Iowa County sets price for land adjacent to Legion

MARENGO — The Iowa County Board of Supervisors agreed in June to offer property adjacent to the new American Legion Hall to American Legion Post 76 for $8,400.

The partial lot, where the paving ends north of the Legion parking lot, is about 230 feet by 30 feet, said Supervisor Chairman Kevin Heitshusen.

Following the completion of the new Legion Hall on North Court Avenue in Marengo, the Legion realized it didn’t have enough parking. Initially the Legion asked if it could improve the property and use it for parking, but Supervisors were more inclined to sell the property outright to avoid liability and maintenance costs.

Jim Johnson, who spoke for the Legion during a March meeting, said the Legion would be amenable to that.

During a June 14 meeting of the Board of Supervisors, Heitshusen said the county attorney had told him the county has to sell the property at fair market value. Heitshusen used the amount the Legion paid for the Court Avenue property and figured in a 25% discount.

That price came to $12,578.

“I think that’s high for that piece of property,” said Supervisor Alan Schumacher, considering the use and the need. Schumacher said he’d rather see the land sold at public auction.

Though the county doesn’t use the land, “We’re also responsible to the county taxpayers,” said Heitshusen. The Legion paid $2.42 per square foot for the adjacent property, he said, and that’s the rate he used to figure the price for the additional land.

The property isn’t doing the county any good,“ said Schumacher. The Legion needs it. ”I’d set the price at $1 and be done with it.“

“[The Legion is] an asset to the community and the county,” said Supervisor Jon Degen, “but we still have to be responsible to the taxpayers.

Degen and Supervisors Chris Montross and Abigail Maas said they’d be comfortable giving a discount of 50%. Montross moved to offer the land to the legion for $8,400, and all of the supervisors except Schumacher voted yes.

The county paid $2,54 an acre for the property in 2002, said Maas. But prices have probably tripled since then.

The Legion set the market value when it bought the property it build the new Legion Hall on, Heitshusen said. “We donated money to them already. It’s not like we’re not being supportive.”

“It’s just a piece of property that has no value except a parking lot,” said Schumacher. People will park there anyway, he said, so if the county keeps the property it will have to put up a fence to keep people out or accept the liability.

Maas argued that giving the property to the Legion would set precedence. And the county has an obligation to taxpayers to recoup some of the cost of the purchase and upkeep of the property.