Chief
07-13-2007, 10:32 AM
http://columbian.com/news/localNews/07132007news167337.cfm
Friday, July 13, 2007
BY JONATHAN NELSON, Columbian Staff Writer
Donald Holsinger is a developer with 20 acres in the heart of Battle Ground's burgeoning neighborhoods.
It sounds enviable until you learn that the federal government won't let the Ridgefield resident put shovel to ground until several wetland issues are resolved. Clark County, however, considers the land ready for homes and has increased the property's assessed value by 800 percent in the past two years.
What's a landowner to do? Well, sue, of course. That's what Holsinger did when his company, MCD Properties LLC, filed a complaint in Clark County Superior Court in June against the county in an attempt to get a refund on his property taxes.
"It's bad enough that you can't develop your property, but then to have the other arm" of the government jack up your taxes, said Steven Turner, a lawyer with the law firm Miller Nash LLP who represents Holsinger.
County officials received the complaint Monday and had no comment while they reviewed the document. In 2004, the county pegged the assessed value of Holsinger's two parcels at $159,900. By 2006, the value had rocketed to $1.4 million. Holsinger, under protest, paid $15,244.14 in property taxes for 2006 and the first half of this year. Turner argues in the complaint that the most Holsinger should have paid during that time period was $1,914.55.
No changes to property
Turner said the increased assessment occurred despite no significant changes to zoning or the land. He contends that the county also failed to consider the legal entanglements with the federal government.
Turner said he can't find a concrete explanation for the higher assessment in correspondence between the county and MCD Properties. He suspects it might have been triggered by the city of Battle Ground's 2005 approval of a preliminary site plan. Turner characterized the plan as conceptual and contingent on MCD resolving the wetland issues, a resolution that Holsinger has no guarantees will ever happen.
**SCHNIPP**
I have long said that the Clark County Assessor's confiscatory and predatory assessment practices make Linda Franklin Public Enemy Number 1, and this story absolutely proves my point. Thank God someonw with some means has finally filed suit over this, what would be good is if someone filed a Federal Class action lawsuit against the County for violating Federal Discrimination laws over the uneven and unfair way the Assessor operates.
To go from a value of $159,900 to $1.4 Million in 2 years is outrageous and extreme, and I really hope the Superior Court chooses to explore this case further.
Developing...
Friday, July 13, 2007
BY JONATHAN NELSON, Columbian Staff Writer
Donald Holsinger is a developer with 20 acres in the heart of Battle Ground's burgeoning neighborhoods.
It sounds enviable until you learn that the federal government won't let the Ridgefield resident put shovel to ground until several wetland issues are resolved. Clark County, however, considers the land ready for homes and has increased the property's assessed value by 800 percent in the past two years.
What's a landowner to do? Well, sue, of course. That's what Holsinger did when his company, MCD Properties LLC, filed a complaint in Clark County Superior Court in June against the county in an attempt to get a refund on his property taxes.
"It's bad enough that you can't develop your property, but then to have the other arm" of the government jack up your taxes, said Steven Turner, a lawyer with the law firm Miller Nash LLP who represents Holsinger.
County officials received the complaint Monday and had no comment while they reviewed the document. In 2004, the county pegged the assessed value of Holsinger's two parcels at $159,900. By 2006, the value had rocketed to $1.4 million. Holsinger, under protest, paid $15,244.14 in property taxes for 2006 and the first half of this year. Turner argues in the complaint that the most Holsinger should have paid during that time period was $1,914.55.
No changes to property
Turner said the increased assessment occurred despite no significant changes to zoning or the land. He contends that the county also failed to consider the legal entanglements with the federal government.
Turner said he can't find a concrete explanation for the higher assessment in correspondence between the county and MCD Properties. He suspects it might have been triggered by the city of Battle Ground's 2005 approval of a preliminary site plan. Turner characterized the plan as conceptual and contingent on MCD resolving the wetland issues, a resolution that Holsinger has no guarantees will ever happen.
**SCHNIPP**
I have long said that the Clark County Assessor's confiscatory and predatory assessment practices make Linda Franklin Public Enemy Number 1, and this story absolutely proves my point. Thank God someonw with some means has finally filed suit over this, what would be good is if someone filed a Federal Class action lawsuit against the County for violating Federal Discrimination laws over the uneven and unfair way the Assessor operates.
To go from a value of $159,900 to $1.4 Million in 2 years is outrageous and extreme, and I really hope the Superior Court chooses to explore this case further.
Developing...