Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross -- a Blue Dog Democrat playing a key role in the health care debate -- sold a piece of commercial property in 2007 for substantially more than a county assessment (PDF) and an independent appraisal (PDF) say it was worth.Now it turns out that the total price of the property and its business, including some intangibles, was about $1.25 million. Prescott, Arkansas has a population of 3,686 in the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Nevada County (pop. 9,955).
The buyer: an Arkansas-based pharmacy chain with a keen interest in how the debate plays out.Ross sold the real estate in Prescott, Ark., to USA Drug for $420,000 -- an eye-popping number for real estate in the tiny train and lumber town about 100 miles southwest of Little Rock.
"You can buy half the town for $420,000," said Adam Guthrie, chairman of the county Board of Equalization and the only licensed real estate appraiser in Prescott.
One might wonder if it was reasonable to pay $1.25 million for a property worth less than a sixth as much in order to take over a drugstore in a small town that has at least one other pharmacy. The drug store does about $1 million in sales a year. One might think that for an ongoing business of that volume, $500,000 would probably be on the high end of a sales price.
There used to be a trick some of the Chicago cops used to have when they pulled you over: They'd offer to sell you the pen that they would otherwise use for writing the ticket for what they thought was a fair bribe ($20-$100 back then).
This has the same odor.
1 comment:
i like the chicago analogy
8-)
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