In the meantime Gore Schools is looking into selling old school sites because they need more classroom space, and can't afford to operate Gum Springs School.
Arguing their ad valorem taxes are too high, Sequoyah Fuels officials may go to the Oklahoma Supreme Court to continue the feud.
Greg Wilson with the county assessor's office said Sequoyah Fuels claims that anything they own is contaminated and it would cost more to clean it up than it's worth.
Wilson said the county's contention is that the property is worth something and they need to be paying taxes on it like anyone else.
"Our contention is that there is property out there that has value and they need to be paying taxes on it," Wilson said.
The closed uranium processing plant sits on about 20 acres. "Hundreds" of acres also belong to Sequoyah Fuels, Wilson said.
Sequoyah Fuels has been paying property taxes under protest for the last nine years because of a dispute between the Sequoyah County Assessor's Office and the closed uranium-processing plant over the value of the property being assessed. That disagreement landed in district court on Feb. 14, 2003, in a Sequoyah Fuels civil lawsuit which named the Sequoyah County treasurer, county assessor, Sequoyah County Board of Equalization and the Sequoyah County County Commissioners as defendants in the case.
The taxes paid under protest each year, which total over $1.4 million, have been put in an escrow, or a protest account, and are awaiting a final decision in the dispute. The dispute also keeps the ad valorem money out of Gore Schools' coffers.
A judgment on the tax protests from 1995 through 1998 was made by District Judge John Garrett on Aug. 2 in favor of the county regarding the value of Sequoyah Fuels' property. The judgment essentially released the money paid in protest.
Sequoyah Fuels immediately gave notice to the county's attorney that they would appeal the decision of the district court to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Sequoyah Fuels also filed a motion to stay the release of the protested taxes until a formal appeal. That motion froze the ad valorem taxes again.
The recent judgment on the taxes that were paid in protest from 1995 through 1998 amount to $577,292.14, according to figures provided by Martha Taylor, Sequoyah County treasurer.
Taylor said a total of $1,409,568.32 has accumulated in the protest account since 1995. The account is an interest-earning account.
On Aug. 12, Judge Garrett ordered Taylor to continue to hold the taxes paid under protest by Sequoyah Fuels until further notice.
On Wednesday, Sequoyah Fuels filed a petition in error, or an appeal, in the Oklahoma Supreme Court. The petition was also filed in district court.
Wilson said Garrett's ruling for the years 1995 through 1998 was in the county's favor, which also means it would be in Gore School's favor. Wilson said whatever money the county collected during those years belongs to the county and schools.
"Close to 70 percent will end up with Gore School," Wilson said. "And they need it badly."
According to Wilson's 70 percent rule, about $986,697 would go to Gore Schools for the protested taxes from 1995 through the current year.
For the recent judgment for the years from 1995 to 1998, the school could be collecting over $400,000.
Since Sequoyah Fuels filed an order to freeze the money in bank so it can't be distributed to schools, Wilson said the money will continue to sit in escrow.
"There's nothing that anyone can do about it," Wilson said.
Until the case is decided, the money can't be spent, he said.
Wilson said each year, the school figures the money from Sequoyah Fuels into their budget, but the money is paid under protest, which forces it into the escrow account, and it never reaches the school.
Wilson said the school is budgeting money they know they're not going to see until some point in the future.
"This ruling, that's a start," Wilson said. "If that money could be allocated it would help a lot. No one wants it to go where it's supposed to go more than us.
"But what can we do? We're bound by law."
Wilson said he is looking at the situation positively, seeing the recent ruling as a start and in the county's favor.
Wilson said while there are people in the county who protest their taxes, it doesn't mean the money goes into escrow. He said they haven't had any go to the point of filing a court case, except for Sequoyah Fuels.
"When it was up and running, it was a blessing for that school district," Wilson said.
He said the plant is virtually non-existent and will be non-existent once clean-up plans are approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
"We're so ready for it to be over," Wilson said of the court battle.
According to a summary of the case filed by Sequoyah Fuels Wednesday, the Sequoyah Fuels plant was purchased from the Kerr-McGee Corp. in 1988 for about $15 million. Sequoyah Fuels maintains that they agreed with the county assessor to continue to pay ad valorem taxes based on a higher value than the fair cash value of the property in order to encourage the goodwill of the community.
In late 1992, a reaction in a digester resulted in contamination of the facility soil and groundwater, causing the NRC to order the immediate shutdown of the entire facility. The majority of the employees were laid off, and the facility has not operated since that time. According to the terms of license issued to the company by the NRC, the company is required to decontaminate its property and has submitted a plan for doing so to the NRC. The cost of that environmental clean up of the property is estimated to be about $40 million. The property can only be transferred to another entity holding a similar nuclear license, unless it has been decontaminated, according to Sequoyah Fuels.
In 1993 and 1994, the county assessor agreed to reduce the fair cash value of the facility to reflect its fair cash value at purchase. According to Sequoyah Fuels, they submitted an ad valorem tax return in 1995 showing a value of about $6 million, which represented the fair cash value of assets remaining in service.
The County Board of Equalization proposed to use the previous year's value of about $23 million and reduce that value 10 percent a year over the next 10 years. In 1996, 1997, and 1998, the board rejected the fair cash value returned by Sequoyah Fuels and used the 1994 fair cash value reduced by 10 percent per year, according to Sequoyah Fuels.
In the petition filed Wednesday, Sequoyah Fuels included issues to be raised in appeal. Those issues include: the effect of the cost of remediation of contaminated property on the fair cash value of the property; did the county use an appropriate method for determining the fair cash value of Sequoyah Fuels' property?; can a county board of equalization elect to spread a reduction in fair cash value of property over a 10-year period?; and can Sequoyah Fuels be treated differently from other taxpayers by delaying the reduction in value of its property beyond the year in which it occurred?
Rebecca Fowler of Doener, Saunders, Daniels & Anderson of Tulsa, attorney for Sequoyah Fuels, did not return phone calls from Your TIMES.
