ROCKINGHAM — The Rockingham Listers have received a third-party appraisal of the Bellows Falls TransCanada hydroelectric generation facility by a New Hampshire appraisal firm at $107 million for a property the town values at more than $126 million.
According to Camilla Roberts, Chair of the Rockingham Board of Listers, George Sansoucy, P.E., LLC., whose firm was hired by the state of Vermont to weigh in on the value of the properties, said this week that the hydro facility in Rockingham will be valued at $107 million, not including the New Hampshire side or any other properties in town owned by TransCanada.
The state requested independent property appraisals after towns along the Connecticut River and TransCanada found themselves at odds over increased property values and resultant tax rates. The legislature budgeted $200,000 last year for this, after serious questions were raised between the town of Concord and TransCanada over listers' property assessments for the Moore Dam.
“We've been working for the state of Vermont for four months [appraising] nine facilities up and down the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers,” Sansoucy said.
At issue is the discrepancy between falling prices for electricity on the wholesale market and what TransCanada believes is an inflated rise in value of property and resultant taxes since the last appraisal. Rockingham says it is prepared for TransCanada to take umbrage.
“TransCanada's assessed value will be set at $126,292,500 for FY2011,” said Rockingham Finance Director John O'Connor. “I do not know whether TransCanada will grieve …the …assessed value … [whether it] will remain or be changed. The listers will make the first decision.”
“If TransCanada does not agree with the listers' decision, it can be appealed to the Board of Civil Authority,” he continued. “If they do not agree with that decision, they can bring litigation or negotiate with the Selectboard to try to avoid litigation.”
Property taxes paid in FY2010 by TransCanada were $2,354,850.
O'Connor said that in addition to the property taxes, TransCanada paid $766,354 as a “support payment.”
He defined the support payment as “the amount over and above the property taxes assessed at the $90 million valuation that TransCanada agreed to pay.”
“They agreed to pay this additional amount to avoid litigating the hydro facility's valuation,” he added. “The town originally set the dam's value at $126,292,500, but agreed to stipulate a value of $90 million in exchange for TransCanada paying the support payment.”
The Sansoucy dam appraisals will determine what comes next in negotiations between TransCanada and Rockingham over assessments and taxes - talks that had stalled pending Sansoucy's findings.
While Bellows Falls would like a seat at the table in negotiations that affect village residents, Selectboard Chair Thom MacPhee had previously insisted that only one representative from both entities would be allowed. That may change, however, should the Village decide to hire its own municipal manager.
However, MacPhee also said, at their last board meeting, that “we are working with the Village on this. We want this to be fair.”