BEAT BYTES: News Briefs from the Columbia Heartbeat
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1) Eminent Domain may have Silver Lining made of Gold
2) 6th Ward Council Candidate Rod Robison answers our survey
3) Columbia School District "slumdog flyer" irks local leader
4) STREET SQUAWK: Inside Columbia magazine relocates;
Visioning chair Jeff Williams leaving Columbia
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1) Eminent Domain may have Silver Lining made of Gold
COLUMBIA, 3/16/09 (Beat Byte) -- Great news for the two downtown Columbia property owners in the way of the beast nobody likes: eminent domain. For the condemned, condemnation aka eminent domain may have the most enviable silver lining of all: a property sale entirely free of Federal and State income taxes.
"Do you realize that with just the 'threat' of Eminent Domain, the sale becomes tax free? It does not actually have to go through the entire eminent domain process," wrote a Columbia Heart Beat reader who said he was formerly employed by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) Land Acquisition unit.
Iowa City-based CPA Joe Kristan, of Roth & Company, P.C., clarifies the issue on his Tax Update blog.
"Section 1033 of the federal tax code allows sellers to avoid gain on property sold 'under threat or imminence' of condemnation, as long as they re-invest the proceeds no more than two years after the year in which the sale is made," Kristan writes. "It's not necessary for the city to actually institute condemnation proceedings; just a credible threat triggers the tax break."
In effect, condemnation gives the seller of any property the same income tax break we used to receive on the sale of our primary residence: buy another house in two years, and the sale was tax free. Congress eliminated this proviso in 1997.
The US Tax Court clarifies the eminent domain tax break even further, describing a scenario similar to what's going on with the three parcels in the sights of the State Historical Society of Missouri -- Bengals Bar and Grill; US Cleaners; and a duplex.
"A 'threat of condemnation' exists if (1) the body threatening condemnation possesses the power of eminent domain, (2) the property owner is told by an official of the threatening body that condemnation will be sought unless the owner negotiates a sale or exchange of the property, and (3) the information conveyed to the owner gives the owner reasonable grounds to believe that the threat was authorized and likely to be carried out unless a sale or exchange is arranged."
"A whiff of a threat of condemnation can make a sale tax-free to a buyer who is willing to reinvest in other property," Kristan continues. "A seller and buyer can more or less arrange a condemnation 'threat' with the city to qualify a property for Section 1033."
The former Conservation Dept. employee said his office routinely turned away so-called "arranged condemnations."
"We often had folks that wanted the MDC to 'threaten' eminent domain prior to a sale so they could avoid taxes," he writes. "Although MDC had such powers, they would not do it."
The seller tax break may also be great news for the City of Columbia, which can save the $250,000 it was planning to spend from the Convention and Visitor's Bureau fund to accomodate the museum land sale (maybe spend that on the Blind Boone Home, still languishing after all these years).
Bottom line: Condemnation is a taxpayer's best friend! But knowing this, will everybody now be saying, "I want My Eminent Domain?"
RELATED:
http://www.rothcpa.com/archives/001641.php
http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/uscode/26/usc_sec_26_00001033----000-.html
2) The One-Size-Fits-All Columbia Candidate Survey -- 6th Ward Council
Welcome to the third annual One-Size-Fits-All Candidate Survey, where city council and school board candidates answer questions about issues that affect not just one, but BOTH organizations. 6th Ward city council candidate Rod Robison answers; incumbent councilwoman Barbara Hoppe is currently in Detroit visiting her mother, 93, at the hospital. A letter from husband Mike Sleadd is below.
Other than Michelle Pruitt and Sam Phillips, no school board candidates responded to this part of the survey.
Adding Judges and Landlords to The Criminal Justice Equation
Gatehouse Apartments, at 2401 W. Broadway, has been featured in over a dozen news stories on rising crime in Columbia. Two weeks ago, Gatehouse Apartments resident Eric Kegler Lambert, 21, out on bond for a forgery violation two weeks earlier, was arrested again for probation and parole violations.
Lambert's had breaks by the bushel. In 2005, he faced 1st degree burglary and armed criminal action charges, later plea-bargained to 2nd degree burglary. After a stretch of -- not jail time but "home detention" at 1322 Raleigh Drive -- Boone County Judge Ellen Roper suspended Lambert's five-year prison sentence and placed him on probation. But after Lambert failed to show up for drug rehab at Reality House, Roper revoked his probation and reinstated his 5-year prison sentence.
That was in October 2006. It's February 2009, and for some reason, Eric Kegler Lambert is living, not at the Big House, but at Gatehouse.
The earlier story of 802 Wilkes Blvd:
http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2008/nov/20081130news001.asp
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2008/10/of-criminals-and-landlords-who-rent-to.html
and felonious shooter Malcolm Redmon:
http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2008/oct/20081028news007.asp
http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2007/oct/20071013news004.asp
are more violent and troubling illustrations of the role our courts and landlords should be playing to keep dangerous repeat offenders off the streets, away from our children, and out of our neighborhoods.
6th WARD CITY COUNCIL
QUESTION 1 -- What role do you think our courts should play in our struggle with crime? What role do you think local landlords should play in our struggle with crime? How can police be expected to cope if courts and landlords -- if the entire community for that matter -- doesn't also partake in the process?
ROD ROBISON
www.rodsixthward.com
Obviously, the courts play a crucial role in crime prevention. The problem, as I see it, is that there are different agencies dealing with different aspects of crime. The police apprehend alleged criminals, the court system tries, convicts and determines sentencing, then the Department of Corrections or Probation and Parole Department enforce the punishment.
It appears, from your case studies that people are falling through the cracks.
My top priority for the sixth ward comes down on the side of apprehension and prevention. I want to fully fund the Columbia Police Department in their endeavors to crack down on violent crime and property crimes in our neighborhoods.
QUESTION 2 -- If a judge sentences an offender to "home detention" and a landlord is willing to rent to that offender, aren't our neighborhoods in danger of becoming substitute jails? What impact do you think the presence of criminal offenders has on a neighborhood and especially, the children in it?
ROD ROBISON
While it may seem to many Columbia residents that landlords have a duty to make sure their tenants are law-abiding, coming up with a mechanism to ensure compliance would be difficult. And I’m not sure its even legal.
Property owners, like landlords, have to follow certain protocols when leasing or renting to prospective tenants and a criminal background check is not required. Also, if a landlord leases to someone without a criminal record, then that person breaks the law, it doesn’t void the lease.
QUESTION 3 -- What can you, as a newly-elected school board member or city council person, do to encourage our judges, prosecutors, and landlords to reduce crime and keep violent offenders off the street?
ROD ROBISON
As the sixth ward city council member, I would first acquaint myself with all the stakeholders in the process.
Perhaps setting up a community task force, made up of judges, probation and parole officials, landlords, educators, youth group leaders, etc. would lead to a better understanding of the problem and how to solve it.
FROM BARBARA HOPPE AND MIKE SLEADD
Barbara is currently in Detroit visiting her gravely ill mother at the hospital. Her mother is 93 and in very serious condition and is not expected to live long. She hopes to be back in Columbia for the League of Women Voters forum on Thursday.
Barbara is likely to be away a good bit of this time. Her mother's illness combined with her regular job and the demands of being on the council will keep her from participating in much of the necessary door-to-door campaigning. I am also doubting that she will be able to answer this survey at this time, but perhaps can make a contribution at a later date.
Thank you very much,
Mike Sleadd
LATEST CANDIDATE NEWS:
Council candidates weigh in on parks, funding
3) Columbia School District "slumdog flyer" irks local leader
COLUMBIA, 3/16/09 (Beat Byte) -- "Are you a Columbia School District Slumdog?"
League of Women voters leader and multi-board commission member Elaine Blodgett tells the Columbia Heart Beat she was surprised to find a flyer with this header under her windshield wiper in a downtown parking garage. The flyer was on every other car she saw as well. It read as follows:
"Slumdogs of the Columbia school attendance area. Your children are being cheated. Slumdog homeowners and landlords-your property values are being lowered by elitist school officials who conspire with developers, builders and other elitists to enhance property values in some area of Columbia at the expense of other areas and schools."
The flyer's gist: Columbia Public Schools is not distributing resources evenly (but the county assessor isn't collecting property taxes evenly either, so what do we expect?)
Referring to "The Privileged Crescent of Elementary Schools (where influence talks and slumdogs walk. The crème de la crème of Columbia Schools.) " the flyer includes small paragraphs arranged in a crescent shape from the upper right hand of the page to the bottom left with boxes including Paxton Keeley Elementary, Fairview Elementary, Mill Creek Elementary, Rockbridge High School, Rockbridge Elementary.
With few or no trailers, "the elite use these schools. Compare to Derby Ridge which has 14 trailers," the flyer instructs.
The flyer includes a test:
"Slumdog Test: How do you know if you are a Columbia slumdog?????"
"Do you live north of I-70? Do you live eat of College Ave? Does your child’s elementary school have more than two or three trailers? Are your children not allowed to go to their neighborhood school, but shipped off to another old and over crowded school?
"If you call a realtor will he she tell you your home is worth a lot less because the school district has let your neighborhood school run down and be seriously overcrowded. You are a Columbia slumdog. Your children are not given equal possibilities in which to learn because of over crowded and poor facilities.
"All Columbia schools are o.k., however, some are unfairly and purposely a lot better than others!! You o.k.’d a 60 million dollar bond. Where did it go????"
The flyer concludes with these suggestions:
"Don’t ok a penny more unless it will be spent equally and wisely and openly!!"
Call Superintendent Ritter (numbers etc follow. Tell him to shape up his elitist management team- very elitist Doctors of Education. If there is one principle all Americans should believe in it is that all children should be given the equal opportunity to live up to their God given abilities!
Don’t let your children be treated like Slumdogs."
4) STREET SQUAWK: Inside Columbia relocates; Local leader Williams leaving
COLUMBIA, 3/16/09 (Beat Byte) -- A sleek new ebony sign at the old Reece/Nichols real estate offices at 301 W. Broadway now says Inside Columbia Magazine.
Sources tell the Heart Beat that publisher Fred Parry was "moving in some boxes yesterday."
City of Columbia visioning committee and police oversight commission co-chair Jeffrey Williams is leaving Columbia for a job with the Ewing Kaufman Foundation in Kansas City. Co-workers said goodbye to Williams, an expert in late 19th and early 20th century American literature, at a going away party Friday at Flat Branch Brewery.
"Dr. Jeffrey R. Williams has accepted a position as Vice President for Higher Education with Kauffman Scholars in Kansas City. Kauffman Scholars is a comprehensive college preparatory program funded by the Kauffman Foundation," read a university release. "In this new role, he will be responsible for creating and directing the Collegiate Academy and the support services needed by the Scholars to succeed academically and socially and for developing and maintaining effective relationships with college administrators on the various campuses."
Williams is presently a professor in the University of Missouri Dept. of English.
RELATED:
http://english.missouri.edu/people/profile.php?person=williamsjeffrey
http://www.kauffmanscholars.org/
-- Mike Martin for the Columbia Heart Beat
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