Attendance drop lowers Magic Springs appraisal

A decline in attendance at Magic Springs Water and Theme Park contributed to the adjusted appraisal the Garland County Board of Equalization granted the attraction Thursday.

The $7,945,060 appraisal the BOE established on the 140-acres comprising the park lowered the 2017 real property taxes on the parcel by $8,937 to $87,554. The amount includes the 8.4-mill increase voters approved Tuesday for the Cutter Morning Star School District. Magic Springs also owns three parcels adjacent to the park.

Arkansas CAMA Technology, the county’s contract appraisal service, lowered the valuation on the 140 acres from $10,037,250 to $8,756,050 after completing the county’s five-year mass reappraisal cycle this year. The appraisal service said the 12-percent decrease ran counter to the overall

11.68-percent increase in the county’s commercial property values.

The BOE lowered Arkansas CAMA’s valuation by 9 percent.

Arkansas CAMA said it lowered the park’s appraisal because of an 8-percent drop in attendance from 2014 to 2016, explaining the decline factored into the income analysis used to calculate the park’s value.

Magic Springs will owe more than $35,000 in 2017 personal property taxes after the BOE declined to adjust the park’s personal property appraisal, which includes all of its rides and attractions, from the $3.2 million on file with the Garland County assessor’s office.

The park’s tax representative proposed a $9 million appraisal for the park’s real and personal property, telling the BOE that park income has decreased since 2014 as a result of lower attendance.

Magic Springs CEO Jack Bateman told the BOE the park accounted for $8.36 mil-

lion of the reported $455 million transaction involving real estate investment trust company EPR properties’ acquisition of Magic Springs and more than a dozen other amusement parks in April.

Real and personal property taxes for the 2016 tax year are due by Oct. 16.