Following a full-day mediation session on Monday, Oct. 7, the Wiscasset Select Board and the Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co. reached a tentative agreement in a two-year property tax assessment dispute.
According to a Tuesday, Oct. 8 press release from the Wiscasset town office, the tentative agreement values the company’s property at $80 million, a substantial increase from the property’s $30 million valuation in 2022.
Wiscasset’s appraiser valued the Old Ferry Road property at approximately $130 million, while Maine Yankee’s appraisal totaled $2.8 million. The mediation process on Oct. 7 occurred so the parties could find “common ground” between the two totals, according to the press release.
The $80 million valuation will apply retroactively to the 2023 and 2024 tax years and will continue for five additional years, ending in 2029. In addition to paying annual property taxes in Wiscasset, Maine Yankee agreed to pay a $365,578 impact fee, which represents the difference between the taxes at the agreed $80 million valuation and the actual taxes assessed for 2023 and 2024, according to a Tuesday, Oct. 8 press release by the town of Wiscasset.
The town has been in litigation with Maine Yankee for roughly two years due to the company’s push for property tax exemption.
Following the expiration of a 20-year property tax agreement between Maine Yankee and the town of Wiscasset in 2022, the company filed for a property tax exemption, stating the independent spent fuel storage facility located on its property counted as an air pollution control measure.
In March 2023, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection determined the storage facility counted as a pollution control facility, therefore deeming it tax exempt.
Working with the town’s attorney, Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons filed an appeal with the Maine Board of Environmental Protection. In October 2023, the board upheld the Maine DEP’s decision.
Simmons then consulted with legislators to find a solution. Along with a lobbyist, Simmons urged legislators to pass a bill disqualifying nuclear waste facilities from being considered air pollution control facilities.
State Sen. Cameron Reny, D-Bristol, and Rep. Edward “Ed” Polewarcyzk, R-Wiscasset, along with Rep. Allison Hepler, D-Woolwich, co-sponsored L.D. 2027, “An Act to Clarify the Property Tax Exemption for Air Pollution Control Facilities.”
In March, the Maine House voted 109-8 in favor of enacting L.D. 2027.
On April 1, the Senate voted 24-9 to enact the piece of legislation. Gov. Janet Mills signed the bill into law on April 2.
The tentative settlement is subject to approval by both the Wiscasset Select Board and the Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co. Board of Directors. Upon finalization and signing of the settlement agreement, the owed taxes and impact fee will be paid to the town.
The Wiscasset Select Board will review the settlement at its next meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at the Wiscasset municipal building.
