Foster Township and the Bradford Area School District lost
several thousand dollars for the 2007 tax year as a result of a tax
reassessment of the Foster Brook Wal-Mart Supercenter in late
2006.

McKean County Chief Assessor Angie Tennies said Wal-Mart filed
an appeal and went before the county’s Board of Assessment Appeals,
which ruled in favor of the reassessment.

“They’re legally permitted to file an appeal if they so chose
to,” Tennies said. “And they came in with an appraisal. The
reassessment was established and reviewed, dates and hearings were
set, and the Board (of Assessment Appeals) rendered a
decision.”

Tennies explained the Wal-Mart building was built, and then
Wal-Mart acquired the land and the building for more than ,13
million.

“The value on the building at that time was ,6,531,310,” Tennies
said. “The land and the improvement … contributed to” the value,
adding the original tax value assessed for the property was
,12,781,810.

Due to the transfer of land, Tennies said a change of assessment
notice was sent out to Wal-Mart at the time. She said the business
then had 40 days to file an appeal at no cost. She said that
deadline passed, and then Wal-Mart filed the appeal in 2006 for a
fee during the annual appeal period before the Sept. 1 deadline for
the process.

“I don’t know if they missed the first year,” Tennies said, “but
they filed an appeal that the value was out of line with what they
had. They had (the property) appraised by an independent
appraiser,” which Tennies said helps assess the value on the
building.

Tennies explained that Wal-Mart said the ,13 million package
deal covered not only the building and land but the actual business
itself.

“The land value was more in line with what the appraisal was,”
Tennies said.

She said a hearing was then set for Oct. 16, 2006, and the Board
of Assessment Appeals, whose members include Dr. Fred Young and
Dean Bauer of Bradford and Jim Salvamoser of the Kane area,
rendered its decision on Nov. 9, 2006, setting Wal-Mart’s
assessment value at ,6,641,480 effective for the 2007 tax year.

Tennies explained that value is multiplied by the township or
school district’s millage rate to get a dollar figure for
Wal-Mart’s tax contribution.

According to Foster Township secretary-treasurer Jennifer
Gorrell, the township’s tax revenue from Wal-Mart went from
,41,540.88 to ,21,584.81 – a loss of ,19,956.07.

Township officials said they were used to receiving that money
and didn’t realize they were not always going to have it. They
added the current assessment for Wal-Mart for the 2007 tax year is
a more accurate value than the original assessment and believed the
reassessment was performed fairly.

“They (Wal-Mart) didn’t promise anything” when they came in,
Foster Township Supervisor Chairman Robert Slike Jr. said. “They’ve
contributed to the community with donations (and in other ways).
They’ve been a big help to the community. They’ve bent over
backwards. And (I must commend) Ron Orris for managing the
store.”

Kathy Kelly, business manager for the Bradford Area School
District, said around ,132,000 in tax revenue was lost for the
school district.

“It created difficulty in balancing the budget,” Kelly said.
“You would hope to have that money.”

Kelly said she uses tax assessment information to create the
budget. She gets assessment reports in January based on the current
amount at that time for values and uses those numbers to calculate
what she believes the district will receive from the assessed value
to put in the district’s preliminary budget.

Kelly said the original assessment for Wal-Mart was about ,12
million, but she was not sure of costs, building problems or other
problems that might have come into play.

Tennies said she certifies tax rolls before the end of November
each year; she certified the tax rolls on Nov. 15, 2006. Tennies
said since the decision was rendered on Nov. 9, the tax rolls sent
to the county, school district and township reflected the changed
tax value for Wal-Mart for the 2007 tax year.

Tennies pointed out the school district is on a different
schedule than the township and other municipalities. The district
sets its budget in May or June, and thus, Tennies sends them
assessment information prior to district officials preparing the
budget.

Tennies said she continues to send the district updates on
assessment information throughout the year, and therefore, the
district knew of the change in Wal-Mart’s tax value for the 2007
tax year in November of 2006, after the district’s budget was
certified for 2007. She said the district would have to take the
new value into account when working up the following year’s
budget.

Ron Orris, store manager for the Foster Brook Wal-Mart, directed
questions to Wal-Mart’s media relations. Several calls left for
media relations personnel at the Wal-Mart headquarters in Arkansas
were not returned.

(Era Reporter Merrill Gonzalez contributed to this report.)