Have you heard of the retail apocalypse? It’s in the news on a regular basis; think of the headlines of all the big retailers like Sears closing stores. The impact of these closings and the often-distressed sale or lease of the associated properties is creating a record of low-value market comparables.
When it comes to property tax assessments and taxes, market comparables matter. Or, at least there’s an argument that can be made that these properties aren’t worth what they’re assessed at. And when those valuations are in the tens of millions of dollars, a 10% or 20% reduction in value has huge impacts for taxpayers. When big retailers pay less, it’s not often the local-government budgets can simply adjust downward by a similar amount. That means someone has to make up the difference — that someone is you.
Check out this article from CityLab linked below to get a more in-depth look at ‘dark store theory’ and then whether the full and true costs of our culture’s 70-year experiment in auto-oriented development are known?
And perhaps Minot dodged a bullet by denying the Walmart on North Hill a few years back?
