Friday, April 1, 2011

1 West State St. and subsequent Tax Assessments

This week I was approached by a well known business owner on State St. who, among many, was also concerned about the the low bid ($650k) for one West State St.  He was not only concerned that $650k was too low, but also had questions about future tax assessments. 


If the borough sells a 11,875 SF, mixed use space for $650k, what would be a potential tax re-assessment be?  And, as the business owner pointed out, what would prevent other owners from having their properties re-assessed based on this potential sales price?  


Whether a Candidate for Media Borough Council, a community advocate, or just someone who has a concern for this town, I've always attempted to bring these issues to light in a manner that can be discussed/debated.  The missed opportunity to sell the building years ago can be debated forever; however, that's not going to help with a solution needed NOW!







Building Details

  • 1 West State Street
  • Zoned Retail/Office/Apartments (ROA)
  • 2 +ba
  • 1917
  • 0
  • Unoccupied
  • J.Smith, Borough Manager
  • Media Borough

2 comments:

  1. The sale price will not directly affect the assessment of 1 West State or any surrounding properties. In Delaware County, properties are assessed based on their market value at a particular point in time (currently 1998). Actual sale prices may not be reflective of what properties were worth at the time of assessment.

    All things being equal, the relative assessments of State Street properties will remain more or less the same after the next county-wide reassessment. The only significant differences would result from changes to building structures, zoning, general market conditions, etc.

    Another commentator suggested that a conservation easement may be part of the sale agreement. In that case, 1 W State's assessment may be lowered, but surrounding properties shouldn't be affected.

    For what it's worth (which is pretty much nothing) 1 West State St is currently assessed at $611,000. This was a court-ordered decrease in 2008 from it's previously assessed value of $752,980.

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  2. Thanks for your help with that Neil, that's information I'm sure a lot of people weren't aware of.

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