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By VICKI URBANIK Porter County Assessor John Scott hopes to reverse a decision from last year that cut the taxable value of Mittal Steel’s Burns Harbor plant by more than half of what it used to be. Scott has filed an appeal with the state that set the assessment of the steel mill’s real property -- land and buildings -- at $127 million. Scott said he believes the actual value should be in excess of $300 million. Scott’s appeal reflects an agreement approved last year by the Porter County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals, of which he is a member. The PTABOA agreed to set the plant’s real property at an assessed value of $126 million, and in return, Mittal agreed to abandon the tax appeals it had pending at the time. Mittal had been paying property taxes based on an assessment of $300 million, which was the value that the Westchester Township assessor and the county had previously set but which Mittal regularly opposed in tax appeals. The agreement struck last year was described as a way to end the long-standing tax appeals filed by the steel mill while also saving the county from possibly having to issue a $7 million refund if Mittal’s pending appeals were successful. Last year, Mittal wanted to set the value of its real property even lower, at $75 million. The agreement reached was seen as a compromise, since the final value, as determined by the state, was not expected to be as high as $300 million, either. The state, not the county or township, now sets the assessments of steel mills, but the county assessor is still able to file an appeal. Scott said he agreed with the PTABOA’s decision last year only so that it wouldn’t hold up the county’s delayed tax billing, knowing full well that he could appeal the values later. Scott has retained Indianapolis-based tax attorney Marilyn Meighen to represent the county in the appeal. The attorney is the same one whom Scott retained for his successful appeal over the assessment of the Jack Gray company in Portage, which resulted in the business owing back taxes of $2.1 million. Scott said his appeal takes issue with the state in part because it claims economic obsolescence and sets a value of $20,000 per acre for the steel plant. He said the plant is not suffering from obsolescence and that his data shows that the actual value should be about $80,000 per acre. Scott filed the appeal with the state’s Board of Tax Review. He said he doesn’t know when the state board will hear the case, but that he doesn’t expect resolution any time soon. “I hope it would get done while I’m in office,” he said, citing his term that will expire in 2010.
Posted 10/27/2008 |
