A property tax appeal by one of Rowan County’s largest employers will cost taxpayers
an extra penny on their tax rate this year, whether or not the company wins its appeal. KoSa – on U.S. 70, better known to
most county residents under the former names of Fiber or Hoechst Celanese – is
claiming that the plant acquired in 1998 is worth only a fraction of the value the county
has assigned to it.
Rowan County has valued the
factory at about $150 million for tax purposes, county officials said this morning. But
KoSa is asking the county to knock down that value by $95 million – more than half.
Because the value is under appeal,
the county can’t count the disputed amount as tax revenue. The loss of that revenue
means the overall tax rate must be a penny higher to make up the difference, County
Manager Tim Russell confirmed this morning in a budget meeting with the Rowan County Board
of Commissioners.
Commissioner Dave Rowland
wasn’t happy. ‘‘I think it is pretty pathetic that one company appealing
their taxes is going to cost every taxpayer in Rowan County another penny on their
taxes,’’ he said.
But Commissioner Steve Blount said
commissioners shouldn’t publicly criticise the company, in case they have a valid
case.
‘‘If they are right, I
would hate to criticize KoSa for a legitimate’’ appeal, Blount said.
In a telephone interview, Kosa
Plant Manager Tony Branecky responded to the commissioners’ comments,
‘‘There has been a recent sale of the company and there is some ongoing
discussion based on the sale about what the valuation should be. We are not interested in
trying to avoid paying our fair share of taxes.’’
Commissioners are looking for
every penny of value they can find, because the board is in a tight budget squeeze caused
by school and courthouse needs.
The county manager’s original
budget estimate actually projected a tax increase in a revaluation year – something
unheard of in Rowan County, since higher property values always give boards the chance to
lower the tax rate while collecting the same money.
This year, however, the board is
faced with increasing spending for education by more than $4 million, in a year in which
the commissioners promised to bring school spending up to the state average of per-pupil
spending. On top of that, commissioners face millions more in extra spending to expand the
number of courtrooms and jail cells.
Commissioners began their budget
work session this morning on their second floor meeting room at Rowan County
Administrative Offices on West Innes Street.
But many hours of debate are
likely to pass before commissioners come up with a final budget proposal. |
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