Board of Review sustains assessor's valuation for second Waukesha dealership appeal

The City of Waukesha Board of Review sustained the assessor's valuation for a commercial property at 1710 South Highway 164 following testimony from the property agent and the city assessor.

At the July 29 session, the Board of Review heard the Wyld family’s appeal (agent Wayne Tannenbaum) challenging a large increase in the assessment. The agent argued the assessor’s increase between recent years was disproportionate and presented cost and sales information he said supported a materially lower improvement value. The agent emphasized dealership properties are difficult to value and presented an alternative cost-based improvement calculation he said was several million dollars below the assessor’s figure.

City Assessor Laurie Swarden responded with an analysis that relied primarily on comparable sales (local comparables plus several dealership sales outside the city) and third‑party analytics (CoStar). The assessor said those comparables supported the assessor’s view of market value and that the assessor’s methodology conformed to statutory requirements. The assessor noted a higher-cost methodology existed in the assessor’s system but that the sales-comparison approach was the most appropriate for this property.

During deliberations board members said the sales-comparison evidence the assessor presented was the most credible on the record. The board determined the objector had not presented sufficient evidence to rebut the presumption of correctness granted to the assessor and entered a finding sustaining the assessor's valuation under Wisconsin Statute 70.47(9)(a). The motion to sustain carried by roll call vote; the board recorded three yes votes from Christy D'Angelo, Eric Dunst and Sarah Roth. The assessor will mail appeal information to the property owner.