Robbinsville – Graham County taxpayers will save a substantial amount following Brookfield Renewable Energy dropping its appeal against the county over its valuation of the Cheoah Dam and Santeetlah Dam, both of which are operated by the firm.
County Attorney J.K Coward gave an update on the proceedings at Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting, saying that Brookfield had dropped its appeal of the county’s $211 million evaluation of its facilities, a stark contrast to Brookfield’s original valuation of approximately $140 million.
The appeal being dropped will save county taxpayers approximately $299,000, annually.
“It’s official and over today,” Coward said.
Coward also congratulated the board for sticking to its valuation, as opposed to the lower valuation of the dams pushed by the company. The company offered to meet the county in the middle.
“It will save millions of dollars on the tax valuation and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of additional expenditures,” Coward said.
County Manager and Finance Officer Becky Garland further explained the effects of Brookfield dropping its appeal after the meeting. The issue began in early 2020 and has continued to play out between the county and Brookfield since, with continued back-and-forth between the two entities.
“They filed a petition to the (North Carolina) Property Tax Commission – which is like a court in Raleigh – and they said that they wanted to appeal our appraisal,” Garland said. “Of course, we have a tax attorney in addition to Mr. Coward, and our tax attorney started representing us, and he went through the process of discovery.”
She said the tax attorney went through extensive Brookfield documents before meeting with Brookfield again in December. At that meeting, Brookfield offered to meet the county in the middle at a $195 million valuation.
“We said. ‘No, we’re going to stick with what we’ve got,’ and a week later Brookfield came back and dropped their appeal,” Garland said.
She further detailed the effect dropping the appeal would have on the county’s taxpayers, particularly with as small of a tax base as the county has.
“It’s just three pennies on the mil,” Garland said. “That’s a big chunk of change, especially in a county that has no tax base. We have to do everything possible. We want our citizens to be the payer of last resort, and we want Brookfield to only pay what is the value, and we’re solid in our appraisal.
She said she believed the situation was fair to Brookfield and emphasized that the county was not trying to short or otherwise harm the company.
“We don’t want Brookfield to pay a dime more than what those dams are valued at, but we want them to pay exactly what they owe, which we are confident is our appraisal,” Garland said.
Brookfield Renewable is based in Toronto.