The One-Size-Fits-All Columbia Candidate Survey, Part 4

Welcome to the third annual One-Size-Fits-All Columbia Candidate Survey, where city council and school board candidates answer questions about issues that affect not just one, but BOTH organizations. In this part, we ask candidates:

Are Developer Property Tax Breaks Breaking Boone County?

The following stories illustrate a property tax break for land developers:

http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2009/03/are-developer-property-tax-breaks.html
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2008/11/developer-tax-breaks-city-to-question.html

If you wish, you may also read the following property tax cases (but if you do, read them CAREFULLY AND COMPLETELY.)

http://oa.mo.gov/stc/2004/Northtown%20Village%20v.%20Davis.htm
http://oa.mo.gov/stc/2003/Park%20370%20Development%20v.%20Muehlheausler.htm
(note "stipulated fact #2)
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2008/10/broadway-bluff-more-property-tax-poker.html

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:
http://www.showmeboone.com/assessor/feature.asp#article-00
http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2008/07/assessor-shocker-millionaire-tax-breaks.html

CANDIDATE QUESTIONS

Q1. Do we have a problem here or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

JASON THORNHILL, 2ND WARD CITY COUNCIL

As our schools suffer directly from undervalued tax assessments, I believe based on the information provided that we certainly could have a problem.

Tax assessments should be consistent, with very little room for exception. Banking development land for the specific purpose of waiting for the right time to begin work is a tricky subject. What happens if the development never takes place? Could the county still argue that the land is worth more?

With that in mind, I believe the county should make attempts to find a middle ground, if nothing else, for these properties that are clearly undervalued. It may not be as simple as using the bill of sale approach, but there has to be some common sense used when a parcel of land can sell for millions and be assessed as if it is only worth thousands.

On the premise that the only way to produce enough funding to undertake projects is to add tax to those who already pay it,
one could argue that the folks who own homes and commercial property that is valued correctly wind up paying a disproportionate amount of tax, by virtue of their own tax bills and subsequent bond issues, etc.

As in criminal law, there is a consequence for intent. As I see it, the holding of land and assignment of a definitive value to it (IE. the purchase price) can create intent. A parcel of land with all necessary utilities to the site and a recorded document that indicates the likelihood that at some point development could occur, essentially proves that the land has a premium value, regardless of its actual zoning and assessed value.

ALLAN SHARROCK, 2ND WARD CITY COUNCIL

I think we need to examine this within the context of the law and what is reasonable. As stated in the reading, by law there are three sub-classifications of real property defined in Missouri: agricultural, residential and commercial.

In regards to the “active farming” argument, I do not think it is reasonable to make a developer farm the property. While some may find it silly, all a developer would have to do to meet this requirement would be to put up an electric fence and turn loose a few goats. If they are in the city limits, they could plant some fescue and claim they are growing hay. Legally they would be farming.

Is a farmer “actively farming” if he is enrolled in a CRP (Conservation Reserve Program)? Or is a farmer “actively farming” if his land is nothing but trees and he never logs it?

CHRISTINE KING, SCHOOL BOARD

The issues raised and the information presented in the articles are something the new Council and Board of Education will need to discuss in great detail.

First, everyone will need to be schooled and educated on how land should be assessed. If the laws are being followed, then what is the problem -- is it the assessment or the law? If the laws on assessment are not being followed and applied fairly, then we need to address that issue appropriately. We must be diligent and also treat each situation on its merits.

MICHELLE PRUITT, SCHOOL BOARD

On the one hand, County Assessor Schauwecker tried to raise assessed value on 3M and other commercial properties in Columbia several years ago and lost the cases when property owners challenged the valuations. During the time the taxes were disputed, ALL of the taxes (not just the additional taxes due to the higher valuation) were held in escrow and were not available to the school district. And eventually the lower valuation was upheld and the district saw no additional revenues.

On the other hand, it looks like some property valuations could potentially be raised by the assessor by changing their categorization from agricultural to residential/commercial. But if those values were challenged by the landowners, that might end up going either way. The cases cited didn't seem to unambiguously apply to local situations mentioned in the question.

Q2. If we do have a problem, what will you do to correct it if elected?

ALLAN SHARROCK

I know it upsets people to hear about rich people not paying high taxes. But if we are to attract businesses, we must have shovel ready sites that are low cost.

We all want businesses to move to Columbia so we can employ our residents. According to REDI, “the number one reason for the lack of success in the attraction of new manufacturing projects and other desired primary employers to Columbia/ Boone County has been the absence of a community-based, non-profit development group continuously working to secure industrial land and create industrial sites with infrastructure that are available at a low-cost or competitive price.”

Now any development group -- non-profit or otherwise -- cannot afford to make sites shovel ready if they will be expected to pay the residential or commercial property tax rate. They will not be willing to take the risk, especially in this economy. Businesses do not want to relocate to towns where they will have to wait for the land to have the infrastructure put it place before they can start building.

The assessor is an elected position. If he is not following the rule of law then when the next election cycle comes around, I am sure his opponent will inform us.

JASON THORNHILL

I still think it will be tricky to tax someone entirely upon the possibility of what they could do. I also know that there are many, many undervalued parcels of land that are effectively costing our schools and public safety entities money due to their gross underpayment of tax.

It seems that many of the problems we have are created by state mandated methodology and statutes that hog tie the assessor's office. I'd be very interested in determining what can be done at the city level to remedy this. If it is as simple as assigning a zoning designation based upon price and owner intent, then maybe that is the answer.

SAM PHILLIPS, SCHOOL BOARD

[No response to Question 1]. The School Board has a responsibility to help the district provide the resources necessary for our teachers to teach our children. To do that, we have to re-earn the community’s confidence. Trust can be earned by welcoming teacher suggestions and acknowledging their expertise, listening to the community, and assuring that the administration does the same. Of course, we must also prudently manage the community’s funds in the best interests of our students. Finally, the Board and the Administration should meet regularly with city, state and county officials to assure that the district is getting its share of the permissible tax base.

MICHELLE PRUITT, SCHOOL BOARD

If there is a systematic bias in assessed values that undervalues certain types of property, it would be in the interest of the school district to investigate.

CHRISTINE KING, SCHOOL BOARD

Currently the City Council and CPS Board of Education are involved in more meaningful discussions and both are working to create healthy dialogue to make sure our community and schools are working more aligned with one another. This process needs to continue, and I would fully support more opportunities for both groups to come together to meet the needs of Columbia and Columbia Public Schools.

NO OTHER school board or city council candidates responded to the survey.

Are Developer Property Tax Breaks Breaking Boone County?

Are Developer Property Tax Breaks Breaking Boone County?
The Columbia Business Times

Presenting what he called “the facts pertaining to property tax valuations” for the Columbia Business Times this month, Boone County assessor Tom Schauwecker (pictured) wrote about a “133-acre vacant tract of land located on the southeast corner of Nifong Boulevard and Sinclair Road, across from Mill Creek Elementary." He noted that the land was zoned “agricultural,” but left out several other important facts.

The owner, a prominent real estate developer, paid around $1.9 million for the property ten years ago. In a Deed of Trust on file with Boone County, a “General Development Plan” assigns a “Per Acre Release Payment” for subdivision purposes of $19,950/acre, valuing the tract in 1998 somewhere north of $2.5 million.

Today, power, water, sewer, cable, and gas lines stud the property and it has a fire hydrant on the corner. Though neighbors say the parcel hasn’t been farmed in years, the assessor says it’s farmland and so qualifies for low, low property taxes.

Under Missouri law (RSMo 137.016 and 137.119), working farmland is taxed far lower than commercial or residential land.

But the key word is “working” and zoning doesn't count. To qualify for the tax break, the law is clear: The land must be actively farmed, or its “highest and best use” must be agricultural. Land zoned “agricultural” that isn’t farmed and has a “higher and better” use doesn’t qualify, caveats affirmed many times, most recently in 2004, when developer Northtown Village challenged Jasper County Assessor Tom Davis before the Missouri State Tax Commission.

Nonetheless, the owner of that 133-acre parcel—who long ago decided that its highest and best use was development—paid less in property taxes on it last year than he donated to Mr. Schauwecker’s re-election campaign: $275.04.

Prime property, paltry taxes

All around Columbia and Boone County, in fact, prime development property produces paltry property taxes, zoned agricultural—or not.

An 18.2-acre residentially zoned tract in Thornbrook complete with cul-de-sac netted $50.86 in property taxes on an assessed value of $865.00 last year. A 12,600 square foot commercially-zoned lot on Bernadette Drive and Fairview Road netted local governments just $14.89 on an assessed value of $260.00. Eleven residentially zoned acres on Walcox Drive netted schools, roads, and libraries just $283.00.

Vacant land isn’t the only campaign donor/real estate developer-owned property that qualifies for such big breaks. Mr. Schauwecker appraised a four-bedroom, four-bath, 2,373 square foot duplex built in 1999 for just $739 last year.

That’s right: seven hundred and thirty nine dollars.

City v. County

As if Columbia and Boone County need something else to bicker about, the county assessor and city planners often conflict on land use and zoning, another factor driving low, low taxes on development land.

For instance, the assessor says that parcels in a subdivision off Scott Blvd. are farmland, while Columbia zoned them R-1 several years ago, for residential single-family homes. Individual lots in the subdivision—many with foundations—are on sale for $49,000.00 and up. But Mr. Schauwecker says they’re worth only $8,600 each.

At controversial Cross Creek, amidst neighbor-developer scuffles and City Council brouhahas, city planners zoned 28 acres "planned commercial," or CP. But Mr. Schauwecker insists that the acreage remains a bucolic farm, and taxed its owners accordingly: $40.57.

Cost to Schools

The owners of a prominent Columbia retail center have been advertising their last vacant tract For Sale, a planned commercial or CP-zoned 1.4 acres. “Suitable for retail, restaurant, or office” according to the ad, adjacent neighbors include some of the nation’s best-known eateries. The 1.4-acre tract’s list price: $1,228,392.

Using a phrase Mr. Schauwecker has repeated many times to the media—"Tell me how much you’d sell it for, and that’s what I’ll say it’s worth"—a wily buyer would write up an offer and attach the assessor’s appraisal: Mr. Schauwecker says the $1.2 million parcel is worth only $182,950—and that it’s “farmland,” of course.

For Boone County’s public schools, libraries, cities, and roads, the difference between the assessor’s appraisal and the developer’s price amounts to a property tax loss of $22,100.49, or the difference between what the developer now pays—$1,307.35 —and what he would pay if the parcel were valued closer to its list price: $23,407.84.

More Than Equal

Under the law, all landowners should be treated equally. But in Boone County, some landowners are clearly more equal than others.

Take a 0.23-acre vacant lot in a low-income central city Columbia neighborhood that yielded $89.38 in property taxes last year, while 77.2 acres along I-70—335 times more land—brought in $83.35. Mathematically, that works out to a property tax rate 1,480 times higher for the central city parcel.

A prominent developer owns the I-70 tract and I own the central city lot. Though I didn't donate to his re-election campaign, whatever explanation, whatever spin Mr. Schauwecker puts on the law cannot explain, morally, ethically, legally, or in any other way, why he taxes my land nearly 1,500 times greater than the developer’s land.

Nor can he adequately explain a $739 duplex; farmland in the middle of a strip mall; or a $275 tax bill on choice acreage that’s probably worth $10 million today.

Dickens famously said, “The law is a ass.” But it’s not that much of an ass, despite our assessor’s assessments.

-- Mike Martin for the Columbia Business Times

RELATED:

Campaign finance reports: Tom Schauwecker

http://www.mec.mo.gov/CampaignFinanceReports/CFFilerPDFs/FullRepor/FullReport.aspx?CDRCP_id=11788&MyYear=2008
http://www.mec.mo.gov/Scanned/PDF/2008/57908.pdf
http://www.mec.mo.gov/Scanned/PDF/2008/58306.pdf
http://www.mec.mo.gov/Scanned/PDF/2008/58258.pdf

The facts pertaining to property tax valuations in Boone County
by Tom Schauwecker for the Columbia Business Times

DEVELOPER TAX BREAKS: City To Question Schauwecker

COLUMBIA, NOV. 11, 2008 (Beat Byte) -- The Columbia City Council has voted to question Boone County assessor Tom Schauwecker about large property tax breaks his office provides developers that appear unjustified at best; egregious at worst. 

The breaks appear to violate or misread a state statute designed to help working farmers.

"Current property tax assessments may be severely underestimating the property values that subsidize our city, county, and school district budgets," said Columbia City Council member Karl Skala. "These extremely developer-friendly tax assessment policies are now facing mounting public scrutiny in the face of shrinking local budgets."

Under Missouri law (RSMo 137-016 and 137.119), WORKING farmland is taxed at a rate far lower than either commercial or residential land, even if it's been platted for development. But the key word is "working."  

To qualify for the tax breaks, the law is clear: the land must be ACTIVELY FARMED, not simply zoned "agricultural" or dotted with rusty hay balers.

The idea behind the law is simple: that family farmers who continue to work their land, even if they plan to develop it, can continue to receive what is essentially a farm subsidy. Stop farming, however, and the tax break stops too.

Around Boone County, what is a subsidy for farmers has become a loophole for developers wide enough to drive a bulldozer through. Land that hasn't been farmed for years is still getting the big breaks, a situation it's up to the county assessor to correct.

Examples documented here include a 133 acre vacant lot across from Mill Creek Elementary School and the Stan Kroenke estate on Nifong Road. Purchased by Mr. Kroenke for around $2 million dollars in 1998, and stubbed in with gas, power, sewer, water, a fire hydrant and cable lines, the land is worth only $40,000.00 today, according to assessor Schauwecker. As a result, Kroenke paid $275.04 in property taxes in 2007 and even less in previous years.

Other examples include 18 acres of residentially-zoned land in the middle of Thornbrook owned by the Sapp family that produced a whopping $51.00 in property taxes last year; and the last undeveloped parcel at Broadway Bluffs. 

Listed For Sale as prime commercial land for $1.2 million but appraised by the assessor for $186,000, the commercially-zoned, in-development lot netted Boone County's roads, schools, libraries, and public safety $1,307.35 -- a $21,766.76 "developer discount" over what the land would have brought if it were assessed as the law says: at fair market value.

The problem of so-called "undervalue favoritism" isn't unique to Boone County. The West Platte (Mo) School District has been fighting with Platte County assessor Lisa Pope over the huge discount she has granted the nearby Iatan Power Plant.

Skala

At a September 2008 Board of Education meeting, board president Bill Taylor "called out" Pope for what he called "an arbitrary decision by the assessor to discount taxes on property at the Iatan power plant," the Platte County Citizen newspaper reported.

A precedent setting 2004 tax case saw Jasper County (Mo) assessor Don Davis fighting developer Northtown Village Properties all the way to the Missouri State Tax Commission. 

Northtown was trying to claim the farmland assessment rate for land in a residential subdivision. Jasper's deputy assessor Karen Wright "testified that she had physically inspected the subject subdivision on two occasions and had not detected any type of agricultural activity during her inspections," the case read.

After several appeals, Northtown lost the case. 


FOLLOW UP: Mr. Schauwecker has steadfastly declined to meet with the Columbia City Council as a group, instead insisting on one-to-one meetings in his office.  Council members, wanting a public hearing, have so far declined.

RELATED:

http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2008/07/assessor-shocker-millionaire-tax-breaks.html

http://www.plattecountycitizen.com/PDF/9-24-08_News_Articles.pdf

http://oa.mo.gov/stc/2004/Northtown%20Village%20v.%20Davis.htm

JEFF SMITH'S $739 DUPLEX: Bail Out -- or Bailing Out , on Boone County Schools?

Jeff Smith

A hugely-wealthy developer stays that way with your tax dollars and your government's help

 

Into our ongoing series on huge property tax breaks for some of our wealthiest citizens with "squeaky tight" budgets for everyone else wanders the Incredible Duplex of Jeffrey E. Smith, one of the nation's largest taxpayer-subsidized developers.

 

Situated on a 4.5 acre lot on Columbia's Glenover Court in a Smith development called Hanover Gardens -- built with some $800,000 in taxpayer-funded subsidies -- the four-bedroom, four-bath investment property features 2,373 square feet. 

 

Built in 1999, the duplex is appraised for $739.00 -- that's right, seven hundred and thirty nine dollars -- by Boone County assessor Tom Schauwecker (d), who has its 4.5 acre lot appraised for $45,299.00.

 

Last I looked, even the smallest, the most run-down duplex in town was selling for just under $100,000, with newer, larger duplexes soaring toward $200K.

 

Surely Smith -- who has a Mizzou real estate institute named for him -- will be an avid supporter of Columbia Public Schools next property tax levy.    

 

At $0.45 per $100 of assessed valuation, say, he will pay about three extra dollars for his $739.00 duplex!

 

RELATED:

http://www.showmeboone.com/ASSESSOR/RealEstateSummary.Asp?PARCEL=1720900060020001

 

 

OUTLANDISH UPDATE:  12/24/08

 

ASSESSOR ERROR?  Schauwecker Boosts "$739 Duplex"

 

Without much sunshine or fanfare, Boone County Assessor Tom Schauwecker has quietly increased the ridiculously low appraised value of a 1999, 4 bedroom, 4 bath, 2,373 sq. ft. duplex at 1605-07 Glenover Court owned by real estate baron Jeffrey Smith -- from $739.00 to $33,479.

 

Schauwecker

(We reported Schauwecker's original $739 appraisal on October 2. Google "17-209-00-06-002.00 01" for a comparison).

 

So as not to increase Mr. Smith's property taxes, Schauwecker lowered the value of the 4.5 acre parcel the duplex sits on -- from $44,560.00 to $11,820.

 

All seven duplexes in Smith's Glenover/Hanover subdivision are appraised at the same price: $45,299.00, despite that 1605-07 Glenover Court sits on a lot many times larger than its neighbors.  Four more duplexes, on nearby Cocoa Ct., come in at between $38,710  to $45,299.00, values lower than most 90-year-old central city 2-bedroom, 1-bath homes command.

 

And the school district needs a property tax increase? Guess it's easier to get from us than the real estate barons. (And many thanks to the readers who alerted us).

 

RELATED:

http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com/2008/10/739-duplex-bail-out-or-bailing-out-on.html
http://board.columbiatribune.com/index.php?showtopic=6456&st=40&p=75155&#entry75155

PHYLLIS CHASE: Boffo Developer Tax Breaks Prompt Final Request

Chase

COLUMBIA, Aug. 8 (Beat Byte) -- A Columbia Heart Beat story about huge property tax breaks for well-healed land developers prompted former Columbia Public Schools (CPS) superintendent Phyllis Chase to inquire about the issue on August 4th, the day before she announced her retirement.

Parents and patrons of the district had emailed, asking for answers about this easily abused, little-known tax bonanza.

The Columbia Heart Beat reported on an 18.2 acre parcel in Thornbrook, complete w/cul-de-sac and stubbed in utilities that the City of Columbia has zoned for residential single family homes (R1), but which the county assessor calls Farmland (FA). 

The parcel yielded all of $50.86 in 2007 property taxes:

http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/PublicWorks/Documents/Zoning_Maps/zoning_p073.pdf
http://www.showmeboone.com/ASSESSOR/RealEstateSummary.Asp?PARCEL=2010000000060001 

Controversial CrossCreek gets into the act, too. A commercially-zoned 13.9 acre parcel on that site netted only $31.50 in property taxes last year, thanks to its farmland designation:

http://www.showmeboone.com/ASSESSOR/RealEstateSummary.Asp?PARCEL=1740400000050001
http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/PublicWorks/Documents/Zoning_Maps/zoning_p041.pdf

Chase questioned the practice in an email to senior staffers, school board members, and concerned parents.

Apparently under the impression she was quoting from county assessor Tom Schauwecker's official county website, CPS business director Linda Quinley instead quoted from his campaign website, which did not explain why his office is designating parcels all over Boone County as "agricultural" when in fact, they are either zoned commercial or residential, and actively marketed as such; or when the land use has clearly changed.  

Schauwecker's agricultural designations yield a two-fold tax whammy -- a vastly lower appraised value based on "soil grade" instead of market value and the lowest assessment rate permitted by law.

Case in point: three vacant parcels at Broadway Shops on East Broadway.   The City of Columbia has had the parcels zoned CP and O1 (planned commercial and office) since at least May 2003, subsequently engaging in several high-profile zoning battles with the parcels' owners, Forum Development Group:

Schauwecker

http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/PublicWorks/Documents/Zoning_Maps/zoning_p040.pdf
http://columbiatribune.com/2003/may/20030506cale001.asp
http://columbiatribune.com/2005/may/20050517news004.asp

But as of August 18, 2008, Schauwecker's office designated the parcels "Farmland-Vacant" (FV):
 
http://www.showmeboone.com/ASSESSOR/RealEstateSummary.Asp?PARCEL=1740200170090001
http://www.showmeboone.com/ASSESSOR/RealEstateSummary.Asp?PARCEL=1740200170100001
http://www.showmeboone.com/ASSESSOR/RealEstateSummary.Asp?PARCEL=1740200170010001

One parcel, 1.4 acres at the western tip of the development, is presently listed for sale at $1,228,392.00.   The sales ad touts the parcel's diverse possible uses as a planned commercial lot -- retail, office, or restaurant:

http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/MainSite/Listing/Profile/Profile.aspx?LID=14896813&StepID=101&RecentlyViewed=true&ItemIndex=2&PgCxtDir=Down 

Schauwecker has this parcel appraised at a fraction of its apparent market value -- $182,950.00 -- and assessed at the 12% rate for agricultural land: $21,954.00, yielding a 2007 tax bill of only $1,307.35:

http://www.showmeboone.com/ASSESSOR/RealEstateSummary.Asp?PARCEL=1740200170010001

The lower appraised value and the lower assessment rate add up to a significant tax loss.   Valued according to its use, zoning, and sale price -- $1,228,392.00 -- and assessed at the 32% rate for commercial property, the parcel would have generated $23,407.84 -- a whopping $22,100.49 difference.

Though Forum sounds like Farm if you say it fast enough, Forum Development Group isn't planting corn on Broadway Bluffs.

BEAT Bit: 'Twas the Night Before Voting, A Columbia Tale in 4.5 Acts

PROLOGUE: OUR STORY BEGINS

Twas' the night before voting when all through the house, not a creature was stirring...except those who grouse.

And grousing they were! "Our allowance is only going up $175,000.00?"

"Yup. And we need to give exactly a hundred grand back -- to Paquin Towers and the Pool."

"That Mr. Bill is sure a crafty fellow."

(Those are some of our heroes speaking -- members of the Columbia City Council, talking about their "discretionary fund.")

"How much does that leave?"

Councilman Karl ran the numbers. "I come up with $75,000.00. That's exactly what we had before!"

"That Mr. Bill -- he's sure a crafty fella."


CHAPTER THE FIRST: "SQUEAKY" TIGHT BUDGETS

A week later a list came in -- citizens beseeching the council for money on all manner of worthy projects. There was a proposal for affordable housing. And the school board wanted a first-ever early childhood education center. And of course, everyone wanted land for conservation. Councilman Karl wanted a bird-watching park. And Mayor Darwin -- well, he just wanted a park.

"Wait!" Councilman Paul said. He knew how to start big, cool projects on "squeaky" tight budgets. "Didn't I just read...YES! There's really cheap land all around Columbia. You just have to know where to look."


CHAPTER THE SECOND: BIKE, WALK, AND WHEEL

Councilman Paul rounded up a documentary film crew and our heroes biked, walked, and wheeled all around town. First stop -- an enormous lot right across from Mill Creek Elementary. They arrived on Sinclair Rd. and peered at all the weeds -- and trees.

"See -- it says right here!" Councilman Paul exclaimed. "133 acres, worth only $40,030.00!"
http://www.showmeboone.com/ASSESSOR/RealEstateSummary.Asp?PARCEL=1680000000020001

Everybody took a look. Yes, it was true. "My car is worth more than that!" someone said.

"Maybe this is farmland," Councilman Chris said. "Maybe that's why it's so cheap."

"Let's check it out," Councilwoman Laura said. "If it looks good, let's make an offer!"

They biked, walked, and wheeled around the lot, on Sinclair Road and the brand new sidewalk on Nifong. They saw a cable box and some new gas line outlets. They saw flags marking water lines, and a new sewer line outlet against the trees.

"Doesn't look like a farm to me," Councilwoman Barb said. "It just looks like a big, overgrown lot...about to become a subdivision."

"Look at this!" Mayor Darwin said, pointing to the street corner. "A fire hydrant, but not a building in sight."

"Yet!" they exclaimed all at once.

Just then, a woman from the school district rode by on her bike with a dog. The dog relieved itself on the fire hydrant and the woman slowly rode away.

"I'm calling Trib Talk!" Councilman Jerry said. "It really fries me when people do that, on a city hydrant no less!"

Our heroes biked, walked, and wheeled all around town. They found an inexpensive site for affordable housing -- 18.2 acres right in the heart of Thornbrook, complete with cul-de-sac, appraised for just $7,010.00:
http://www.showmeboone.com/ASSESSOR/RealEstateSummary.Asp?PARCEL=2010000000060001

For that new early childhood education center, they found 77 acres, for the low, low price of $12,090.00!
http://www.showmeboone.com/ASSESSOR/RealEstateSummary.Asp?PARCEL=1620300000010001

And for a roadside park, they found nearly an acre for just $370.00, on the corner of Nifong and State Farm Parkway:
http://www.showmeboone.com/ASSESSOR/RealEstateSummary.Asp?PARCEL=1691200000060001

There was an old, drooping sign near the road by the lot. "Vote YES on the School Tax!" it screamed.

Councilman Karl ran the numbers. "You're not gonna believe this," he told the other councilmembers. "After we buy all this land, we'll still have $16,000.00 left!"

"For art!" they exclaimed all at once.


CHAPTER THE THIRD: OUR HEROES MAKE OFFERS

At first, Stan Krankee, who owned the biggest lot, didn't wanna deal.

"I paid $2 million for that land 10 years ago!" he yelped. "That's my retirement! See!"
http://www.showmeboone.com/RECORDER/iRecordClient/REALSummary.aspx?INSTRUMENT_PK=19980012942

Councilwoman Laura wasn't buying it. "Are you farming that land, Mr. Krankee?"

"Farming? Well, er, uh....I guess you could call it that."

"Didn't you tell Assessor Tom you'd sell your property for forty thousand dollars?" Councilwoman Barb asked. "That's what he always says is the fairest way."

"Forty thousand? Well, er, uh....He does know the job, ya know!"

And though it went like this time and again, all over town you could hear the big developers yell: they had no choice at all but to sell, sell, sell.


CHAPTER THE LAST: PERCENT FOR ART

When word broke that Boone County developers were selling land for low, low prices, happy faces blossomed all around. Non-profit organizations, conservationists, working farmers, cities and school districts all over the county suddenly found themselves flush with land -- and cash.

"Squeaky tight budgets" finally loosened up, and the new assessor made sure everyone paid their fair share, being sure to point out the value of good corporate citizenship during tough economic times.

At the 2009 True/False Film Festival, the indie film "Really Green Acres" debuted. It won several awards, and at the very end, even caused a few ladies to choke up.

There they all were, every school board in Boone County, and every city council, from Hartsburg to Harrisburg. All the mayors and commissioners and even a few developers.

Teachers and students, professors and bankers. Phat Guys and thin guys and Stan Krankee, beaming.

Realtors and business owners. Farmers and preachers. Black and white. Stamper and Midkiff. Dems and Reps and Libertarians, too.

The entire rainbow of the Boone County experience, all standing for an enormous photograph, arm in arm, and smiling.

Over their heads hung a huge handcrafted sign naming Missouri's largest city conservation area -- right across from Mill Creek Elementary -- a place every birdwatcher in America was crowing about and every Columbia child wanted to see.

"Karls Darwin Park," the sign read, complete with bronzed photographers vest, sculpted by Hartsburg metal artist Don Asbee. Everyone said "cheese" and a big flash bulb went off for effect.

"We still have a thousand dollars left!" Councilman Jerry proudly announced. "Lunch, my friends, is on us."

THE END

The Real Story