13 in Medford disputed the $710,000 assessment for the building and property arguing it should be valued at $501,800. The company was represented by Paul Fiorello of Property Tax Services of McFarland, who provided an appraisal, done by his company, on June 19, 2024 showing a value of $573,900.

State law puts the burden on property owners to prove that the assessor’s amount is incorrect.

“The objector has the due diligence to prove the assessor is incorrect,” said city clerk Ashley Lemke. Voting members of the board of review include all the council members, the mayor and the clerk.

Lemke said assessments are based on the value as of January 1. The value as of January 1, 2024 is used to set the amount of taxes due in January 2025. Lemke noted that the appraisal presented was done in June.

“I don’t feel we can take that number into consideration,” Lemke said.

Member Christine Weix also questioned the validity of the appraisal considering it was done by tphe agent of the property owner who filed the objection rather than by an independent third party. “To me this is an opinion of what he thinks the property is worth,” she said, noting the objector has a vested interest in having it go his way.

“I don’t think he made a solid case to go against our assessor,” agreed mayor Mike Wellner.

Further complicating things is that assessment rules in the state do not allow the assessor to make changes in the value during a maintenance year. The last revaluation in the city occurred in 2020 when it was set at that value. The city is set to go through a revaluation in 2025 since the current assessment ratio is at 78%.

The assessor, Megan Bickford of Accurate, stated she felt it would be inequitable to other property owners to make the change to the amount set in the 2020 revaluation.

Board of review members noted the value was set in 2020 and the owners have waited four years to come in to complain about it. Committee members voted unanimously to deny the request.

Board members also received an update on a value dispute filed by Mike and Judy Brandner for an office building and garage at 885 W Broadway Ave.

According to Bickford, they looked at five comparable propperties which ranged in value from $31 per square foot to $199 per square foot and took the median value of $85 per square foot. This was further modified by applying the city’s current assessment ratio to the amount. The garage had a lower per square foot assessment and the assessor gave a discount on the land value of $10,000 due to the wetlands present. Altogether, the Assessor explained the difference between the initial assessment and what she is recommending as part of the assessment rolls is $282,800 less. She recommended setting the assessment for the property at $1,016,400.

“I would recommend moving forward,” she said. On a unanimous vote, committee members approved the assessor’s recommendation for the value of the property.

Walmart had previously filed its ongoing dispute over the property value. This was referred directly to circuit court as part of the ongoing case the retailer has arguing for a lower assessment amount.

Board members formally approved accepting the assessment roll.