Editorial: Beltway appraisals need review

Thursday, July 12, 2001 | 8:38 a.m.

When government uses eminent domain to take away someone's land, it's essential that the property owner be fairly compensated for his loss. That is why it is unsettling to read Adrienne Packer's story in Wednesday's Sun about the county's use of eminent domain to secure enough land to build the Las Vegas Beltway. Some individuals received much higher prices for their land in the path of the beltway -- but only after they challenged the county's initial appraisal. For instance, last year a property owner with land adjacent to the beltway originally was offered just $48,000, but the county later was ordered to pay $1.2 million. Then there is the case of Linda Carson, who was offered $623,000 for her six acres of land at Jones Boulevard that will someday intersect with the beltway. But a jury in June awarded her $2.5 million instead.

Many people, who have refinanced a mortgage or are looking to sell a house, can attest that an appraisal is hardly a science. Two appraisers can look at the same piece of land or house and arrive at two very different amounts. But the gulf between what the county offered, and what eventually was arrived at in some instances, is startling. The disparity in some of these cases is so great that county government should reassess its appraisal of land along the beltway.

Sure, the county should strive to get the best value for the taxpayer, especially when it builds something as costly as a road project. But at the same time the rights of property owners should not be minimized -- they deserve to be adequately compensated. For that matter, landowners shouldn't be forced to hire a lawyer and go to court to simply get what is due them.