Borough agrees to compromise with Rite Aid on property assessment appeal
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Rite Aid in Shenandoah on Sept. 16, 2020.
SHENANDOAH – A national pharmacy chain in downtown Shenandoah may get a slight property tax break soon, if the school district and county agree to the compromise approved by borough council.
Council approved Monday night a stipulation with Shenandoah RX Assoc., LLC, the holding company owned by Rite Aid Corporation for its downtown Shenandoah store.
Late last year, the corporation filed a tax assessment appeal with the Board of Assessment Appeals, who did not change the assessment after a hearing last September.
Rite Aid appealed to Schuylkill County Court in October.
Solicitor James Amato said the compromise would set the store’s fair market value at $2.8 Million, an increase from $2.2 Million. The assessed value, however, will fall from $915,000 to $746,000 due to a recent change in how the assessed value is calculated, Amato said.
“Overall, it will be a slight decrease in taxes for Rite Aid. All-in-all, we have an agreement, we avoid litigation, we avoid the uncertainty of bringing it before the court, that the court rules against us, and we avoid the fact that we won’t be able to get a commercial appraisal that values the property over this amount that we’ve agreed to.”
Had the store’s fair market value remained at $2.2 Million, the assessed value would have dropped to $575,000, Amato said.
The Rite Aid store was built around 2000 after a fire leveled most of the unit block of South Main Street in the late 1990s. The store was extensively renovated over the past several years.
Shenandoah Valley and Schuylkill County still have to approve the compromise.
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