As a reminder, our goal here at The Heyburn Informer is to provide Heyburn citizens with pure information. The property we are discussing has been one of great interest, that has brought out many opinions and judgments. We hope to provide you with accurate unbiased information. If you have further questions, please email us at heyburninformer@gmail.com.

The Property

The property being discussed is the old Agri Service Property, on the corner of 600 W and 300 S. As Agri Service finishes their new building on the north side of I-84, the old property will be empty.

The Easement

ITD has previously done a traffic study on the intersection of 600 W 300 S. That study had two findings. First, that this intersection needed a Traffic signal. Second, in order to put in a traffic signal, The City of Heyburn would need to secure easements along 300 S for the intersection. The City of Heyburn had already began working on securing these easements.

The Easement Purchase Evolution

In the beginning, Agri Service was planning to tear down their buildings and build their new one on the existing property. With this plan, the City was working to just purchase the needed easement. As Agri Services’ plans changed, they came to the City suggesting the City buy the whole property. As the City weighed the options, they considered what uses they would have for the buildings on the property. On June 26th 2024, the City Council was presented with the plan to buy the Agri Service property with the plan of moving the street department to that property and selling the Street department Building. After discussing the condition, logistics and options, the City Council passed the motion to not proceed with the purchase. In the week following, the City reached out to Agri Service to continue working on the easement. Agri Service expressed if the City wasn’t interested in the whole property they would need to work the easement out with the next owners. On July 10th 2024, the City Council was presented with the plan to purchase the property as an investment only, with the plan to sell the property. The Council passed the motion to pursue the purchase of the property.

Why the City

Tax Code (26 USC 170) allows Agri Service to write off the appraised property value if they sell it to a tax exempt entity. This allows the City to purchase the property and only pay half as the rest is donated by Agri Service. The City’s plan would be to purchase the property at the appraised value, but only pay half. They would then carve off the needed road parcels and turn around and sell it for the full appraised value or more. Due to the generosity of Agri Service, the City would realize substantial gains. The City intends to sell the property as soon as possible after its purchase.

How Would it be Paid for

The City is required to hold different amounts of money in savings. The City has multiple investment accounts. The plan would be to pull the money needed to purchase the property from Savings, sell the property for double the purchase price, carve off the road parcels, and put the doubled money back into savings. One source of contention has been that this purchase shows on next year’s budget. State law requires the amount of money we are talking about be budgeted both on the purchase and sale.