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Union County board weighs paying for outside appraisal after wellness facility tax appeal
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Summary
Board members discussed a wellness group's request to reduce property taxes and considered hiring an outside industrial appraiser (county-paid or cost-shared with the City of Anna) after the group's appraisal put the property's value far below county assessments.
Union County board members on Thursday discussed whether the county should pay for an outside industrial appraisal after a local wellness group operating a cannabis facility asked to reduce its property-tax assessment.
The chair said the group had claimed the property was worth "$10,000,000" and submitted an appraisal arguing for a substantially lower value. A staff member told the board the county currently lists the facility's EAP value at 7,200,000 (which staff equated in the discussion to $21,600,000 and a facilities total of 41,600,000) while the group's appraiser reported a value of "12.1" (as stated in the record). "They say we've got it over appraised by $9,500,000," the staff member said.
The staff member said the size of the requested reduction required the assessor to notify banks involved, and that the county's practical option is to hire an outside industrial appraiser to produce a competing estimate before a board of review hearing. "Even though it's gonna cost us some money, it's gonna save us money," the chair said in support of obtaining a county appraisal.
Board members discussed potential fiscal impacts if the reduction were upheld. One member said the high school would lose about $60,060 in revenue under the proposed reduction; members also noted that annexation into the City of Anna would shift tax receipts and that the city might be asked to share appraisal costs. Staff reported an initial outside estimate of $12,000–$15,000 for an industrial appraisal but said the county's usual appraiser offered a lower fee of about $3,500 when contacted.
Staff outlined the review and appeals process: the county board of review would compare the parties' appraisals and may accept the county or the group's appraisal or negotiate, and if the wellness group is dissatisfied it can appeal to a state-level property tax assessment board (referred to in the record as "PCAP" or "PTAP"), whose decision would be binding on the county.
Members questioned some of the appraiser's reasoning, including a claim that state limits on licenses reduce the building's reuse value and could make it hard for another operator to occupy the space. Several members said they were skeptical that the structure would be unusable to other buyers. Board members also discussed market changes since the facility opened around 2016 and how competition from other states may have affected economic conditions.
No formal vote on paying for an appraisal is recorded in the transcript provided; one member said, "I wanna say go for it," and a motion was made and seconded later in the meeting, but the transcript ends before a recorded outcome.
The board asked staff to continue discussions with the City of Anna about splitting appraisal costs and to arrange for an industrial appraisal if approved. The matter was left as other business pending the board's next procedural steps.
