The taxing bodies have all signed a settlement granting Crescent Ridge a total tax credit of $582,621 over the next three years and now are waiting for a Bureau County circuit judge to approve the agreement.
The taxing bodies have all signed a settlement granting Crescent Ridge a total tax credit of $582,621 over the next three years and now are waiting for a Bureau County circuit judge to approve the agreement.
The two-year-long dispute between developers of the Crescent Ridge wind farm in Bureau County and a number of surrounding taxing bodies is one step away from resolution.
The taxing bodies have all signed a settlement granting Crescent Ridge a total tax credit of $582,621 over the next three years and now are waiting for a Bureau County circuit judge to approve the agreement. That sum is less than one-third what Crescent Ridge initially sought when it appealed its 2005 and 2006 property tax assessments.
The taxing bodies affected include Bureau County, Princeton Elementary Schools, Princeton High School, Indiantown Township, Milo Township, Tiskilwa Fire, Tiskilwa Library, Bradford Schools, Bradford Fire, Bradford Library, the regional …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]The two-year-long dispute between developers of the Crescent Ridge wind farm in Bureau County and a number of surrounding taxing bodies is one step away from resolution.
The taxing bodies have all signed a settlement granting Crescent Ridge a total tax credit of $582,621 over the next three years and now are waiting for a Bureau County circuit judge to approve the agreement. That sum is less than one-third what Crescent Ridge initially sought when it appealed its 2005 and 2006 property tax assessments.
The taxing bodies affected include Bureau County, Princeton Elementary Schools, Princeton High School, Indiantown Township, Milo Township, Tiskilwa Fire, Tiskilwa Library, Bradford Schools, Bradford Fire, Bradford Library, the regional multi-township assessing district, Illinois Valley Community College and Illinois Central College, said Peru attorney Walt Zukowski, who represented five of the parties.
The settlement was made before the Property Tax Appeals Board in Springfield, Zukowski said. Following approval by all the taxing bodies, a complaint was filed Wednesday in Bureau County Courthouse requesting that a judge enter a declaratory order approving the settlement.
"To make that binding, there has to be an order entered by a judge in the circuit court," Zukowski said.
The tax credit Crescent Ridge will receive is much less than the sum it initially sought, which Zukowski said, given the passage of time, is something in excess of $1.8 million.
"They are going to be allowed to get credit of something slightly less than one-third of what they're seeking. Conversely, two-thirds of that amount, the taxing bodies will retain," Zukowski said.
Still, some of the larger taxing bodies will lose more than $100,000 apiece in property tax revenue through the 2009, 2010 and 2011 tax years.
Princeton Elementary Schools will give the wind farm a tax credit of $141,223.50, according to superintendent Tim Smith.
From Princeton High School, superintendent Kirk Haring said the wind farm will get a $118,000 credit. Bureau County will credit Crescent Ridge $194,207, according to the county clerk's office.