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Big Spring refinery tax lawsuit going to judge
by Bob Campbell
Midland Reporter-Telegram
From staff reports
With hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake, attorneys for Alon USA Refinery and Howard County Appraisal District completed their exhaustive weeklong examinations of witnesses Friday afternoon in Big Spring.
District Judge Robert Moore told Austin tax lawyers Mark Hutcheson for the Dallas-based refinery company and Sandra Griffin for the appraisal district that he will hear their oral summations at their convenience and that of the court sometime in September.
A county official said Moore had kept them in court until 7-7:30 p.m. each night since the trial began Monday. Hutcheson and Griffin chose a "bench trial" with no jury and the judge deciding the complex case.
The issue is if the appraisal district, collecting for Howard County, Howard College and Big Spring School District, was justified when it raised the crude oil refinery's taxable value from $60 million to $275 million in 2005-06.
County Judge Mark Barr said the higher valuation would produce an additional $1 million per year for the county and $240,000 each for the college and public schools.
"Alon doesn't want to get raised because they think it's unfair compared to what other refineries their size in Texas are paying," Barr said. "Judge Moore has a lot of numbers to digest and Alon has made the statement that they will appeal if it goes against them."
Dallas engineering consultant Kathy Spletter testified in 118th District Court that key parts of the plant are 61 years old and it operates more expensively and less efficiently that most other Texas Gulf Coast refineries.
With hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake, attorneys for Alon USA Refinery and Howard County Appraisal District completed their exhaustive weeklong examinations of witnesses Friday afternoon in Big Spring.
District Judge Robert Moore told Austin tax lawyers Mark Hutcheson for the Dallas-based refinery company and Sandra Griffin for the appraisal district that he will hear their oral summations at their convenience and that of the court sometime in September.
A county official said Moore had kept them in court until 7-7:30 p.m. each night since the trial began Monday. Hutcheson and Griffin chose a "bench trial" with no jury and the judge deciding the complex case.
The issue is if the appraisal district, collecting for Howard County, Howard College and Big Spring School District, was justified when it raised the crude oil refinery's taxable value from $60 million to $275 million in 2005-06.
County Judge Mark Barr said the higher valuation would produce an additional $1 million per year for the county and $240,000 each for the college and public schools.
"Alon doesn't want to get raised because they think it's unfair compared to what other refineries their size in Texas are paying," Barr said. "Judge Moore has a lot of numbers to digest and Alon has made the statement that they will appeal if it goes against them."
Dallas engineering consultant Kathy Spletter testified in 118th District Court that key parts of the plant are 61 years old and it operates more expensively and less efficiently that most other Texas Gulf Coast refineries.
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concerned citizen wrote on Aug 23, 2008 10:45 PM: