Woodland School Board Pays More Than Appraised Value for District Office. In an action kept secret for some time, the Woodland Unified School District board on December 13 voted to pay more than the appraised value for a building to be used as the district office for school administrators. Blue Ice LLC, the owner of the building, is to be paid $5.7 million for the former Blue Shield building in downtown Woodland – $700,000 above the appraised value. The price, in a declining real estate market, is $1.4 million more than Blue Ice paid for the building in August – a 32 percent profit for holding the building less than a year.
Dudley Holman, president of the Yolo County Taxpayers Association (and a former mayor of Woodland), has filed a complaint against the school district with the grand jury. He said: "The price is one thing, the secrecy is another. This is not the time to go into debt for an overpriced building the district cannot afford." For 15 months the board met in closed session to discuss what to do about a district headquarters.
The vote to acquire the building was 4-3. Trustees Frank Glover, Warren Berg and Rogelio Villagrana voted "no." (Source: The Sacramento Bee, February 7.)
Cal-Taxletter February 8, 2008
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