Leland Township, owner at odds over tax bill for massive Lake Leelanau home
They now contend the 23,938-square-foot summer home has a true cash value of
An attorney for
"I think that's a good step toward settling this," Och said.
At issue are property taxes on the home that at nearly
The estate, which shows the
It has mahogany flooring, dual staircases and two elevators, a six-car garage, 12 full bathrooms and eight half baths. There also are servants' quarters, a gatehouse and 960 feet of lake frontage.
Stephenson's
"His valuation is still the largest assessment in
Stephenson's family has vacationed in the
County records show the property was purchased for
The original assessment of the property was done by township assessor
The 2018 taxes were paid in full, but only a partial payment was received in 2019, putting the property in delinquent status, according to
The rest is divvied up between the county, the
If the tax tribunal finds in Stephenson's favor, the property tax will be recalculated and he will be refunded the difference. The refund will be paid from county coffers, with all taxing units then being charged back, including the township, said
"Unless this gets settled there could be very serious consequences for the township," said Leland Township Trustee
The state could take over property assessments if there are abuses by the local assessor, said Borden, who is not running for re-election. If the township loses the case, it could be on the hook for Stephenson's legal fees, he said.
Och said the township is on track to pay about
"We assessed it and we thought we came close to what it cost to acquire the land and build the house," Och said.
Stephenson was sent a notice of his assessment in 2018, as well as information on how to appeal the decision, as are all residents, Och said.
"They did not come to the board of review in 2018," she said. "Since they did not protest their assessment we had to assume they were fine with it and we developed our budgets."
In 2019, however, the assessment was appealed and when the board of review did not agree that the home's value should be lowered, an appeal was filed by the
Several factors and errors have affected the home's being overvalued, according to independent appraisals and a review of the township assessment done by an appraiser/assessor hired by the trust.
A market analysis done by
In fact, the only similar market found by the company is in
"The home is overbuilt for the market,"
A review by
The biggest error, according to VanderVries' report, was in Krombeen's giving the home a Class A+300 designation, which meant the cost of materials used to build the home were adjusted up by 300 percent -- not the 10 percent recommended by the
The error added
A Class A home is one that is architecturally-designed or custom-built and is bigger and more extravagant than other homes, VanderVries said when contacted by the Record-Eagle.
VanderVries, who is also equalization director for
"Our supervisor and our assessor concocted a never-before-used approach to assess this property, and that is not sustainable under
Other errors, the report states, include a 270-square-foot gatehouse that has no plumbing being classified as a single-family home and size miscalculations of areas of the home and the basement living space that add another
Och declined to comment on VanderVries' report. Krombeen did not return a call to the Record-Eagle.
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