I’ve been trying to determine if MidAmerican Energy Company (MEC) is paying the correct amount of property tax on their wind farm property in Pocahontas County. As it turns out, this is not an easy task for an interested Iowa tax payer. The reason for this winter “adventure” stems from the county supervisors proposed creation of a Tax Increment Finance district around MEC’s wind project. If they proceed, tax revenue would be diverted away from our school district, fire department, etc., for other projects in the county. An individual taxpayer within the school district will mostly likely see their tax rates increase as a result. Since the county is debating where to spend their “windfall” revenue, I became curious about how the county determined the tax rates for an asset with over a $1/2 billion in value. In the interest of full disclosure, I have a company that offers consulting for wind farm development, so I have some experience with this issue. (continues below)
MidAmerican and Iowa wind farm property tax
- Monday, Feb 18 2013
- greggheide
- 2 Comments