Business
Rep. Moyle Wants Appraisals On Land Purchases
May 4, 2015 
Rep. Mike Moyle of Star told the GUARDIAN Monday he has asked the office of Attorney General to write a “repair” of the Idaho Code to prevent future land purchases without an independent appraisal.
He noted that nothing could be done about the current College of Western Idaho scandal over paying more than twice the tax-appraised value of 10 acres along the Boise River at 30th and Main. CWI paid $8.8 million for a site valued at $3.6 million by Ada County.
“Just a few words will take care of the issue and force appraisals for future land purchases. It’s just WRONG to have almost $10 million laying around and not get an appraisal to buy land said Moyle.” Republican Moyle is House majority leader.
For the legal beagles, the fix would be along these lines:
The problem can be resolved by a simple word change in Idaho Code § 33-2107 (5) by inserting the following words at the beginning of that subsection: “to acquire and hold, and.” This would bring subsection 5 into conformance with subsection 3 of § 33-2107. By this means, the school district restrictions of Idaho Code § 33-601 (3) would apply that require an appraisal.
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Comments & Discussion
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May 4, 2015, 8:13 pm
“He noted that nothing could be done about the current College of Western Idaho scandal over paying more than twice the tax-appraised value of 10 acres along the Boise River at 30th and Main. CWI paid $8.8 million for a site valued at $3.6 million by Ada County.”
What? Maybe he needs to read The Boise Guardian! Yes, something CAN be done. CWI can cancel the sale right now.
The VOTE NO on the bond efforts are going to be kicking into gear soon.
EDITOR NOTE–We assume he was talking about fixing the defect in the law.
May 5, 2015, 8:00 am
There is a way out of this CWI mess, CWI has an exit clause in the contract they can exercise.
CWI is in due diligence, during that due diligence they discovered the value of the property was about half what the good Rice family was selling it to them for. Seems like a valid discovery to to warrant negotiating a better price or not closing on the deal.
Also, other comments have mentioned there is a 180 day at will exit clause, that could be exercised as well.
May 5, 2015, 9:01 am
What about the defect in the Urban Renewal District laws which allow a tax exempt entity to gobble up land in the district effectively rendering the district impotent.
Seriously, what if another tax exempt entity ends up owning the SE corner of 30th and Main and then the lot at 25th and Fairview, the baseball park lot?
Dear readers; put aside your disdain for URDs for the moment and contact CWI management and tell them to find another property.
I thought the whole point of CWI was to have a campus on the west side of the metro area. I can see having 2 colleges downtown but that leaves the western Boise metro are still lacking in higher educational opportunities.
The State needs to step in. And rewording for appraisals is like putting a bandaid on a severed limb. Flesh wound indeed.
EDITOR NOTE–Cynic, the current issue with Auditorium District is abuse of URA…they will build a tax-exempt property within URA which will never pay taxes. Nampa did it with police, library building. FYI, I was told Boise City made offer to sell the 2900 Fairview parcel of nearly 10 acres for half the $8.8 million and there was “no interest.” The source refused to go public.
May 5, 2015, 2:06 pm
Let’s quit beating around the bush. Anyone who overlooks the potential of graft in a deal that involves public expenditure of twice appraised value is simply polyannish.
Unless this sale is voided or the price is reduced to appraised value I will vocally oppose any bond issue for CWI.
May 5, 2015, 6:27 pm
@idaholc
I am with you, CWI admitted this is a mistake, they have an exit clause in the contract, if they do not take it, there is an enormous loss of trust and goodwill and a belief their admission of a mistake to be a smokescreen to persuade the public to move on. If indeed there is regret and a mistalke, and a path to correct it, you take corrective action.
CWI, where do you stand on this???? What are you doing to correct this problem?
May 7, 2015, 8:58 pm
After reading this news story two things stand out to me. First as a professional both in the insurance and real estate market I’ve come to not lean to heavily on the county assessors office for market value of property. There is a difference.- The second thing that stands out is according to the CWI website, at least one of the members on the board of trustees had experience in real estate. The description read that that trustee was a former CEO of the Idaho Association of Realtors. Therefore its even more surprising that there wasn’t more fiduciary prudence practiced in this purchase. And if there was ,it would be a good time for the board of trustee to show their method on determining the price offered.
May 7, 2015, 9:25 pm
Thank you Stephanie for ringing a loud and clear bell:
“The description read that that trustee was a former CEO of the Idaho Association of Realtors.”
It was stated in a previous news item that the Ada County Assessment was not checked prior to this agreement. Is there one single person in Idaho who could possibly believe that a current trustee, with that background in Real Estate, would not have brought up checking that assessment? Really? It takes about 2 minutes to find that information.
We are well past the unpleasant smell stage. This deal is developing a genuine stink.
There is no reason at all not to cancel this sale and start over. It must be done now.