This week the State Assessment Review board or SARB has been holding hearings in Anchorage over the dispute in how much the Trans Alaska Pipeline should be worth.
Municipalities and boroughs that the TAPS line runs through collect taxes on the line and those officials believe the value should be 13.7 billion. The pipeline owners who pay the taxes say it should be 2.7 billion. The Alaska Supreme Court recently reaffirmed a lower court decision that put the 2006 value of TAPS at nearly 10 billion.
The SARB board’s job is to look at all sides and decide what the tax value should be for this year. The decision will mean millions in tax dollars. Either in savings for the companies or in revenue for the municipalities.
Matt Buxton is a reporter for the Fairbanks Daily News Miner. One of the three SARB members is Bernard Washington who is the Chief Financial Officer for Alaska Public Media, the parent company of APRN.
Lori Townsend is the chief editor, senior vice president of journalism and senior host for Alaska Public Media. You can send her news tips and program ideas for Talk of Alaska and Alaska Insight at ltownsend@alaskapublic.org or call 907-550-8452. Read more about Lori here.
