LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME


[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]

Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

Get weekly updates
RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Stripe

Donate via Paypal

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

News Watch Home

Officials support proposed tax on turbines; Push to define true taxable cash values 

Credit:  By Kate Hessling, Assistant News Editor, Huron Daily Tribune, www.michigansthumb.com 28 February 2012 ~~

UPPER THUMB – Local governments are working under a tight deadline to develop a plan to substantiate what they believe are true taxable values for wind turbine developments. At the same time, they are throwing their support behind a special tax State Rep. Kurt E. Damrow has proposed for wind energy developments.

Wind companies pay personal property taxes for wind developments, and the taxable values are established by the Michigan Tax Commission. Those values – and, as a result, the amount of personal property taxes wind developers pay counties, local townships, schools and libraries – decrease each year because of depreciation. And, per an October ruling by the state commission, there will be a larger than previously established drop in values this year.

The county expects the decreased values will mean a roughly $260,000 loss in revenue from local wind developments this year, said Huron County Commissioner Ron Wruble.

What local officials – as well as officials from other areas of the state experiencing wind energy development – want to know is what information the state commission used to determine a decrease is necessary. Though two attempts have been made to obtain that information via Michigan Freedom of Information Act requests, the requested information still is unavailable, said Mike Krause, member of the Thumb Regional Renewable Energy Collaborative (TRREC).

In light of the immediacy of the situation, where counties will lose at least 20 percent of revenue from local wind developments, officials are focusing on proceeding with their own study of true cash valuations rather than waiting to get the information from the FOIA requests, Krause said. He said they have until early March to develop a plan substantiating what values they believe are correct because that’s when assessments are presented to townships.

At the same time, TRREC, the Michigan Association of Counties, Michigan Township Association and government officials from other counties experiencing wind development are supporting House Bills 5278 and 5279, which were sponsored by Damrow, R-Port Austin. The bills create a separate category to tax commercial wind developments. It’s called the Alternative Commercial Energy Systems (ACES). It previously included commercial wind, biomass and solar electric generating systems, but it’s been amended to include only wind, Damrow said.

“We will work on an agenda for commercial biomass and solar, but right now, time is of the essence (for wind developments),” he said.

If lawmakers in Lansing approve the ACES tax, rather than paying personal property taxes, wind developers would make ACES payments. The payments either would be a base fee that’s established for each system based on the rated megawatt hours each unit will produce, or $4 per megawatt hour generated for sale.

Damrow said his proposed plan is a county-levied tax with 40 percent of the revenue going to the county general fund, 40 percent to the township general fund and 20 percent divided among the host county public schools.

He said with his plan, a township with 50 commercial 1 to 3 megawatt generator wind turbines would see a minimum payment of $482,000 annually to its general fund, and the same amount would be paid to the county general fund – which is much more than the $239,739 that Huron County Treasurer Sherry Learman said was distributed among all the local host townships in 2011. The county received $387,837 last year.

Huron County commissioners earlier this month approved a resolution supporting Damrow’s proposed legislation. Last week, county commissioners who attended a Michigan House Committee on Tax Policy hearing about the proposed legislation reported local officials definitely got through to the lawmakers. Commissioner Steve Vaughan was very positive that, by the end of the hearing, the officials had the committee’s undivided attention and they knew the local government officials are very serious about this issue.

Damrow said he expects to be before the tax committee for a second hearing within the next couple of weeks.

“I’ve got a pretty good feeling about this that we will be able to move forward with it,” he said, noting he expects to meet with wind developers Friday to get feedback from them about what they think about the House bills.

Also, he’s been working with lawmakers from other parts of the state that are experiencing wind development. He said he wants them to understand how important it is to be involved now in getting tax revenue from wind developments locked in for the future.

Source:  By Kate Hessling, Assistant News Editor, Huron Daily Tribune, www.michigansthumb.com 28 February 2012

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Contributions
   Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)
Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI M TG TS G Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook Wind Watch on Linked In

Wind Watch on Mastodon Wind Watch on Truth Social

Wind Watch on Gab Wind Watch on Bluesky