Jerry Moore, attorney for Sequoyah County, reported to the county commissioners at their meeting Monday that the appeals court had reversed the ruling in favor of the county's numbers on Sequoyah Fuels ad valorem taxes, and remanded the disagreement back to district court to be retried.
Appeals Court Judge Larry Joplin wrote March 3 that the district court ruling should be reversed and remanded back to the district court for retrial, Moore said.
Moore told the commissioners he has 20 days from the appeals court decision to ask the State Supreme Court to review the appeals court decision. The commissioners agreed Moore should continue with the appeals process.
At the center of the disagreement over Sequoyah Fuels ad valorem taxes is the estimated assessed value of the equipment remaining at the nuclear fuels processing plant.
Moore, now in private law practice in Tahlequah, is representing the county in the case because he represented the county for the district attorney's office when the dispute over equipment value began in 1993, when Sequoyah Fuels ceased operations. He explained Monday that, because the case is complicated, the commissioners decided to keep him at their representative rather than having to bring another assistant district attorney up to speed on the dispute.
Sequoyah Fuels representatives say the equipment remaining at the plant is contaminated and essentially worthless. They have continued to pay their ad valorem taxes since 1993, but under protest. The company's tax payments have been placed in an interest-bearing account until the dispute is finally settled. Trica Yates, county treasurer, said the amount of money in the account is unavailable.
Last year, Sequoyah County Treasurer Martha Taylor said Sequoyah Fuels ad valorem taxes have been deposited in a "protest" account, which contained $1,524,211.50. Sequoyah Fuels has paid their 2005 ad valorem taxes, but the total is unavailable.
Most of that tax would go to the Gore School District if the lawsuit was settled in favor of the county.
Moore said the case filed by the county involved the years from 1995 through 1998. District Judge John Garrett ruled in favor of the county's claim on Feb. 14, 2003.
"We brought in an ad valorem tax expert, Neil Murphy from Tennessee, who valued the personal property (equipment only, not real estate) at $19,192,369 in 1995; in 1996 at $16,283,109; in 1997 at $14,583,851; and in 1998 at $13,793,384," Moore said.
He explained the declining value of the property was due to depreciation and because Sequoyah Fuels was selling the equipment.
"Those were the numbers our expert came up with, and what the judge (Garrett) agreed to," Moore said.
"They claim that the equipment wasn't worth anything because it was contaminated," Moore said. "But if you can sell it, it does have worth."
Moore added that the company and the county, in general, agreed on the assessed value of the company's real estate, just east of Gore. The only dispute is over the worth of the personal property, or equipment.
Moore said the assessed value of Sequoyah Fuels in 1993, when the plant ceased operations, was $46 million. In 1994, the assessment was $23 million, "which basically cut it in half."
Moore said Sequoyah Fuels did not bring in experts to do their own assessment of the company's property at the 2003 trial. "They brought in their own people who argued the personal property wasn't worth anything," he said.
Rebecca Fowler of the law firm Doerner, Saunders, Daniel & Anderson, LLP, represents Sequoyah Fuels. She said the property's worth, or fair market value, is determined by the amount of contamination. She argued that point in court, and the appeals court wrote, "The methodology utilized to reach assessed values fails to consider accrued depreciation resulting from contamination and cleanup costs affecting the value of the remaining property."
Moore said he has 20 days from the civil appeals court opinion to submit a request that the ruling be reviewed by the State Supreme Court. "We've pretty much got all the information ready for that court now," he told the commissioners.
If the Supreme Court refuses to review the appeals court decision, the case will come back to the county level to be retried again.
Moore told the commissioners Monday, "No matter who wins this case at the local level, it will go to appeal."
