For Immediate Release
Friday, February 17, 2012


AGREEMENT REACHED ON NATIONAL LIFE PROPERTY VALUE

National Life Group and the City of Montpelier are pleased to announce that they have reached agreement on the assessed valuation of the company’s buildings and property. In a joint statement, Chris Graff, vice president of corporate communications and government relations at National Life Group, and William Fraser, Montpelier City Manager, said that the tentative agreement was reached on Monday the 13th. The Montpelier City Council is expected to formally approve the agreement at its regular meeting on February 22nd. The new values will be set at $41,094,495 for 2010 and $42,985,795 for 2011 and 2012.

The City and National Life have a long history of mutual respect and have worked cooperatively on many occasions for the community’s benefit. Both parties wished to resolve their dispute fairly and engaged the services of mediator James Spink to assist with the process.

Mr. Graff said, “National Life recognizes it must pay its fair share of property taxes and also respects the City’s obligation to treat all taxpayers fairly, without favor. National Life’s campus is a unique and difficult property to accurately assess. It is not surprising that we and the City had differing opinions of the property’s value.”

Mr. Fraser said, “The City respected National Life’s right to challenge its assessment. The City, however, has an overarching obligation to all taxpayers to ensure that any final value is based on sound reason and appraisal facts.”

The proposed agreement establishes factual criteria for square footage, rental rate, vacancy, building expenses, capitalization rate, cell tower lease values, additional land values and values for improvements made since 2010. The calculation of all agreed upon factors in the appraisal formula results in the final property value.

Mr. Fraser said, “The City feels the value is based on solid facts and is happy to have this issue resolved. We are pleased that we were able work with National Life to achieve a fair result.”

Mr. Graff said, “The process worked. We are happy to settle the dispute to the satisfaction of both parties.”

The numbers:

The City’s 2010 reappraisal established National Life’s property value at $44,194,000. The local Board of Civil Authority adjusted the assessment to $43,959,200. National Life appealed the Board of Civil Authority decision to Superior Court with an appraisal that set the value at $35,000,000.

National Life’s total property taxes will be lowered by $71,131 for FY11, $68,836 for FY12 and an estimated $70,185 for FY13 as a result of the new value. For FY12, $29,177 represents municipal taxes and $39,659 represents education taxes. The City will issue a credit of $122,758 for National Life’s fourth quarter tax bill in May of 2012. This represents money already paid by National Life on the higher value for FY11 and the first three quarters of FY12. National Life agreed to forego an estimated $20,659 in interest to lessen the financial impact on the City. The City will seek reimbursement of $81,931 from the State Education Fund for monies already credited to that fund.


Christopher Graff, National Life Group, CGraff@nationallife.com 229-3882
William Fraser, City of Montpelier, wfraser@montpelier-vt.org 223-9502