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Show Property taxes less for Lagoon FARMINGTON A $4 million reduction in assessed value of Lagoon could cost Farmington between $ 1 0,000 and $13,000 every year in property taxes, city officials reported last week. Lagoon has been appealing its valuation for several years. The figure fig-ure was reduced from $14 million in 1987 to $12 million in 1989, and has been further reduced this year to $8 million. Mayor Robert Arbuckle expressed express-ed puzzlement over the reduced value in light of recent multimillion dollar improvements to the park such as the Lagoon-A-B each water park. Arbuckle and members of the city council also expressed displeasure that the city as Lagoon's taxing entity was not notified and questioned Lagoon's timing in the matter when they were asking the city for a vacation of Lagoon Lane. Davis County Assessor Willard Gardner said the new valuation is based on income, which he said is a more reliable indicator of a business' busi-ness' value than market or property value. "You can build a very expensive park and it still won't be worth much if there isn't a lot of income coming in," Gardner said. Gardner said Lagoon had an valuation of the park done by an outside appraiser who had experience experi-ence assessing the value of amusement amuse-ment parks throughout the nation. The result was a lower evaluation, he said. Lagoon, state tax officials, the Davis County Assessor's Office and the Davis County Board of Equalization then met to reach a compromise between the existing valuation and the lower figure suggested sug-gested by the outside appraiser. "All indications were that the outside appraiser's valuation was accurate," Gardner said. |