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By Kate Hessling Assistant News Editor

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.

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 thats 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. Its called the Alternative Commercial Energy Systems (ACES). It previously included commercial wind, biomass and solar electric generating systems, but its 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 thats 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.

Original post:
Officials support proposed tax on turbines