PORTSMOUTH
Nearly a year after APM Terminals opened its $450 million container shipping facility off the Western Freeway, city officials are still trying to figure out how to tax the operation.
Reviewing the 291-acre terminal with its many cranes and other pieces of equipment is a mammoth undertaking, said Franklin D. Edmondson, Portsmouth's revenue commissioner. Preliminary work to assess property for the machinery and tools tax and the tangible business property tax began nearly 18 months ago, and the effort fully got under way earlier this year, he said.
Scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008, he said, the work is now about a month ahead of schedule.
"We're very pleased with where our office is at this particular time in this assessment," Edmondson said Friday.
One issue still being dealt with is whether the six multi million-dollar cranes for unloading and loading ships will be considered real estate for tax purposes, or whether one of the business taxes applies, said Alethia C. Bryce, Portsmouth's real estate assessor. Each tax has a different rate.
The Virginia Port Authority operates nine similar cranes at its Portsmouth Marine Terminal, but those are not taxed because the authority is an arm of state government.
APM is Portsmouth's largest real estate taxpayer, Bryce said. The roughly 613 acres of land APM owns in Portsmouth and the structures on it are assessed at $308.7 million, representing $3.9 million a year in taxes, Bryce said.
APM, a Netherlands-based company that is part of Danish conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, is one of the world's largest marine terminal operators. APM posted $2.52 billion in revenue last year from its 50 terminals in 31 countries on five continents, according to APM's annual report.
Gregory Richards, (757) 446-2599, gregory.richards@pilotonline.com
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What!!!!
Both Edmondson and Bryce should be demoted to meter maid. These two get a hefty salary to do what they are supposed to do and this issue should have been resolved before the first container was lifted. If it was so hard to determine how to tax the cranes, why not just call Nofolk and ask them how they do it? As usual the article was not complete and did not address the collection of back taxes but I hope someone in the city is thinking of this.
Well let's just start by
Well let's just start by saying that normally ports are State owned and therefore do not pay taxes, hence lies the problem for reference. However I agree that Mersk should have been paying some sort of taxes along the way especially since all we heard from our illustrious City Council when Mersk was coming to Portsmouth was how much tax revenue they would generate. Well guess what, we have not seen a dime and guess who keeps paying the bills??? You got it. We do, the citizens. This issue should have been worked out before now.
I wish I was so lucky
I sure wish the city would take 18 months to decide how to tax my property. Alas no such luck. Every year like clockwork they increase my assessment. As usual the article was incomplete. Has APM paid any taxes while our Treasurer and Assessor decide how to do their jobs? Here is a clue folks. Don't reinvent the wheel. Found out how other cities with ports do it or better yet, spend thousands of tax dollars to hire a consultant to figure it out for you.