Although most property owners are now seeing their estimated values fall on county valuation notices, there are exceptions, notably along the lakeshore in Prior Lake.

Not satisfied with answers given at their city or township panels, 10 property owners appealed valuations last week to the Scott County Board of Appeals and Equalization. Half of the complaints dealt with lakeshore properties in Prior Lake.

Lakeshore owner John Bossardt saw the value on his home climb $280,000 in three years to nearly $900,000, although it dipped slightly this year, and he received a double whammy because the state eased a cap that limited how fast taxes could rise when a residence experiences a rapid valuation increase.

“It’s just unbelievable to me, in the face of a declining market,” Bossardt said.

County appraisers argued that lakeshore property values were devalued before and are now running much closer to actual sales in the period they are assessed.

“We did revalue all lakeshore property over a two-year period. That’s why a lot of people saw great fluctuations in their valuations,” county appraiser Mike Thompson said.

There were properties appealed whose valuations were previously tweaked based on review by the county assessor’s office, but whose owners still were not satisfied. Others opted against taking their case to the County Board if they were OK with the rationale given or adjustments made thus far through the appeal process.

The county appeal board, made up of all five county commissioners, upheld all but one of the assessors’ recommendations. In that case, they accepted a lower valuation set by the Prior Lake board for a lakeshore home whose owner found that most of the homes used in a sales study to help determine his valuation now had valuations lower than what they sold for.

The board accepted Thompson’s recommendation for Bossardt, as well as another owner, who also argued he had unbuildable shoreline. Not every inch of lakeshore is functional, County Commissioner Barbara Marschall said, but it’s still a factor in determining value.

Bossardt had also argued the value placed on his land was out of sync with other lakeshore homes. Thompson said his office arrived at the figure based on sales data from comparable property.

Because current assessments are based on sales data from the last three months of 2007 and the first nine months of 2008, it will take a while before current market conditions are reflected in values, he added.

Another Prior Lake resident, James Mickley, who lives near the lake, had a more unusual problem. He was upset at the huge spike for a few unusable vacant parcels of land he owns by his home. Their combined values went from under $2,000 to $100,000. After further review, assessors lowered the value of a couple of parcels but raised another, with a combined total value of $40,000.

One triangular landlocked piece, which went from $300 to $30,000, is essentially a giant hole in the ground, Mickley said.

“I invite you to come look at this property, because to me it’s completely ridiculous,” he said. “It’s almost criminal in my opinion that they could raise taxes on something that has no utilities.”

Thompson defended his office’s decision by explaining that the vacant land, although currently unbuildable and without lake access, makes Mickley’s residence worth more. Assessors used the difference in value without the extra lots to calculate the empty lots’ values.

The board also accepted assessors’ recommendations for a commercial building in Prior Lake as well as a large valuation increase for buildable residential lots in Credit River Township.

In Prior Lake, an owner of the Village Commerce office building spoke of the decline in commercial rents and greater vacancies. One of his tenants moved out about the time a study was done to determine the value of his building, so that vacancy wasn’t reflected in his valuation.

County appraiser Terence Chacka said falling commercial market conditions will be reflected in the following year’s assessment, but the valuation has to be based on conditions as of Jan. 2.

Assessors also defended valuation increases on lots in the Cressview Addition in Credit River Township. Many had risen from $200,000 to $280,000.

The lots were set purposely low to begin with, because the county didn’t have a handle on what the values would end up being, assessors said. But when sales data came in from other subdivisions in Credit River showing sales in the $300,000 and $400,000 range, the state noticed a large discrepancy due to the low assessed values in Cressview.

“This is one exceptional area,” appraiser Tom Wermerskirchen said, with values in the area pretty stable and $800,000 to $2.5 million homes. “It’s probably the best area in Scott County.”

Shannon Fiecke can be reached at (952) 345-6679 or sfiecke@swpub.com.