May 5, 2013

Wilder Owed Apology — And Maybe $?
By Joey Matthews

douglas wilder2

Former Va. Governor L. Douglas Wilder

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Richmond Free Press

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - An attorney representing former Virginia Gov. L.Douglas Wilder in the National Slavery Museum case said the city of Fredericksburg owes the former governor an apology and perhaps some money as well. 

Attorney Joe Morrissey told the Free Press on Wednesday he would make that argument in a response that was due this May 6, in Fredericksburg Circuit Court.

Judge Gordon Willis had set the May 6 deadline for the National Slavery Museum to respond to the city of Fredericksburg’s request to sell the museum’s property. Wilder, who became the nation's first elected Black governor in 1990, later became mayor of the City of Richmond.

The city now claims Wilder owes about $300,000 in unpaid real estate taxes on the 38 acres of land where the never-built museum was planned. The tax bill is based on the city’s valuation of the property at $7.6 million. Morrissey said the city’s valuation is way off based on a recent appraisal by Independent Appraisers and Consultants LLC of Richmond, which did the appraisal for the museum and valued the land at $750,000.

Morrissey said he will argue that the city knows it has overvalued the property based on the report from Taxing Authority Consulting Services, which is representing the city in the case. That company hired an independent appraiser that valued the land at $1.7 million, about 80 percent less than the city’s $7.6 million assessment, Morrissey said.

He will argue the amount owed by Wilder should be based on the appraisals of $750,000 and $1.7 million. “Gov. Wilder has already paid $28,000 (on the museum’s behalf) to the city based on an erroneous assessment,” Morrissey said. “By the time you add in that amount and the interest that has accrued over the five-year period that it was paid, it wouldn’t surprise me if” the museum is owed a refund. Morrissey said the National Slavery Museum and Mr. Wilder “have been kicked around over the last two years for this tax matter, and he has remained stoic and taken the high road.

What irks me is they still have not apologized for what they have done.” The attack on the city’s property valuation and tax bill is just another stalling tactic by the museum, claims John Rife of Taxing Authority Consulting Services. He is hoping the judge will allow the sale to proceed before August, when the museum could again file for bankruptcy. In 2011, the city began the process of selling the 38 acres to recoup the museum’s delinquent real estate taxes.

That attempt stalled when the museum filed for bankruptcy protection in September 2011 to stave off the tax sale. The museum withdrew the bankruptcy last August and pledged to pay the back taxes, which it has not done. Judge Willis is to hear the city’s latest sale request on Tuesday, May 28, in Fredericksburg.