Butler City Council will appeal the tax assessment done on the closed Broad Street Elementary School.

The Butler School District had two appraisals done on the property, producing values of $335,000 and $578,000.

At the council meeting Thursday night, city Treasurer Jeff Smith said the lower of the two values was accepted by Butler County as the newly assessed value.

If a for-profit business buys the building, the city would lose nearly $1,000 per year in taxes because of the lower assessment.

“If we don’t appeal this, we’ll lose out on an opportunity,” Mayor Tom Donaldson said.

The city has until the end of the month to appeal it.

Smith said the monthly taxes at the proposed value would be $1,332. The higher value would yield $2,299 in comparison.

Donaldson said the assessment may not matter if a tax-exempt nonprofit buys the building.

“But it’s worthwhile to go ahead with this,” he said.

Donaldson said the city will have its own appraisal done on the property.

The Broad Street school is one of the four recently closed elementary schools the district is selling.

The Center for Community Resources nonprofit bid $150,000 for the school. However, that offer was rejected by the school board.