JAY — The Board of Assessment Review on Tuesday will take up Verso Androscoggin LLC’s appeal of the Board of Assessors’ denial of a tax abatement for the tax year 2014.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. July 7 at the Town Office.
The review board will use submitted material and the record to make a decision on the appeal. The board previously denied an appeal of the company’s 2013 tax abatement on April 1 after a two-day hearing.
Members could enter into executive session to discuss material designated as confidential under state law.
The town received Verso’s appeal of the assessors’ April 13 decision to deny an abatement of at least $193.79 million in value on May 20. The decision stated, “Although a lower valuation was cited, it was not supported by any data, and as a result the abatement was denied for failure to meet the burden of proof.”
The company claims the mill and property are substantially overassessed and should be assessed at no more than $400 million for that year.
The town’s assessed value of the property for the 2014 tax year was about $593.78 million. It consists of an assessed value of $179.1 million of real property and about $414.6 million of personal property. Verso also has $74.7 million in tax exempt property.
Verso applied for a tax abatement for the 2013 tax year with the Board of Assessors, also known as town selectpersons, in February 2014. Verso claimed its property should be valued at $460 million. Selectpersons reduced the value on the mill on Jan. 6 from $815.4 million to $591.9 million and granted Verso an $829,258 abatement.
Verso has appealed the Board of Assessment Review’s denial regarding the 2013 tax year to the state Board of Property Tax Review.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
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