March 12, 2008
Michigan
Michigan
Grand Rapids Township officials have received news they’ve been waiting for.
On Tuesday, Michael Arndt of Invenergy gave the board information on the potential tax revenue the township could receive from the Phase 1 construction of 22 wind towers in Grand Rapids.
According to the Illinois tax valuation standard, the wind tower assessment is tied to each tower’s megawatt capacity. The standard is based on $360,000 per megawatt. The tower capacity in Grand Rapids produces 1.5 megawatts so the formula equated to $540,000 per tower divided by 1/3 of the tax rate would equal the expected tax revenue. Arndt said the company would send the money to the county, which then would send out the portions to each township.
The wind tower project could produce anywhere from $16,000 to $19,000 per turbine annually, but the exact amount cannot be determined immediately.
“The problem is that there are six or seven different taxing bodies involved so different parcels have different tax rates,” Arndt said. “And the county will not assess these parcels until the turbines are operational.”
He noted that the state’s standard valuation rate is “three times higher than any other state in the country. It also took about three months to get parcel rate information from the county.”
Final wind tower assessments should be completed in the middle of 2008 so townships could receive partial payments in 2009 and full payment in 2010.
“We need to get these towers operational so that we can make money, too,” Arndt said.
By Kate Reynolds
12 March 2008
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/03/12/invenergy-gives-township-potential-income-information/