Chrysler wants $55 million lower assessed value on two Howard County plants

ken.delabastide@kokomotribune.com

Howard County Assessor Jamie Shepherd said some progress is being made in negotiations with Chrysler LLC on the assessed value of the two Indiana Transmission Plants.

Shepherd said Chrysler has filed an informal appeal, hoping to lower the assessed value on the two plants for 2007 property taxes payable in 2008. The appeal only covers the real estate taxes.

The current assessed value on the two plants is $106.5 million, and Chrysler wants to lower the amount to $55 million. The plants have never been assessed at $55 million, Shepherd said.

Taxes owed on the two properties is $17 million for the year, and any change in the assessed valuation will be applied as a credit on 2008 taxes payable in 2009.

No appeal was filed on the Kokomo Casting Plant or the Kokomo Transmission Plant.

The county, using state guidelines, has set the assessed value at $49.62 per square foot. Chrysler wants the assessed value set at $25.

The assessed value of the two plants increased by less than 2 percent, Shepherd said of the 2007-pay-2008 rate.

Shepherd said the appeal process will not be completed before the spring property tax payment is due in June.

"The [Chrysler] bankruptcy has held up the negotiations," she said. "We're working with Chrysler to ensure they stay here."

Howard County has hired appraiser Tom Morlan with RE Research & Associates. Shepherd said he is a specialist on industrial property.

"We're in the process of setting up a walk through of the plants," she said. "We're in sensitive discussions as a result of the bankruptcy."

The walk through is designed to determine the functional and economic obsolescence of the plants, Shepherd said.

The partnership between Chrysler and Fiat will become a factor because the Italian carmaker called the plants "state of the art," she said.

"We have to be careful because we're setting a precedent throughout the state," Shepherd said. "We are gathering national data on plant sites."

Shepherd said Chrysler has been cooperative throughout the appeal process.