Press
Commission Could Give Lots to Delinquent Developer
BILL DRIES | The Daily News
September 28, 2009
Shelby County Commissioners are scheduled to vote today on turning over 140 inner-city lots to a developer who is more than $1 million behind on his county property taxes.
The meeting starts today at 1:30pm.
The lots are to be developed under Shelby County’s Homestead program, which developer Harold Buehler has used to build rental homes for nearly two decades.
The 140 lots are scattered across North Memphis with the highest concentration in the area’s Klondike section. Buehler and his partners, known as Memphis 2005.0 LLC, plan to build 125 rental homes on the lots, which in some cases will involve combining several lots for one house.
A big ‘why’
But Buehler drew fire in committee sessions last week for his delinquent taxes and the appearance of some “Buehler Homes” he built in the inner city in earlier years.
“We certainly owe some money on some properties in Shelby County,” Buehler said.
“Would it surprise you to know that as of yesterday, you owe the county $1.1 million in prior taxes on 487 different properties?” Commissioner Mike Ritz asked.
“No, I wouldn’t be surprised. We’re about two years behind,” Buehler replied.
“That’s more than two years behind. That’s about four years behind,” Ritz said.
“I’m trying to figure out in my mind why we would give you lots we took back for tax purposes so that you can’t pay county property taxes in a timely way. Why would we do that?”
“We paid property taxes. We are behind,” Buehler responded.
“You don’t pay them if you are behind, sir,” Ritz responded. “You may work at paying them, but you’re not paying them. Now, why would we do this? All we’re doing is creating further problems for our community. ”
Commissioner Steve Mulroy defended Buehler, saying it is hard to find developers to build in the inner city. He also pointed out that none of Buehler’s properties have been taken by the county for delinquent taxes.
“Maybe we want to make some sort of moral statement,” Mulroy said. “I’d be a lot more inclined to do that if people were lining up to develop these properties. … Can we just approve this and move on?”
Selective attention
Buehler said the property taxes are delinquent because many of the homes he’s built were ravaged by thieves stripping them of copper when copper prices were high several years ago.
“We personally experienced over $600,000 in losses from copper theft from everything from stolen electrical services on houses to people breaking into them,” he told Ritz. “We quit using copper in 2005 on any building.”
But Ritz said that doesn’t explain how Buehler could remain current on loans that did not include tax payments but then fall behind on the tax payments independent of the loans.
“I can appreciate the story. It’s a good story,” Ritz told Buehler. “But you’re asking us to give you … 140 lots. Why would we do that until these taxes are paid? Why would we even think about it?”
Buehler answered that he should get the lots because he estimates he has paid $600,000 in county taxes in the past 12 months.
Commissioner Wyatt Bunker said it’s common to work with a good customer who falls behind.
“But we wouldn’t do any additional business with them until they were caught up,” Bunker said.
“I think it’s absolutely relevant any way you paint this. … I don’t think anybody would take this kind of risk in their own business.”
Commissioner Henri Brooks had problems with the design of past Buehler Homes in the inner city, which have also drawn complaints from some neighborhood groups.
“This particular company has a history of disregarding the interests of the inner city. From the very first year I was on this body there were problems in my district regarding this individual company building housing in the neighborhoods,” Brooks said.
“Just because you are going to build a house – it’s just like you are going to build a house in the inner city. It doesn’t help if the house doesn’t fit with the other standard homes in the community and the neighbors are in an uproar.”
For the new homes to be developed in North Memphis, Buehler and his partners have agreed to design site review beyond what is required of all developers in Shelby County.
“We’re varying the frontage of the houses,” said David Upton, a consultant to Buehler on the project. “We’re going to use different materials – concrete and mortar, simply called waferboard or concrete board. It’s concrete and you can paint it and it looks like wood siding.”
Few of the houses will be close together, he told commissioners.
“Having a more varied exterior is something we think you all want us to do and that’s what we’re going to try to do,” Upton said.
