IS IT TRUE? June 1, 2011
IS IT TRUE that Centre City Properties is not the only assessment that does not reflect the reality of the situation?…that houses that have been and remain in the Front Door Pride program just make ones head spin when trying to figure out a basis for assessment and taxation?…
IS IT TRUE that the first wave of Front Door Pride houses included a house located at 401 Southeast 3rd Street?…that this house like the other Front Door Pride houses cost the City of Evansville approximately $200,000 to build?…that the cost to build does not include any cost to acquire and prepare the land for construction such as demolition of a previous structure, grading, sewer taps, etc?…that this home sold in a transaction recorded on June 24, 2010 for the amount of $130,000?…that the assessment of this home as per the Vanderburgh County Assessor’s website this morning is exactly $64,000?…that the maximum taxes reported by the assessor are curiously listed as $1,280 which would correspond to 2% which is the maximum levy for a rental house?…that the actual taxes for this home are exactly ZERO?…that an exemption in the amount of $64,000 under the category of “other†is recorded making the taxes on this property ZERO until further changes?…that we wonder how completely destroying the tax base on a property that seems to be in good condition and well maintained is even remotely close to establishing a sustainable city?…that actions like this are the economic equivalent of cutting off ones nose to spite ones face?
IS IT TRUE that the second wave of eight Front Door Pride houses that took nearly a year to attract their first buyer last November is still in search of a second buyer?…that the remainder of the houses that cost from $178,305 to $207,262 to build are still sitting empty six months since the last buyer came along?…that at the rate of selling that the City of Evansville through Project Hope is sitting on six years of inventory just from FDP phase 2?…that no private business of any kind could survive holding a six year inventory?…that the sale that did happen was recorded last November 24th at a price of $130,000 for a home that cost the City of Evansville just under $200,000 to construct?…that this house is located at 1228 Culver and does not seem to have gotten a full exemption to property taxes?…that the assessment of this $200,000 house that sold for $130,000 is $53,000?…that the buyer has filed for a homestead tax exemption but still is paying $347.94 per year in real estate taxes?…that at this rate of taxation that the City of Evansville will recover the losses incurred from building this home in 201 years assuming a zero interest rate?…that the life of the house will not be 201 years?
IS IT TRUE that increasing the tax base and attracting private investment were two of the main reasons to pursue the Front Door Pride program?… that in a market that costs $200,000 to enter, years to sell at a $70,000 loss, in a neighborhood that legitimately delivers comparable values of $65,000 is never going to attract private investment?…that the gap is just too large?…that the value gap may even exceed the expected value over the life of the homes?…that now the City of Evansville is planning on building 40 more of these houses but they will be rentals?…that it is widely accepted that rentals hurt property values?…that this is turning into a money pit and that much of the money being thrown into this pit was originally programmed for a business loan fund?…that is a story for another day?
IS IT TRUE that John Kish stood before the Evansville City Council and stated that the assessment of the new downtown hotel would be based on cost of construction?…that there is strong precedent from the Front Door Pride program and the Constitution of the State of Indiana that market value is the only acceptable method of assessment?…that given those rules that the new downtown hotel will be fairly assessed at between $15 Million and $20 Million as opposed to the projected cost to build of $32 Million?…that if it is not that the developer can appeal the assessment and win on the precedents set by the Front Door Pride program and the McCurdy?
Sickening
Do you know that the buyer of the Front Door Pride house on 3rd street is a relative of a member of the city council? One of the other buyers is too. How’s that for slopping the icing on the cake of favoritism?
TheDonald,
This simply can not be true…
We have a news team, lead by an Emmy and Edward R. Murrow award winning reporter, now in his 34th year…
Brags about fabulous, investigative reporting…
Elected to the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Silver Circle Hall of Fame…
If this were true, this heralded news anchor would bring this potential indication of FDP corruption to light, tonight.
One of the Front Door Pride houses on Washington between SE 6th Street and Parrett is owned by a city employee, and the first Front Door Pride was built for one of Connie Robinson’s relatives. If someone with spare time on their hands looked up all of the Front Door Pride homes they would probably discover that all of these houses are owned by City of Evansville insiders (i.e., employees and relatives of city officials). And it makes perfect sense that in the most corrupt city administration of the third millennium that underhanded deals are being made to illegally cut real estate taxes.
What’s the solution to this malfeasance? How ’bout we Pick Rick…right out of the dumpster of the history of Evansville the day after the general election, and toss him into the ranks of the unemployed!
I refuse to believe that.
Surely, there are corporate sponsors of TV and print that would demand… and PAY UP for such a investigation?
Apparently, there already are people with some “spare time on their hands”, but they need to get on the horn and call or write their favorite news anchor!
RE: Rick. So far, similar to Weinzapfel… Great on grandstanding, positioning & printing project – INITIATION. Both men lack much focus on delivering & follow through, of promises made.
If you want to consider lowering the tax base consider the recent sale of the Whirlpool plant for around 2 million dollars and the sale of the former Welborn Hospital for less than the cost of dinner. This should knock several million off the tax base.
The Whirlpool deal is knocking about $8M off of the tax base and costing the city about $250k per year in taxes because of the low sale price. The Welborn deal just lost it all whatever all was.
After all of this I don’t think Weinzapfel will ever have to run for office again. He is going to live well of his backroom money deals for years to come!!!!!!!!!!!!
him and a few others
Kunkel owns the old Unclaimed Freight building on Governor St. in the Sweetser area. Kunkel did not pay any of their property taxes on that building last year (2009/ pay 2010). I believe they have become current as of this writing.
With the Weinzapfel administration running out of time, one wonders how long it will be before a deal is struck between the city and Kunkel concerning the Unclaimed Freight property.
Are the taxpayers in line for yet another good ole’ boy deal?
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