County hires firm to assess Clearview
Clearview Mall’s owners look to cut their property tax bill by nearly 60%, which would cost Butler Area School District, Center Township and the county more than $120,000 a year. The school district and county plan to fight back.
Clearview Mall Capital Holding LLC, the company which owns the Center Township mall, appealed the county’s property value assessment, of a $1.56 million assessed value, equivalent to a $19.79 million fair market value. Instead, the owners argue, the mall should have an assessed value of $679,400, or lower, which would have the mall at a $8.6 million fair market value.
Under the county’s assessed value, the owners would pay $162,598 to the school district, $43,179 to the county and $11,019 to Center Township, for a total of $216,797 in property tax.
But should Clearview’s owners prevail, they would pay just $94,236 to all three governments in tax, more than a 56% decrease. The owners would pay $70,677 to the school district, $18,769 to the county and $4,789 to the township.
County commissioners Wednesday approved a contract with Valbridge Property Advisors for a third-party appraisal of Clearview Mall as part of the mall owners’ appeal of their tax assessment.
The county will split the cost with Butler Area, according to the commissioners, which comes to $3,000 each for a verbal review and a “review suitable for presentation in court.”
There is no recent sale price data for the mall, as the mall’s new owners acquired the property from Clearview Mall Associates in June 2020 because the former owners fell behind on mortgage payments. The mortgage originally was for $26.5 million, but was for three land parcels in addition to the mall.
