When Pigs Fly: Part 2
Real Estate Tax Benefit
to Centre County and the Philipsburg Osceola School District
As People Protecting Communities expands its analysis of Resource Recovery, LLC's (RRLLC) official benefits claim documented in their landfill permit application submitted to DEP in May 2006, more major discrepancies have come to light.
In their application, RRLLC claims a $1.2 million annual benefit in real estate taxes: $200,000 to Centre County and $1.0 million to the Philipsburg Osceola School District (POSD).
In a July 2007 Progress article, RRLLC President Ed Abel claimed even more for POSD—$1.6 million!
Using real estate tax estimates obtained from the Centre County Assessment Office in July 2007 — which were based on information from the official permit application and the assumption that RRLLC builds up to their plan — PPC developed the following table comparing RRLLC's claimed tax benefits to the taxing authority's median estimates.
| Annual Real Estate Tax: Claimed (RRLLC) and Computed (PPC) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Source | POSD | Centre County |
| RRLLC 2006 Permit Application | $1,000,000 | $200,000 |
| PPC 2006 based on Assessment Office estimate | $285,600 | $49,000 |
| RRLLC President, Ed Abel, 2007 claim | $1,600,000 | $200,000 |
| PPC 2007 based on Assessment Office estimate | $360,000 | $49,000 |
RRLLC's claimed real estate tax benefit to Centre County is 4 times too high and their claimed benefit to POSD ranges from 3.5–4.4 times too high— making their overall benefit claim 3.6 times too high!
RRLLC GREATLY EXAGGERATES THIS BENEFIT!
Why didn't RRLLC contact the Centre County Assessment Office to compute a realistic, accurate, and defensible real estate tax benefit?
Watch for When Pigs Fly: Part 3 for further analysis of RRLLC's claimed benefits.