Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Guthrie blasts board about taxes

Sometimes it pays to complain.

Adam Guthrie voiced his complaints about the amount of his property taxes to the Nevada County Equalization Board and got them reduced.

Guthrie originally went before the Board Friday, Aug. 27, to discuss 11 pieces of property. After a marathon four-hour session, the Board agreed to reduce the value of the property in question by almost $60,000, which also reduced the amount he is required to pay in property tax.

He returned before the Board Wednesday, Sept. 1, to talk about three other parcels of land. However, round two wasn't as smooth as the first visit apparently was.

Guthrie began by asking three members of the Board, Jon Chadwell, David Wilson and Jimmy Graham, to recuse themselves, saying it was a conflict of interest for them to be there. His reasoning for asking Wilson and Graham to step down was their wives teach and are paid from property tax money. He wanted Chadwell to step down saying the money the City of Prescott and Nevada County give to the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office also comes from property tax funds.

"They have direct monetary interest in the outcome," he said. "It's not fair for them to decide. It's a conflict of interest for them to sit in judgement when they're accruing benefits from it. Money collected from taxes goes back into their pockets."

Chadwell pointed out the money for the EDO has nothing to do with property tax monies, only to have Guthrie claim Chadwell is being paid $50,000 a year. He isn't. The city and county donate $25,000 each to the EDO to help fund the office. Other money comes from membership dues and donations.

Chadwell offered to recuse himself, asking Graham and Wilson to join him. He told Guthrie if they stepped down there wouldn't be a quorum on the Board and no business could be transacted. Had this occurred, there would have been no change in the value placed on the property in question.

After being told of the problem with three members recusing themselves, Guthrie said he would find a way to bypass going before the Nevada County Quorum Court (which is the next step) and go directly to circuit court. He said he didn't want to bring Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown into this situation.

He claimed the assessments done on his property weren't based on similar properties in the market area. Guthrie said he spent four days going to area communities getting information on similar properties. CAMA, he said, bases its appraisals on land in Hazen and Star City.

However, in this instance, Guthrie was talking about an apartment building he owns and the building housing May's China Cafi. There properties were not in question at this meeting, as the Board had already reduced the tax value of both at the Friday meeting.

The land in question was actually three parcels, the largest being a three-acre tract on Highway 24. One is near the city park, on Warren Street, with the other on Seventh Street.

Guthrie claimed the three acres isn't good for anything and shouldn't be valued the way it was. He said the land on Warren Street went from $1,000 to $9,600. The only value any of this land has, he said, is for growing timber.

Chadwell said the Board reduced the value of one piece of property from $3,100 to $1,500 and another to $2,600. "Timber is timber."

Tom Scott, CAMA director, tried to tell Guthrie the way the state defines timberland is as bona fide agricultural property. "I don' t think a 1/3 acre, one acre and three acre site is considered a bona fide timber operation." He said CAMA doesn't place a value on the timber, only on the land.

Guthrie got belligerent with the Board, questioning the intelligence of the members and saying they shouldn't be sitting on the Board.

Scott reached a point where he refused to talk to Guthrie.

Guthrie said the information CAMA had was flawed and he wanted a fair appraisal of his property. "I want the appraisals the way they were three years ago."

Chadwell pointed out for the past three years Guthrie had been paying a higher tax rate on the Highway 24 property than he was asking.

In the end, though, the Board agreed to reduce the tax on the land in question to the levels they were before the current assessment.