Waukesha, Kohl's settle lawsuit on store tax assessments

June 08, 2012

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By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel

June 08, 2012 0

Waukesha - The Common Council agreed Thursday night to settle a lawsuit filed by Kohl's Department Stores Inc. challenging the city's 2009 and 2010 property assessments on its store at Fox Run Shopping Center. The settlement lowers the store's property value about 11%.

As a result, the city will refund a share of the taxes paid, plus interest, Assistant City Attorney Julie Gay said.

The city's initial assessment put the store's value at $7.9 million in both years. Kohl's lawsuit claimed the value was no greater than $5.5 million in each year.

According to the settlement, the new value was set 10.8% lower for 2009, at $7,076,000, and 11.7% lower for 2010, at $6,999,933.

Kohl's had paid about $160,000 in property taxes on the initial assessments in each year and was seeking a combined refund of about $98,700, plus interest. The final refund amount is about $36,000 plus interest, city officials said Friday.

In a prepared statement to the council, City Assessor Paul Klauck said: "While we feel we have a good case, you never know what will happen in court. The agreed upon assessments are well above the midpoints and I believe are a fair compromise."

Meanwhile, in May Kohl's filed a new lawsuit on its 2011 property assessment after the city denied its claim of an excessive assessment. Gay said the agreement that settles the 2009 and 2010 property values also stipulates that neither party can use that assessment compromise as a basis in the 2012 case.

"We certainly hope to be talking about the 2012 suit in the short term," she said.

About Laurel Walker

Laurel Walker covered local, school and county government for 20 years -- the last half of that at the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- before she was named Waukesha County columnist in 1997. Today she writes about the people, places and events around metropolitan Milwaukee with a broad suburban focus. She was the youngest of nine children raised on a central Wisconsin farm before leaving the nest for journalism studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a masters degree at the University of Oregon. She has spent the last half of her life in Waukesha County, where she and her husband raised two sons. Though she has a fondness for life in Waukesha, she eagerly partakes in the culture of the big city to the east and the recreation of the forests to the west. With sons in the arts, she has a special fondness for symphonic music concerts and art museums. She finds peace in a good book at a Northwoods getaway weekend, adventure in family visits to the east and west coasts, and satisfaction in a column well-written that reaches readers.