MCLANE, WAL-MART TAX RELIEF APPEALS DENIED

POPLAR BLUFF -- Three appeals were brought to the Butler County Board of Equalization during its recent session; all three were denied.

A petition by Wal-Mart to be reinstated in the Enterprise Zone was denied because the company submitted no evidence that its value was in dispute, the major function of the BOE.

Assessor Marion Tibbs had said that he expected Wal-Mart to appeal to the BOE as a formality, a first step it has to take to get to where it really wants to be -- in front of the state Tax Commission.

The BOE also rejected the complaint filed by Sandy McLane of McLane Investments concerning the valuation of Mansion Mall and Valley Plaza Shopping Centers.

In his letter to McLane, Tibbs wrote: "The evidence presented to the Board of Equalization was not in a recognized appraisal format and therefore is determined to be an opinion of value without a basis in evidence. Your opinion for Valley Plaza Shopping Center of $1,935,000 is denied. Your opinion for Mansion Mall Shopping Center of $2,630,000 is denied. The appeal for the ... parcels is denied and the assessor's values are affirmed."

When the BOE voted Friday to deny these two petitions, it also denied one made minutes before from Robert Taylor, who protested his rental property being removed from the Enterprise Zone.

Like Wal-Mart, Taylor's appeal was denied because he did not prove the value of his property was in dispute. Taylor's low-income rental units were removed because there was no record of the county's ever having passed a resolution to participate in tte Enterprise Zone, and according to what Tibbs could find, Taylor's property no longer qualified for benefits.

Taylor argued that if his property no longer qualified, then none of the businesses or industries there still receiving benefits qualify either and should be removed.

All three entities are eligible to appeal to the State Tax Commission within 30 days. Taylor was encouraged to settle his dispute with the county in circuit court.