BY: Tom Loftus , @TomLoftus_CJ

‘You wonder why I don’t take you seriously,’ says Bevin about the media. ‘You vilify innocent people. Don’t go after people that are serving the public.’ The Courier-Journal

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This is the Anchorage home where Gov. Matt Bevin appears to be living. It sold for $1.6 million to a company called Anchorage Place LLC. (Photo: Sam Upshaw Jr./C-J)

FRANKFORT, Ky. – An appeal is underway of the property valuation that is part of the controversy around the purchase of Gov. Matt Bevin’s Anchorage home.

Bevin said Friday that the appeals process would show that the $1.6 million that Anchorage Place LLC paid for the mansion and 10 surrounding acres is a fair price and would end the controversy, which includes a complaint filed with the state ethics commission.

The Courier-Journal has reported that the sales price appears low when compared to values placed on the mansion — and a larger tract of 19 acres of which the 10 acres were a part of before the sale — by the Jefferson Property Valuation Administrator.

The first step in the process — a conference with the PVA — has been completed and turned out to be pro forma.

More: Ethics complaint targets Bevin over Anchorage home

More: Matt Bevin’s Anchorage house: A timeline

That’s because PVA Tony Lindauer said his office policy in cases of political officials is to automatically uphold the value placed on the property so the owner can move the case to the Local Board of Assessment Appeals.

The Courier-Journal’s Open Records Act request filed with Lindauer’s office seeking records of the appeal produced just two partially redacted pages of the result of the conference.

Richard Hornung, the attorney representing Anchorage Place, said in an email that he has not yet appealed to the board.

“We are still trying to research and understand the PVA’s modifications to the property data after the transfer,” Hornung said in an email.

The deadline for filing with the board is Monday.

In March, Anchorage Place bought the mansion and 10 acres from a company controlled by Neil Ramsey, the owner of an investment management firm and an Anchorage city councilman who last year was appointed to the board of the Kentucky Retirement Systems by Bevin.

The governor told WDRB-TV on Friday that he owns Anchorage Place.

On the same day, Bevin told media at an unrelated press conference that the purchased property was worth $1.6 million at most and he asked reporters to allow the assessment appeal process to play out.

In April, Lindauer’s office placed a new value of $2,974,780 on the greater 19-acre tract of land, which included the 10 acres and mansion.

That assessment has two components.  First, the mansion and other improvements — all of which are within the 10 acres sold to Anchorage Place — are valued at $2,134,780. Second, the 19 acres are valued at $840,000, which is about $44,210 per acre.

More: Take a look inside the house where Gov. Matt Bevin and his family are living