Post by VAcontainerhauler on Jun 25, 2009 7:58:05 GMT -5
APM will send check after Portsmouth sends them a bill
PORTSMOUTH
Marina Mandella would like nothing more than to pay the personal property tax that APM Terminals owes the city this year.
The New Jersey-based tax accountant who handles some tax billings for APM Terminals said Wednesday that her office has been going back and forth with Portsmouth over the assessment. The office phoned the city on May 22 and June 8 to request the bill, she said.
The company doesn't want to be assessed penalties for not paying it on time, Mandella said.
"To receive it would be a great thing," she said.
Meanwhile, Portsmouth officials have been arguing over when APM should receive a personal property tax bill. To date, the city has not sent the company one.
APM Terminals is Portsmouth's largest taxpayer. If the company doesn't pay its estimated $2.8 million personal property tax before Tuesday, Portsmouth could face a budget shortfall for its fiscal year, which ends June 30, according to correspondence obtained by The Virginian-Pilot. E-mails did not disclose why the bill has not been sent.
W ithout the payment, Portsmouth officials could be forced to dip into the rainy day fund, according to a June 16 e-mail that the city's chief financial officer, Betty Burrell, sent to Franklin D. Edmondson, Portsmouth's commissioner of revenue.
Use of the fund could jeopardize the city's credit ratings, which help determine the interest rates that Portsmouth receives on money it borrows, city leaders have said.
Council members asked City Attorney Tim Oksman this week in a closed meeting to mediate the tax situation, Vice Mayor Bill Moody Jr. said.
"Obviously, there's a disagreement between the two parties involved," Moody said. "They need to work it out."
Personal property tax bills in Portsmouth are due June 5.
Edmondson, whose office assesses personal property tax for the city, said in a phone interview this week that he will continue to work on the matter. State law prohibits him from talking about specific taxpayers, he said.
However, in a June 18 letter to Burrell, Edmondson wrote that his office bills for personal property tax on a calendar year basis, not on a fiscal year schedule.
"You have failed to even try to understand our procedures, thus resulting in the ultimate confusion you have now created," Edmondson wrote.
Councilman Steve Heretick said he doesn't think there's a $2.8 million shortfall.
"I think, if anything, a couple of people can't get their calendars coordinated," he said.
The $450 million container shipping facility in Churchland opened in early 2007.
The city sent APM Terminals its first personal property tax assessment bill, based on Edmondson's assessment, in September 2008. The bill, which the city applied to this fiscal year, totaled more than $2.7 million.
APM also pays more than $4 million in real estate tax a year, which constitutes about 4 percent of the city's real estate tax revenue, City Assessor Alethia Bryce said.
But this is not the first time the council has reviewed APM's assessments.
Oksman and Bryce wrote a letter to Edmondson in July 2008 about the assessment of six multimillion-dollar cargo cranes. The question was whether the cranes should be assessed as real or personal property, which are taxed at different rates. Oksman and Bryce presented arguments to Edmondson that they should be assessed as real estate.
The process, which resulted in the cranes being taxed as real estate, took more than a year. At the time, Edmondson said that as the largest economic development project in Hampton Roads, the assessment of the terminals was complex. He also said that tax assessors have a window of three years, plus the current year, to get assessments correct.
City Treasurer Jimmy Williams, whose office sends out personal property tax bills, said Wednesday that he has not yet received the APM bill from Edmondson's office.
"I can't speak to why it wasn't billed on June 5," Williams said. "But he's probably got a good reason."
Williams said that if he receives the assessment soon, APM will be promptly billed. If the payment is sent in before July 31, the money can still be counted toward the fiscal year that ends June 30, he said.
"I'm optimistic that I'm going to have an assessment and a bill to send out by the end of the fiscal year," Williams said. "It'll be a nice check when it comes."
Jen McCaffery, (757) 446-2627, jen.mccaffery@pilotonline.com
PORTSMOUTH
Marina Mandella would like nothing more than to pay the personal property tax that APM Terminals owes the city this year.
The New Jersey-based tax accountant who handles some tax billings for APM Terminals said Wednesday that her office has been going back and forth with Portsmouth over the assessment. The office phoned the city on May 22 and June 8 to request the bill, she said.
The company doesn't want to be assessed penalties for not paying it on time, Mandella said.
"To receive it would be a great thing," she said.
Meanwhile, Portsmouth officials have been arguing over when APM should receive a personal property tax bill. To date, the city has not sent the company one.
APM Terminals is Portsmouth's largest taxpayer. If the company doesn't pay its estimated $2.8 million personal property tax before Tuesday, Portsmouth could face a budget shortfall for its fiscal year, which ends June 30, according to correspondence obtained by The Virginian-Pilot. E-mails did not disclose why the bill has not been sent.
W ithout the payment, Portsmouth officials could be forced to dip into the rainy day fund, according to a June 16 e-mail that the city's chief financial officer, Betty Burrell, sent to Franklin D. Edmondson, Portsmouth's commissioner of revenue.
Use of the fund could jeopardize the city's credit ratings, which help determine the interest rates that Portsmouth receives on money it borrows, city leaders have said.
Council members asked City Attorney Tim Oksman this week in a closed meeting to mediate the tax situation, Vice Mayor Bill Moody Jr. said.
"Obviously, there's a disagreement between the two parties involved," Moody said. "They need to work it out."
Personal property tax bills in Portsmouth are due June 5.
Edmondson, whose office assesses personal property tax for the city, said in a phone interview this week that he will continue to work on the matter. State law prohibits him from talking about specific taxpayers, he said.
However, in a June 18 letter to Burrell, Edmondson wrote that his office bills for personal property tax on a calendar year basis, not on a fiscal year schedule.
"You have failed to even try to understand our procedures, thus resulting in the ultimate confusion you have now created," Edmondson wrote.
Councilman Steve Heretick said he doesn't think there's a $2.8 million shortfall.
"I think, if anything, a couple of people can't get their calendars coordinated," he said.
The $450 million container shipping facility in Churchland opened in early 2007.
The city sent APM Terminals its first personal property tax assessment bill, based on Edmondson's assessment, in September 2008. The bill, which the city applied to this fiscal year, totaled more than $2.7 million.
APM also pays more than $4 million in real estate tax a year, which constitutes about 4 percent of the city's real estate tax revenue, City Assessor Alethia Bryce said.
But this is not the first time the council has reviewed APM's assessments.
Oksman and Bryce wrote a letter to Edmondson in July 2008 about the assessment of six multimillion-dollar cargo cranes. The question was whether the cranes should be assessed as real or personal property, which are taxed at different rates. Oksman and Bryce presented arguments to Edmondson that they should be assessed as real estate.
The process, which resulted in the cranes being taxed as real estate, took more than a year. At the time, Edmondson said that as the largest economic development project in Hampton Roads, the assessment of the terminals was complex. He also said that tax assessors have a window of three years, plus the current year, to get assessments correct.
City Treasurer Jimmy Williams, whose office sends out personal property tax bills, said Wednesday that he has not yet received the APM bill from Edmondson's office.
"I can't speak to why it wasn't billed on June 5," Williams said. "But he's probably got a good reason."
Williams said that if he receives the assessment soon, APM will be promptly billed. If the payment is sent in before July 31, the money can still be counted toward the fiscal year that ends June 30, he said.
"I'm optimistic that I'm going to have an assessment and a bill to send out by the end of the fiscal year," Williams said. "It'll be a nice check when it comes."
Jen McCaffery, (757) 446-2627, jen.mccaffery@pilotonline.com