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Appraisals, fees double and triple for Inyo Forest cabin owners |
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Thursday, 12 February 2009 |
By Deb Murphy
Special to the Mammoth Times
Jack Camp’s cabin in the Twin Lakes area of Mammoth tripled in market value over the last 10 years, so why wasn’t he thrilled?
Camp’s cabin sits on land leased from the Inyo National Forest. He and 348 other permit holders pay an annual fee based on five percent of the land value.
The new appraisal of Camp’s land is $110,000, representing a 327-percent increase in the fee.
Camp and close to 100 other permit holders met with Forest Service staff Saturday at the Tri-County Fairgrounds in Bishop to better understand the process and what recourse was available. Several of the cabin owners expressed fear they will have to give up their permits, some in families for generations, and sell the improvements.
This is the first appraisal under the federal Cabin User Fee Fairness Act (CUFFA), explained Senior Review Appraiser Kim Brower. As its name implies, the legislation was designed, with input from the National Forest Homeowners Association (NFHA), to clarify the fee process for the 14,000 National Forest cabin owners nationwide and ensure fairness in that process.
While the process may be “fair,” it did not take into consideration the real estate value bubble and subsequent bursting, coupled with the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression; the appraisal came at the worst time for permit holders.
CUFFA was passed in 2000. By 2006, the Forest Service had developed the rules necessary to carry out the Act, and appraisals in the Inyo National Forest started in May 2007, at or near the peak of real estate values in California.
Cabin owners can pay for a second appraisal, but those appraisals have to follow the same guidelines and be based on May 2007 land values.
Mitch Dunshee of Fresno contracted with Forest Service to conduct the appraisals based on typical lot(s) in each tract. The toughest part of the job was finding comparable private sales (“comps”) to use as a basis for appraisals on land, most of which is not accessible for up to six months each year.
“I know this has had an impact on your lives,” Dunshee said, “and I didn’t do it lightly. I tried to be fair – not high, not low, just fair.” Dunshee used comps in Virginia Lakes near the Conway Summit, Twin Lakes in Bridgeport and a lake area above Fresno with seasonal access.
Improvements made by the permit holders, as well as utilities brought in at cabin owners’ expense were not included in the appraisal, but neither were permit or seasonal restrictions on the land.
According to Brower, the five-percent fee is a low rate of return on an annual basis and takes into account for the restrictions on the land. However, one cabin owner pointed out that she did not have control of the land, “this is not like private property.”
By 2011 cabin owners will be paying a minimum of twice the annual fee.
In 1971, a June Lake lot fee was $400, by the re-appraisal in the late 1990s, the fee was $3,250, in 2011 the fee will be $8,500.
One of three permit holders in Crater, near Mono Lake, a primitive area considered unbuildable with no utilities, reported fee increases of 305 percent. “How do you find comps on land like that?” he asked.
Brower encouraged cabin owners to register their intent to conduct a second appraisal within the 60-day time limit.
“Take the first full appraisal, addendum and instructions to an appraiser to review before you commit to pay for the second appraisal,” she said. If the second appraisal comes in significantly lower and passes the Forest Service review process, all lots in the tract assessed under the same “typical” lot standards will be lowered.
Considering that re-appraisals have to be based on May 2007 values cabin owners questioned the fairness of the long-standing five-percent rate. Any change in the rate, Bower said, would have to be made through new federal legislation.
Camp encouraged the audience to join the NFHA and lobby their representatives to make those changes. But, Inyo Forest Supervisor Jim Upchurch acknowledged that the political process is a long one and may not offer much hope.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 20 February 2009 )
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