SEPTEMBER 5, 2012 WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
NEWSMAGAZINENETWORK.COM
I NEWS I 19
St. Louis County, Harrah’s battle over casino’s worth $439 million. Harrah’s appealed the personal property valuation to the Board of Equalization and was granted a value reduction of $287 million. However, in May, Caesars, who owns Harrah’s, announced that it had entered into an agreement with Penn National Gaming, Inc., owners of Argosy Casino Alton, to sell the Maryland Heights casino for $610 million, prompting the assessor’s adjustment. “That certainly provides strong evidence that we were probably right all along,” Zimmerman said. “Once you back out some of the business value that’s not related to the property of a $600 million sale, $500 million looks pretty accurate to being the actual value.” Dan Peters, of Herzog Crebs LLP, Harrah’s’ lead attorney, disagrees and said By SARAH WILSON sought and received a reduction from the St. Zimmerman is “going after businesses in Harrah’s Casino and St. Louis County Louis County Board of Equalization. St. Louis County and has dramatically gone are butting heads once again. The appraisal would increase the casino’s off course for how appraisals and assessJake Zimmerman, St. Louis County property tax from $6.2 million to $14.3 million. ments have been handled by any assessor.” assessor, announced in June that Harrah’s’ “We just raised it back to the number we “In 2011, he argued that he was using an personal property value this year is $439 had it at last year,” Zimmerman said. “Last income approach, and this year he’s argumillion, up $152 million from last year, year, we commissioned help from an outside ing its because of the sale of the property,” which would bring its total appraised value appraiser, who told us the casino was worth Peters said. “With all the risk that an entreto $502.4 million for its combined real and about $500 million. The casino fought us preneur puts into a business, whether it’s a personal property. tooth and nail and argued that we were restaurant or plumbing company, … there The appraised value amount is identical to wrong and being terribly unfair to them.” are certain things they have to do to see if Zimmerman’s appraised value for the propThe assessor appraised Harrah’s’ real prop- they can ever start the business with risking erty in 2011, but that was before Harrah’s erty at $62 million and personal property at hiring employees, dealing with cash flow
and line of credit, and all of those different things. … What he’s really doing is going after the business value of the property, which the law does not support.” Zimmerman said Peters does not understand basic concepts of property assessment. “Property is assessed based on its value in commerce,” Zimmerman said. “Property is assessed based on what you can sell it for on the open market. When they sell this casino, Harrah’s is going to leave town and somebody else will reopen this casino under a new name. What they’re selling is property that can be operated as a casino and that’s where it is value-wise. “If that argument were to prevail, it would be highly unfair to everyone else in St. Louis County whose property is directly assessed based on what it sells for.” The two entities have already gone in front of the Board of Equalization, which is set to make its decision sometime in September. Zimmerman and Peters both said they are confident that the Board will do the right thing. “The Board of Equalization is an independent entity, and I’m confident that they’ll do the right thing,” Zimmerman said. “The bottom line is we have a piece of information we didn’t have last year: the hypothetical sale value of the casino.”
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