As expected, the Porter County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals approved a tax agreement Tuesday afternoon affecting Mittal Steel’s Burns Harbor plant.

Under the terms of the agreement, Mittal will abandon its two pending tax appeals and won’t file another appeal this year.

The value of its real property, which refers to land and buildings, will be set at $126 million, lower than the approximately $300 million that the township and county had set as the value, but higher than the $75 million figure Mittal sought in its appeals.

The agreement was outlined Tuesday morning before the PTABOA members, who wanted to research some of the issues before making a final decision. The board then approved the agreement later in the afternoon.

Porter County Council attorney Dave Hollenbeck, who was involved in the negotiations with Mittal, said the agreement is expected to be reflected in Mittal’s property tax bill payable this year.

Mittal has been paying property taxes based on the $300 million assessed figure. If it would have won its two pending appeals, the county may have had to issue a refund of about $7 million, Hollenbeck said.

Although the value of the steel mill’s land and buildings is now going down, Mittal’s personal property has increased significantly, resulting in an overall higher assessed value of more than $15 million. Generally speaking, the higher the assessed value in a taxing district, the lower the tax rate.

From this point forward, the state, not the Westchester and Portage township assessors, will handle the assessments of the steel mill. The county will still have the ability to challenge the state’s figures.

Posted 7/11/2007