EXAMPLE

EXAMPLE of what appears to be TAX ASSESSMENT MANIPULATION for the CITY of MARION’S HUB TIF DISTRICT funds )  Documents

  1. In February of 2010, the City of Marion sold a vacant land parcel to Jones Bros. Properties, LLC., a Kentucky Limited Liability Company. ( see documents referred to as “ EXAMPLE: City of Marion TIF TAX )

  2. This 2 acre piece of prime commercial property is located on West Main Street in Marion, Illinois. It is directly between the new $ 2,346,563.00 “CVS Pharmacyand the City of Marion’s new multi million dollar project currently under construction aka the “Lazy River Recreation Center”.

  3. City of Marion Attorney Steve Green prepared the deed signed by City of Marion Mayor Robert L. Butler showing the purchase price as “for and in consideration of $ 90,000.00 and other valuable consideration in hand paid”. The deed was recorded at the Williamson County Courthouse.

  4. The Williamson County Tax Assessor then created a new PIN # 06-13-454-013 for this 2 acre parcel as it was a split from other tax parcels.

  5. The Williamson County Tax Assessor entered the sale price as $ 90,000.00 on the sales analysis record sheet in the property record card files for this property for December of 2009.

  6. The PIN # 06-13-454-013 property record card, however, shows a full fair cash land value of $ 271,810.00. Inexplicably, the land was assessed for $ 450,000.00 for the 2010/2011 tax year, with the new large commercial building assessed at a fair cash value of $ 1,242,270.00. ( The property was only taxed for the building for four months of the year, or $ 414,090.00.)

  7. The total fair cash assessment for this property for the 2010/ 2011 tax year

was $ 865,020.00, with 86.463 % diverted to the Marion Hub TIF.

  1. The assessed total fair cash value for this property for the 2012/2013 tax year was $ 1,723,677.00, with 93.207% being diverted to the Marion HubTIF.

As only $ 1,200,000.00 was mortgaged to finance the improvements on this property, and since the building permit was taken out for only $ 1,343,122.00 for the same, it is glaringly obvious that the math just doesn’t add up. The tax assessment of $ 450,000.00 for the land does not reflect the $ 90,000.00 inferred by the deed or the low figure apparently used as the EAV tax base for the TIF district. It raises the question of manipulation of the EAV tax base assessment figure for this property, and/ or the tax assessments, in order to increase the amount of property taxes being siphoned off into the City of Marion’s Hub TIF’s fund.

The courthouse records show that the property was sold again in July of 2013 to STORE MASTER FUNDING III, LLC. a Delaware limited liability company, for $ 1,297,860.00. ( ???? )

Examples like this one destroy the taxpayers’ trust in city and county government, and defrauds them of their expectations for fair and honest services by public officials.

It is common knowledge that, by law, only the increases in property taxes from improvements after the EAV tax base is established upon creation of a TIF district, are to be allocated ( siphoned off ) into that TIF fund.

This example raises huge questions with both the property tax assessments and the execution of the state laws of Illinois for the TIF districts.

The taxpayers certainly deserve a full investigation into the City of Marion’s books and financial records, with particular focus on the numerous TIF districts.

It is equally imperative that an immediate and thorough investigation is called for in the Williamson County Courthouse, beginning with the Williamson County Tax Assessor’s Office.

From the evidence outlined here, it appears that these seriously questionable irregularities are both pandemic and systemic, depriving our schools of desperately needed funds, and are causing unnecessary property tax increases for the property owners of Williamson County.

( View Example Documents )

 

 

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