Farm to subdivision and back again: Landowner gets huge tax break

By Charles Sowell  

AUGUST 25, 2011 9:23 a.m. (0)

Using a little known provision in the state tax code, Hollywild Zoo and amusement park owner David Meeks was able to slash his property tax bill from more than $14,489 to around $720 at his stalled Manzanares subdivision near Wellford.

According to figures from  Spartanburg County Tax Assessor Guliford Bulman, Meeks had been taxed at $159.23 per lot on 91 parcels based on an already discounted assessment value of $6,700 per lot. With the additional agricultural status granted by the tax appeals board, the bill comes to $7.92 per lot.

Property of individual homeowners would have been assessed at $30,000 per lot and would face a $712.98 per lot tax annually, Bulman said.

Bulman said the tax board action reclassifying Manzanares is the first use of the agricultural exemption that he’s encountered in his more than 30 years with Spartanburg County.

Officials with the Greenville County Assessors Office said they don’t recall the provision in the law ever being used there.

Meeks  said his appeal to the tax board was based on state law giving huge rollbacks on taxation for traditional agricultural land that fails to make the transition to higher uses.

“Everything we did was well within the law,” he said. “Long before I tried to develop Manzanares that land was an apple orchard. In fact, Manzanares means apple orchard.”

He paid the $14,489 tax bill for two years before requesting the reduction.

The subdivision’s infrastructure was accepted into the county’s system in 2007, said Joan Holiday, director of planning for the county.

“Manzanares had 89 lots on 70.2 acres with 1.26 miles of paved streets (complete with infrastructure like curbs and drainage). They were only able to sell one home site before the recession hit,” Holliday said.

That one lot went to Edward Arida and his wife Virginia, who moved in after leaving the Denver area to retire in August 2007.

“We love living here,” Arida said. “It’s quiet and we certainly don’t have to deal with neighbors.”

Arida said his annual tax bill on the $208,000 property at 811 W. Keepsake Lane, Lyman, runs about $800 per year. He bought the property with the house included.

“I get all the exemptions that you have here for retired people,” he said. “So the tax bite is actually quite mild.

Meeks uses the empty lots to produce hay for the animals at Hollywild. He drives his hay bailers and other heavy equipment in to work on 1.2 miles of subdivision streets that are lined with streetlights, curbs and storm runoff drains.

“It really makes it easy to get the heavy equipment in there,” he said.

Bulman said his office rejected Meeks’ appeal for agricultural status earlier this year.

“Meeks filed an appeal with the tax board, which is his right, and the board agreed with his position.”

Councilman Roger Nutt said he had no problem with the board’s vote on the Meeks property.

“We appoint these people to make tough decisions based on the law and it sounds to me like that’s just what they did,” Nutt said.

Councilman David Britt said council asked the assessor last year about a reappraisal of property values within the county in light of the collapse of the real estate industry.

“But we were told that we really could not do that,” Britt said.

Reassessments are controlled by state law and can only be done every five years, he said.

“I believe there is a real sentiment on council that we need to bring property tax rates into line with the actual value of property. If that means we have to cut services, then we’ll just cut services.”

Glenn Gowan, chairman of the tax appeals board, said Meeks presented his case and the law was on his side.

“I don’t remember the exact vote right now,” he said. “But there were only a few dissenting votes.”

The nine-member tax appeals board is made up of representatives from each of the county’s school districts with three members appointed on an at-large basis, Gowan said.

Gowan wasn’t sure of the occupations of most board members but the three at-large members are employed in real estate, or related businesses, he said.

Gowan owns a real estate appraisal company in Spartanburg.

The Manzanares decision may well open a floodgate of similar assessment appeals, Gowan acknowledged.

“But the law is pretty specific about when you can do this kind of thing. The land has to have a history of agricultural usage, for one thing, and Meeks was able to demonstrate that.”

Holiday said Spartanburg County’s development bubble popped along with the rest of the nation and after bottoming out in 2009 things have been bumping along at about the same level since.

Bulman said the state’s real estate tax code creates many inequities.

“So long as you have people and taxes folks will be figuring out ways to legally beat the system,” he said.

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