St. Johns Town Center LLC went to court on behalf of one of its tenants and secured a ruling that reduced the taxable value of the store’s property by $739,000.
In May, St. Johns Town Center filed a complaint against the Duval County Property Appraiser Jerry Holland, Tax Collector Michael Corrigan and Florida Department of Revenue Executive Director Lon Begalski.
The lawsuit contended that the property occupied by the Nordstrom department store was assessed in 2017 in excess of the just value of the property.
The property was assessed for $9.539 million, yielding a 2017 ad valorem tax bill of $173,908.36.
That bill was paid Nov. 30, four months before the due date - $168,035.02, including the early payment discount.
The complaint states that the dispute was first taken to the Value Adjustment Board of Duval County, but when the property still was unjustly valued, the taxpayer sought relief in the court.
On Nov. 6., the parties entered into a stipulated final judgment signed by Circuit Judge Karen Cole.
Cole directed the property appraiser to revise the 2017 taxable value from $9.539 million to $8.8 million and directed the tax collector to recalculate the amount of taxes due for 2017 and to issue a refund check to St. Johns Town Center.
The revised value lowered the tax bill from $173,908.36 to $160,435.44, based on 18.2313 mills (tax per $1,000 in assessed value), a difference of $13,472.92.
The agreement also specifies that the just, assessed and taxable value for the 2018 property taxes shall be $8.8 million.
The city was represented by Senior Assistant General Counsel Loree French; the state by Assistant Attorney General Randi Dincher; and St. Johns Town Center by Wendy Beck Wolansky of the Miami law firm Rennert Vogel Mandler & Rodriguez.
The detail data on the property appraiser’s website indicates a 2019 assessed value in progress of $9.68 million for the Nordstrom property.