Clerk: don't give away the (wind) farm

Officials in Sullivan County agree a wind farm would be a positive addition, but they don't agree on how much they should do to accommodate the company that would bring it there.

The county commission wants to create an enhanced enterprise zone to give Tradewind Energy the tax incentives they say they need. County Clerk Mike Hepler and Assessor Karen LaFever say the enhanced enterprise zone would leave the county short changed.

"To sell out too cheap is not representing the public interest, it's representing the private interest. I was elected to represent the public interest," Hepler says.

Under Hepler and LaFever's proposal Tradewind would pay $1.8 million in annual property taxes. Presiding commissioner Chris May says the company expects to make a pilot payment of $750,000, which would be the equivalent of property taxes.

The clerk worries that an enhanced enterprise zone board, made up largely of people appointed by the commission, would allow Tradewind's payment to go much lower.

"The reason I have a problem with the enhanced enterprise zone is it turns it totally loose. It would allow that new board to be pressured by a huge company and we have no idea where it would stop," Hepler says. He thinks a presentation made by the company at Great Northwest Days in February 2008 offers a clue to just how big a tax break the company is looking for.

"It takes the cost of this project down to less than a third of what the assessor [and I] have worked out as a reasonable way to tax this project," Hepler says.

In that presentation, the company projected a payment of $600,000 in annual property taxes.

Hepler says the discount he's proposed offers a return on investment for the county. His calculations show that the company would get at 75 percent discount. (That would be the best rate in the county).

On top of that, he says, "If this project was taxed at the same method that the King City project at Gentry County is, which the tax commission tells me is an acceptable method of assessing a wind farm, this project would come in at $3.8 million on the tax roll."

Hepler says anything less than $1.8 million is a giveaway, and he says holding out for that payment is better than getting nothing at all.

"It goes farther than the job," he says. "I'm a taxpayer in the Green City school district, I have grandchildren in the school system and I think it's worth the risk because I think we should get what we're entitled."

May told KTVO earlier this month that despite differences on the taxing method, he believes everyone has the same goal in mind: bringing in as much revenue as possible.

"We just need to work through this, which we're continuing to do."

The county commission is in the process of completing an application for the enhanced enterprise zone. They'll hold an informational meeting about that on Sept. 30 at 5:30 at the Milan Community Center.

Before the application for the enhanced enterprise zone can be submitted, there must be a public hearing. No date has been set for that.