The Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals is lowering the taxable value of land for commercial properties along the stretch of Walnut Street between Second and Hillside.
The move is meant to relieve property owners whose businesses have been impacted by homelessness.
Last year the assessed value of land jumped from $400,000 to $1 million per acre based on sales data. County Assessor Judy Sharp said after talking with property owners who lost their renters, she proposed reversing that increase.
“No one wants to come there and move into this mess that they'll have to clean up every day,” she said.
Some businesses have left the area due to littering and petty crime associated with the area’s large homeless population. They’ve also attributed visual blight to a decline in sales.
Sharp said she hopes tax relief will convince business owners to stay.
“Quite a few of them have contacted me since then, and their first words out of their mouth is, ‘Wow, this is going to help me at least stay maybe a couple more years,’” she said.
Overall, the reappraisal lowers the taxable value of that land by almost $17 million. It will save those owners almost $350,000 in tax dollars altogether, which will be made up by the rest of the tax district. The value reduction will apply when owners file last year’s taxes.
The taxes paid for buildings on that land is not affected.
