State decision made on Silver Mountain Resort value

By CHANSE WATSON

Managing Editor

WALLACE — It was clear that when the new owners of Silver Mountain Resort made an appeal to the state regarding their property’s county assessed value, at least one local entity was going to be unhappy with the result. Announced on May 1, the Idaho Board of Tax Appeals concluded that the disputed resort properties in total are worth $6,310,000 — far south of what the Shoshone County Assessor appraised them at in 2017.

The dispute over Silver Mountain’s value began right after the resort was sold by longtime owners, Jeld-Wen Holdings Inc., in October 2016 to its current owner, Kenmore, Wash., businessman and Eclectic, LLC manager, Tryg Fortun.

According to a federal Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Fortun picked up the property for $5 million. Contrary to the sale price though, the Shoshone County Assessor argues that the resort is worth approximately $22 million.

These two very different values would set two very different tax rates for the resort owners to pay.

Fortun appealed the County Assessor’s appraised value on July 10, 2017, essentially asking the county to lower the value of the property to what he initially paid for it. Other than a few select parcels of land where an agreement was made, the Shoshone County Board of Equalization decided to uphold their assessed appraised value on the resorts main properties. These properties include the Ski Resort, Silver Rapid Water Park, Galena Ridge Golf Course, Shoshone House Apartments, Morning Star Lodge, two condominium units in Morning Star Lodge, a commercial lot on Wildcat Way and some other vacant land.

Following the SCBOE decision, Fortun and Silver Mountain then made an appeal to the state — which is where they are now.

The decision handed down by the Board of Tax Appeals certainly bodes well for the property owners.

“We’re happy with it,” Silver Mountain General manager Jeff Colburn said. “They came closer to our number than the county’s number, so it’s a positive for us.”

If the state assessment holds, Silver Mountain will have a bit more money in the bank to spend on the resort.

“We’ve got a lot of things in the works. We’re working on some master plans and trying to get the big picture put together,” Colburn added. “In order to grow a business, you have to spend money and we’re trying to figure out where we want to spend it and how to make this thing grow and have the Valley grow at the same time.”

Back in July 2017 at the county appeal meeting, Fortun echoed Colburn’s point that the money Silver Mountain would save in taxes would help expand and maintain the resort. This in turn would be a positive for the community and its growth.

“There’s many things that we can do to create a better experience for everyone that comes to Silver,” he said. “Better skiing experience, better restaurant experience, better lodging experience, better golfing experience. We need to get to a point where we have that better skier experience (so) more people come, and those more people will allow store fronts in Kellogg to reopen again.”

Speaking about what can be done to bring more people to town, he added, “I think an integral part of that is what happens at Silver. We need to have a better experience so we have more people there, we can pay our employees better, and I think the economy of Kellogg will be greatly impacted.”

Shoshone County and city of Kellogg officials though see the Board of Tax Appeals’ decision much differently.

SCBOE believes that the decrease in the tax revenue from Silver Mountain will negatively affect the services that Shoshone County, the city of Kellogg and the various districts (i.e., fire, water, sewer, etc.) provide to residents.

“Tax appeals involving large differences of opinion in value are significant,” County Commissioner Mike Fitzgerald said in a previous interview. “Appeal decisions impact revenue that is vital to the county and the local municipalities — in this case, the city of Kellogg.”

Speaking of Kellogg, mayor Mac Pooler was not surprised that the state’s assessment was less than the county’s, but what he didn’t expect was it going down as far as it did.

“We were hoping to get into the $10-15 million range,” Pooler said. “The figure of $6 million is definitely going to be a bigger loss.”

Officials with the city of Kellogg could not provided an exact amount of tax money that they will miss out on with the new value.

While Jeld-Wen owned the property, the company paid taxes on the county appraised value of approximately $22 million and never appealed the decision.

The Shoshone County Board of Commissioners held a special session on Thursday to discuss what their next move should be. The county can decide to either accept the state ruling, or appeal it and take the issue to court.

Although he cannot divulge what was said in the special session meeting, Fitzgerald stated that “the BOCC is currently reviewing the ‘Decision and Order’ and the options for appeals. Once everything has been analyzed fully, the BOCC will choose a path that is in the best interest of our community.”

The county has until May 10 to decide if they want to appeal or not.

Mayor Pooler holds no animosity toward Silver Mountain or the ownership for their stance, but is in favor of appealing the decision.

“It’s a business move on his (Fortun’s) part, and my part is to look out for the city of Kellogg,” he said. “They’re doing what they think is right, but that’s a pretty big hit to the tax base.”

The Shoshone News-Press will continue to follow this story as it develops. For more background information, check out our first story on this topic, titled “Silver Mountain Resort appeals assessed property value,” on shoshonenewspress.com.