Retail giant Walmart is challenging the assessment for its Auburn store, arguing it should be $6 million less than it's been since 2017.
The total assessed value of the Walmart store at 297 Grant Ave. is $13.5 million. The assessment was lowered from $14,582,000 in 2016, according to city and county property tax records.
When the city completed a revaluation in 2022, Auburn City Assessor Jeanne Hering told 水果派AV that Walmart's initial assessment was $14,522,000. However, the city negotiated with the company to lower it to $13.5 million.
"[T]hey were satisfied with that number," Hering said.
In its petition, Walmart claims the assessment is "erroneous as excessive, overvalued, unlawful (illegal) and unequal." The company argues it is unequal because it is a higher proportionate valuation than other property assessments in the city.
Walmart also contends the assessment is greater than the fair market value of the property and is illegal because it includes "non-assessable and/or non-real property items" in violation of the state constitution and the real property tax law.
The department store chain is asking the state Supreme Court to lower its assessment by 44.4% to $7.5 million. Judge James Vazzana will hear the case on Nov. 18 in Rochester.
The city of Auburn is facing assessment challenges from other businesses, including McDonald's, Northbrook Heights, Nucor and Standart Woods. In most cases, the owners are seeking a significant decrease in their property's total assessed value.聽
Nucor wants its assessment lowered by $12.7 million. Standart Woods, an apartment complex on the city's east end, says its assessment should be reduced from $12,683,400 to $1,268,340.
But those entities aren't corporate behemoths like Walmart. The Arkansas-based company reported $681 billion in total revenue during the 2025 fiscal year. It has topped Fortune magazine's Global 500 list, which ranks corporations by revenue, for 11 consecutive years.
In 2024-25, Walmart's city, county and school tax bills for its Auburn store totaled $452,968.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillan made the announcement.
Maven - The Street National
Government reporter Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 664-4631 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on X @RobertHarding.