by peter e. bortner
A Schuylkill County judge has reduced the fair market and assessed values of a Butler Township golf course.
In a two-page opinion filed Friday, Judge John E. Domalakes ruled that Rolling Meadows Golf Course, Mowry, has a total fair market and assessed values of $557,689 and $268,338, respectively.
Domalakes' ruling means lower real estate tax bills for Rolling Meadows Golf Course LLC, Ashland, the owner of the property, and lower tax receipts for the county, township and North Schuylkill School District.
The 90.7-acre property off Rolling Meadows and Stein roads is divided into four parcels for tax purposes.
Domalakes' ruling left intact the values of three of the four parcels, since the owner withdrew its appeals with respect to those three. However, the judge reduced the fair market value of largest of the parcels, which includes 79.3 acres of the total, to $389,129 from $713,780.
Rolling Meadows has asked the court on Oct. 21, 2011, to overturn the county Board of Assessment Appeals' Oct. 10 decision refusing to reduce the property's $882,340 and $441,170 fair market and assessed values.
It said it had bought the entire property on Feb. 14, 2011, for $380,000, and the board's decision improperly failed to consider that purchase price.
In his ruling, Domalakes accepted as credible the appraisal of the property by Frank Gownley, a certified real estate appraiser with the Gownley Appraisal Group, Pottsville, and based his findings on it.
"The Court finds credible (Gownley's) valuations," Domalakes wrote.
