Shorelines

 I had noted in an earlier posting that a major TIF property had a questionable assessment.

The property at 3907-09 N Sherburn, which is one of the parcels for the Sunrise Development that the Village Board is planning on funding for $800,000 plus had a drastic change in assessment for 2007.

The assessment dropped $598,059 or about 21% of its former assessed value.  In addition, the assessor changed the property from a parcel with improvements to vacant land --- even though there is still an apartment building on the property.

When I questioned the Assessors Office as to why the new assessment discounted the aparment building, I was told that the Assessor knew there was an offer on the property, and that the new owners planned to tear down the building and get TIF funding for a new project --- and that the Assessor valued the property as though is was empty land, based upon what might happen.

In fact, the property had an occupied apartment building and there was not even a closed sale on the property.

In checking with the WI Dept of Rev, they affirmed that the assessment was done incorrectly, and that the property should have been properly assessed with the improvements, and not as vacant land.  Future planned use has no affect on the present use and market value.

The almost $600,000 that the assessor dropped off the value of the property means that all property owners in Shorewood pay more in taxes to make up the difference.

Also when the TIF district does their calculations on the increase of value on the property, they will have an extra cushion of $600,000 that will go to the TIF and not to the schools, county, MATC, etc ......  which again will be taxes shifted from that property to other property owners in Shorewood.

Following are the assessments for the Sherburn property for the past few years, applying the applicable State Equalizers:

Sherburn                                      Land                           Improvements                    Total

2004                                           474,000                        1,627,240                         2,101,240

2005                                           507,900                         2,250,282                        2,758,182

2006                                           530,425                         2,350,081                        2,880,506

2007                                          2,282,447                       00000000                         2,282,447

                      This is a drop in the assessment of $598,059  which equals a 21% drop in value !!

HERE IS A COPY OF THE ACTUAL TAX REPORT THAT STEVE REQUESTED I POST

                    WHAT DO YOU THINK?               YOUR COMMENTS ARE APPRECIATED !

The current Shorewood Village Board is spending some big dollars and planning to spend more, and gambling that increasing property values will pay the bill.

Shorewood is using what is called a TIF (tax incremental financing) as a Financing Tool to pay for various projects, such as Streetscaping, the River Project, Condo Development, etc. 

According to the information published by the Wisconsin Dept of Revenue, a TIF works like this:

"Tax Incremental Finance, or TIF, is a financing tool that allows municipalities to invest in infrastructure and other improvements, and pay for these investments by capturing

property tax revenue from the newly developed property. An area is identified (the tax

incremental district, or TID) as appropriate for a certain type of development, and

projects are identified to encourage and facilitate the desired development. Then as

property values rise, the property tax paid on that private development is used by the

municipality to pay for the projects."

There is a risk though, that IF property values Decline, rather than Increase --- All the Property Tax Payers will pay for the expenditures through Increased Property Taxes, as explained here by the Dept of Rev:

" Municipalities can invest significant amounts of money  into  these infrastructure

improvements in hopes that growth will follow (sometimes called the "build it, and

they will come" strategy). However, if little or no private development occurs after the

improvements are made, there may be no tax increment revenue with which to pay for

the investment. If there is no increment revenue, the bonds used to pay for the

improvements will have to be paid for with general tax revenue. Paying for these bonds without a larger tax base means a higher tax burden. Another risk of over-investing can be that the site is improved, but the improvements actually prevent some types of development from being able to use the site."  

The Big Question now becomes --- are Shorewood Property Values Increasing or Decreasing ?

There are many different ways to calculate the values, and with the current volatile real estate market --- it is anybody's guess of what the values will be by the end of the current year. The basic method of calculating property values, involves what is termed "Market Value", and changes in what the sales prices are in comparison between two comparable time periods.  (Other methods of valuation, "replacement" and "income" are not commonly used for residential property appraisals or assessments).

Taking a snapshot of Single Family Home sales in Shorewood for the time period of January 1^st of this year (2008) to date, compared with the same time period for last year (2007), there is a notable trend:

JANUARY 1 TO MARCH  26, 2007 --- SINGLE FAMILY HOMES SOLD IN SHOREWOOD (17 sales)

ORIGINAL ASKING PRICE             DAYS ON MARKET             SALES PRICE

189,900                                               24                                            192,100

214,900                                               169                                          180,000

224,900                                               114                                          215,000

230,000                                               16                                            221,500

259,900                                               126                                          235,000

289,900                                               183                                          237,000

289,000                                               13                                            289,000

298,000                                               46                                            298,100

329,900                                               99                                            295,000

309,000                                               20                                            310,000

320,000                                               45                                            320,000

339,000                                               42                                            335,000

364,900                                               43                                            356,000

387,900                                               68                                            350,000

449,000                                               10                                            460,000

749,000                                               18                                            750,000

1,495,000                                            62                                            1,425,000

Tot  6,740,200                                     1098                                        6,468,700

Avg 396,482                                        65                                            380,511

THERE WAS APPROX A 4% DECREASE BETWEEN ORIG PRICE AND SALES PRICE

JANUARY 1 TO MARCH  26, 2008 --- SINGLE FAMILY HOMES SOLD IN SHOREWOOD (9 sales)

ORIGINAL ASKING PRICE             DAYS ON MARKET             SALES PRICE

279,000                                               112                                          237,000

314,900                                               146                                          290,000

399,900                                               141                                          300,000

415,000                                               181                                          376,500

424,900                                               172                                          417,000

479,900                                               91                                            449,000

589,900                                               88                                            555,000

599,900                                               31                                            560,000

1,349,000                                            204                                          1,000,000

Tot  4,852,400                                     1166                                        4,184,500

Avg   539,155                                      130                                          464,944

THERE WAS APPROX A 13% DECREASE BETWEEN ORIG PRICE AND SALES PRICE, AND DAYS ON MARKET DOUBLED OVER THE PREVIOUS YEAR.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ?  YOUR COMMENTS ARE APPRECIATED !

 MYSPACE: 
A Must Read for All 

After 
tossing her books on the sofa, she decided to grab a snack and get on-line. 
She logged on under her screen name ByAngel213. She checked her Buddy List and 
saw GoTo123 was on. She sent him an instant message: 


ByAngel213:
Hi. I'm glad you are on! I thought someone was 
following me home today. It was really weird!

GoTo123:
LOL You watch 
too much TV. Why would someone be following you? 
Don't you live in a safe 
neighborhood? 

ByAngel213:
Of course I do. LOL I guess it was my 
imagination cuz' I didn't see anybody when I looked 
out.

GoTo123:
Unless you gave your name out on-line. You haven't 
done that have you?

ByAngel213:
Of course not. I'm not stupid you 
know.

GoTo123:
Did you have a softball game after school 
today?

ByAngel213:
Yes and we won!!

GoTo123:
That's great! 
Who did you play? 

ByAngel213:
We played the Hornets. LOL. Their 
uniforms are so gross! They look like bees. LOL

GoTo123:
What is 
your team called?

ByAngel213:
We are the Canton Cats. We have tiger 
paws on our uniforms. They are really cool. 

GoTo1 23: 
Did you 
pitch?

ByAngel213:
No I play second base. I got to go. My homework 
has to be done before my parents get home. I don't want them mad at me. 
Bye!

GoTo123:
Catch you later. Bye 

Meanwhile.......GoTo123 
went to the member menu and began to search for her profile. When it came up, 
he highlighted it and printed it out. He took out a pen and began to write 
down what he knew about Angel so far. 

Her name: Shannon
Birthday: 
Jan. 3, 
1985
Age: 
13
State where she lived: North 
Carolina

Hobbies: 
softball, chorus, skating and going to the mall. Besides this information, he 
knew she lived in Canton because she had 
just told him. He knew she stayed by herself until 6:30 
p.m. every afternoon 
until her parents came home from work. He knew she played softball on Thursday 
afternoons on the school team, and the team was named the Canton Cats. Her 
favorite number 7 was printed on her jersey. He knew she was in the eighth 
grade at the Canton 
Junior High 
School . She had told 
him all this in the conversations they had on- line. He had enough information 
to find her now. 

Shannon didn't tell her 
parents about the incident on the way home from the ballpark that day. She 
didn't want them to make a scene and stop her from walking home from the 
softball games. Parents were always overreacting and hers were the worst. It 
made her wish she was not an only child. Maybe if she had brothers and 
sisters, her parents wouldn't be so overprotective. 

By Thursday, 
Shannon had forgotten 
about the footsteps following her. 

Her game was in full swing when 
suddenly she felt someone staring at her. It was then that the memory came 
back. She glanced up from her second base position to see a man watching her 
closely.

He was leaning against the fence behind first base and he 
smiled when she looked at him. He didn't look scary and she quickly dismissed 
the sudden fear she had felt. 

After the game, he sat on a bleacher 
while she talked to the coach. She noticed his smile once again as she walked 
past him. He nodded and she smiled back. He noticed her name on the back of 
her shirt. He knew he had found her. 

Quietly, he walked a safe 
distance behind her. It was only a few blocks to Shannon 's home, and once 
he saw where she lived he quickly returned to the park to get his 
car.

Now he had to wait. He decided to get a bite to eat until the time 
came to go to Shannon 's house. He 
drove to a fast food restaurant and sat there until time to make his move. 


Shannon was in her room 
later that evening when she heard voices in the living room.

'Shannon, come here,' her father 
called. He sounded upset and she couldn't imagine why. She went into the room 
to see the man from the ballpark sitting on the sofa. 

'Sit down,' her father 
began, 'this man has just told us a most 
interesting story about you.'

Shannon sat back. How 
could he tell her parents anything? She had never seen him before 
today!

'Do you know who I am, 
Shannon 
?' the man 
asked. 

'No,' 
Shannon answered.

'I am a police officer and your online 
friend, GoTo123.'

Shannon was stunned. 
'That's impossible! GoTo is a kid my age! 
He's 14. And he lives in Michigan 
!'

The man 
smiled. 'I know I told you all that, but 
it wasn't true. You see, Shannon 
, there are people on-line who pretend to be kids; I was one of them. But 
while others do it to injure kids and hurt them, I belong to a group of 
parents who do it to protect kids from predators. I came here to find you to 
teach you how dangerous it is to talk to people on-line. You told me enough 
about yourself to make it easy for me to find you. You named the school you 
went to, the name of your ball team and the position you played. The number 
and name on your jersey just made finding you a breeze.' 


Shannon was stunned. 
'You mean you don't live in 
Michigan 
?'

He 
laughed. 'No, I live in 
Raleigh 
It made you feel safe to think I was so far away, didn't it?' 


She 
nodded.

'I had a friend whose 
daughter was like you. Only she wasn't as lucky. The guy found her and 
murdered her while she was home alone. Kids are taught not to tell anyone when 
they are alone, yet they do it all the time on-line. The wrong people trick 
you into giving out information a little here and there on-line.. Before you 
know it, you have told them enough for them to find you without even realizing 
you have done it. I hope you've learned a lesson from this and won't do it 
again. Tell others about this so they will be safe too?' 

'It's a 
promise!'

That night Shannon and her Dad and Mom all knelt 
down together and thanked God for protecting Shannon from what could have been a tragic situation.

 

*****NOW****

EVEN 
FORWARD THIS TO PEOPLE WITHOUT KIDS SO THEY CAN SEND IT TO FRIENDS THAT DO 
HAVE CHILDREN OR GRANDCHILDREN 

According to property tax information available on the internet, the property at 3907-09 N Sherburn, which is one of the parcels for the Sunrise Development that the Village Board is planning on funding for $800,000 plus has changed dramatically for 2007.

The past assessments for the Sherburn property had a separate assessment for the land and a separate assessment for the improvements (buildings) which is the normal breakdown, and is the way that the property at 1111 E Capitol (Riverbrook Restaurant) is assessed.

Following are the assessments for the Sherburn property for the past few years, applying the applicable State Equalizers:

Sherburn                                      Land                           Improvements                    Total

2004                                           474,000                        1,627,240                         2,101,240

2005                                           507,900                         2,250,282                        2,758,182

2006                                           530,425                         2,350,081                        2,880,506

2007                                          2,282,447                       00000000                         2,282,447

                      This is a drop in the assessment of $598,059  which equals a 21% drop in value !!

                      (note: the 1111 E Capitol Dr property had a decrease in its assessment of about 4%)

• Is this the only property in Shorewood that has dropped in value by 21% ?
• Why is the assessment no longer broken down into its parts ?
• What implications does this have for the proposed Sunrise Development ?
•  Inquiring Minds Want to Know !!

                                     Do you Know ?            Do you have any Comments ?