Lehighton Area School District has accepted a counteroffer from the owner of one of its former elementary schools, settling a property tax appeal filed late last year.

Local businessman Joseph Bennett, using the name Lehighton School Site LLC, purchased Shull-David Elementary school for $402,500 at a public auction in July 2019.

“The counteroffer was for a fair market value of $450,000 for 2020 and $475,000 for 2021,” Lehighton district solicitor Eric Filer said.

In a letter detailing the appeal, Francis Hoegen, attorney for Lehighton School Site LLC, said though the implied fair market value for the property is over $2 million, the actual market value is $402,500, based on the purchase price.

“When related to the assessments of similarly situated property owners, the assessment is “arbitrary and capricious,” Hoegen wrote of the Shull-David property.

The school was one of four elementary buildings closed when Lehighton opened its new elementary center in the fall of 2018. The district said it had been up for sale for over a year with little interest before the auction, which Bennett won over Behavioral Health Associates.

Lehighton’s board instructed Filer in August to negotiate the tax appeal.

The board unanimously approved the counteroffer on Monday night. The alternative option, Filer said, was to hire an appraiser to continue fighting the appeal.

“This is wonderful and a real step up,” director David Bradley said of the offer. “I don’t think we should spend any more in solicitor fees to continue chasing after this.”

In August, Bradley suggested the district try to negotiate the market value up to $700,000, which was just under the appraisal price obtained when Lehighton was looking to sell the property.

“It’s disappointing, but it’s better than what we would have gotten,” resident Barb Bowes said of the new offer. “It’s a shame the school had to sell for the price it did because it was probably the most valuable building we had.”