Published: March 27, 2008 11:21 pm         

Judge rules 2,000 percent tax hike fair for Walnut Springs

UNION — A Monroe County judge has ruled against the developers of Walnut Springs Mountain Reserve who claimed the county’s assessor unfairly increased property assessments on their 1,200-acre forested community, which in turn increased some property taxes by more than 2,000 percent.

Lawyers for Walnut Springs say a decision to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court could be made within 60 days.

The ruling by Circuit Judge Robert A. Irons said assessed properties in Monroe County have been historically too low and Assessor Donna Huffman acted properly when she created a new neighborhood for Walnut Springs, which is being developed by Mountain America LLC, owned in part by Washington trial lawyer Jonathan Halperin.

“... the unimproved real property sold by Mountain America, LLC, and its entities was significantly higher than any other unimproved real property being sold elsewhere in Monroe County,” Irons wrote in the Jan. 28 decision.

“ ... the court is of the opinion that the assessor acted in conformity with the statutory authority, state regulations and case law pertaining to her position as a county assessor, and in doing so, she valued the property appropriately ... in addition this court finds that the county commission properly weighed the evidence before it and did not err in its decision to uphold the assessments made by the assessor.”

Mountain America and several landowners who own property in the development, located on Bud Ridge Road near Union, cried foul when the county’s Board of Equalization and Review, composed of the three sitting county commissioners, turned down their requests to lower Huffman’s increased assessment of their parcels at the board’s yearly meeting in February 2007.

The group claimed Huffman’s numbers did not represent the “true and actual value” of the property and it amounted to a “welcome stranger tax.”

Monroe County real property tax bills, found on the Web site www .monroecountywv.net, revealed that Mountain America paid $306.02 in taxes for one 123-acre parcel of land in 2006, but taxes on the same parcel of land jumped to $8,498.06 in 2007.

An additional tax bill for the company Greentree, LLC, showed its taxes on a 182-acre parcel increased from $501.24 to $12,714.92 in the same period.

Irons said Huffman calculated Walnut Springs property sales from July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2006, and came up with an average sale price of “$26,900 per acre,” after deleting the two highest sales and the two lowest sales of the year.

She then used that number to determine that 60 percent of its fair market value — as prescribed by state law — was about $5,400 per acre.

Charleston lawyer Bob Kiss, who represents Mountain America and several landowners, argued Huffman unfairly targeted Walnut Springs with higher property assessments and used different formulas, especially when compared to properties near the development.

However, Irons disagreed with Kiss’ contention of possible foul play within the assessor’s office and said improvements in infrastructure helped raise the assessments.

“Although the record is not as clear as it might be, it appears that the lots contained in Walnut Springs have been developed and contain many amenities not available on the adjoining lands and are only available in the new neighborhood,” Irons said, “thus, causing the adjoining lands to sell for much lower prices and the resulting assessments.”

Kiss said his clients are mulling over whether to petition the state Supreme Court for an appeal of the court ruling. They have a statutory deadline of May 28.

Meanwhile, Kiss also filed an appeal of the 2008 property assessments, even though there were no new increases by Huffman in the past year.

“My clients decided to appeal the 2008 assessments in order to reserve their rights at this time because there has not been a final resolution of the 2007 assessments, if they decide to appeal to the state Supreme Court,” Kiss said Thursday.

— E-mail: cgiggenbach@register-herald.com