The Wethersfield Board of Education will file a request to intervene in a hearing before the Henry County Board of Review to determine if the Equalized Assessed Value, or EAV, of two properties formerly owned by Petersen Health Care within the school district should be lowered.
The complaint has been filed by Skidelsky & Assoc., a Chicago law firm representing the new owners of Courtyard Village and Betty’s Garden, two of four Petersen properties in Kewanee acquired last summer by Cascade Capital Partners, a Skokie-cased health care real estate investment firm.
Cascade also acquired Kewanee Care and Royal Oaks nursing homes but their assessment values are not being challenged. Cascade purchased all four properties last summer after Petersen Health Care filed for bankruptcy.
Only the assessed value of Courtyard Village, a retirement and assisted living center, now called The Villas, and Betty’s Garden, a specialized memory care facility now called Gardens at Kewanee, are challenged in the complaint. All four properties are now managed by Arcadia Healthcare. Kewanee Care is now Arcadia Care at Kewanee. Royal Oaks is now Avenues at Royal Oaks.
A fifth Petersen property in Kewanee, Courtyard Estates, described as a senior living community, was purchased by another firm in the federal bankruptcy proceedings,
Wethersfield Superintendent Dr. Andrew Brooks told the school board at its January meeting that the hearing before the Board of Review is set for Jan. 22 at the courthouse in Cambridge.
He said the City of Kewanee, the Kewanee Park District and the Kewanee Airport Authority, who, in addition to the school district, also receive tax revenues from property in Wethersfield Township, where the EAV of the two properties are located, may also request to intervene.
According to documents provided to the school district by Cascade’s attorney, the new owners are seeking to have the current values of the properties lowered to the amounts paid when they were purchased, which was about three times less than current assessment values in both cases. Dr. Brooks said lowering the EAV by that much would cost the school district about $40,000 a year in property tax revenue.
According to its website, the Henry County Board of Review consists of three citizens appointed by the chairman of the county board, with approval of the county board. The Board of Review determines whether the Township Assessor and County Assessor have calculated assessed values correctly.
Property owners and local taxing districts may appeal unfair assessments to the Henry County Board of Review. If the owner is dissatisfied with the board’s decision, they can appeal the decision to the State Property Tax Appeal Board within 30 days of a written decision.
