SITKA, Alaska (AP) - Sitka officials voted on Monday to uphold the city assessor’s figure on the taxable value of a home that was destroyed by a deadly landslide last summer.
The Sitka Assembly’s decision to value Christine McGraw’s property at $52,700 comes after she filed an appeal arguing that the property has zero value, The Sitka Sentinel reported (https://bit.ly/1SLA5Zg).
City Assessor Wendy Lawrence had priced the land at less than the half the $110,000 price McGraw initially paid for the property and exactly half the assessed value in 2015. Lawrence said the assessment of McGraw’s property was the same as other properties affected by the Aug. 18 landslide that left three people dead and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage.
“The property was re-inspected, building officials and public works were interviewed and no development restrictions were in place at Jan. 1, 2016,” Lawrence said. “Therefore, no change in value was warranted as nothing had changed since the value was reduced as a result of the landslide.”
But in her appeal, McGraw argued that the property has no value and can never be sold.
“The City of Sitka won’t allow a structure or occupancy at 410 Kramer Avenue, therefore giving the property no use or worth,” McGraw said.
Lawrence said all land values in the landslide area were given a “disaster re-evaluation” value of 50 percent last winter, and that Sitka’s city code would not allow her to provide property values lower than that.
Assembly members sided with Lawrence’s $52,700 figure, saying McGraw did not provide any factual or written evidence showing that the property had zero value.
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Information from: Daily Sitka (Alaska) Sentinel, https://www.sitkasentinel.com/
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