An ad valorem tax appeal filed with the Washita County Board of Equalization could cost Sentinel Public Schools hundreds of thousands of dollars. The appeal was filed by Ryan, LLC on behalf of the Rocky Ridge Wind Project, and claims the Washita County Assessor overvalued the property by more than $70 million.
The assessor’s office initially valued the property in question at $116,714,859. An informal hearing was held May 14, 2019, and the valuation was reduced to $113,500,000. The appeal claims the correct value should be $45,541,078. The only explanation provided on the appeal form was: “Assessor’s value includes numerous erroneous items and exceeds fair cash value.”
Washita County Assessor Krystle Uecke said she felt the assessment, provided by a specialized contractor, was appropriate. She estimated the difference in tax revenue between her office’s assessed value and the value claimed by the company at more than $600,000. As the project lies entirely within the boundaries of the Sentinel School District, Sentinel schools would be the only ones impacted by the change.
Enel Green Power North America issued a statement in response to questions from The Cordell Beacon.
“As a top-ten property taxpayer in 11 Oklahoma counties, we are proud to support schools and local communities directly through our property tax payments. During routine internal accounting reviews, Enel Green Power has noticed some of our current ad valorem assessments are much higher than what the company has expected or estimated. The disparity in these assessments is in the millions. Enel, like most other companies, audits our taxes as a routine business practice, and when an error is identified, we appeal directly to the county to work together to resolve the issue amicably.
“In the case of Rocky Ridge, the assessment of the facility was previously based on Oklahoma Tax Commission methods using a straight-cost approach. In 2018, the exemption for the facility expired and the methodologies used by the assessor to value the property also changed. Enel Green Power and Washita County reached a compromise to resolve that disparity. This year, we hope to do the same.”
The compromise to which Washita County and Enel agreed last year reduced the property’s assessed value from $112,444,321 to $105,135,806. Uecke said her office grudgingly agreed to the compromise in order to avoid litigation.
Enel’s representative did not respond to a request to explain why the company felt the property value had dropped by more than $60 million during a one-year span.