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Coal plants aren’t economically viable. Cheap natural gas from fracking put them out of business. The problem now is gas pipeline capacity into New England. Lawsuits from NIMBY people over pipeline expansion are holding New England hostage.
If you pay property taxes in Somerset, you’re not happy. That coal plant was paying big taxes.
True. I think the FY19 assessed value was about 1/5 of the assessed value in 2018. Obviously that type of hit in revenue from the town’s largest taxpayer is going to shake things up a bit.
Location: Earth, a nice neighborhood in the Milky Way
3,795 posts, read 2,696,474 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffD
Coal plants aren’t economically viable. Cheap natural gas from fracking put them out of business. The problem now is gas pipeline capacity into New England. Lawsuits from NIMBY people over pipeline expansion are holding New England hostage.
In 2011 alone, according to the report, gas distribution companies lost 69 billion cubic feet of gas into the atmosphere.
“Almost enough to meet the state of Maine’s gas needs for a year and equal to the annual carbon dioxide emissions of about six million automobiles,” the report said.
The principal constituent of natural gas is methane, a gas that is a far worse green house gas than carbon dioxide.
Natural gas companies need to make a good faith effort. Get the leaks fixed and the gas distribution lines in good shape, and then we can talk about expansion of pipeline capacity.
True. I think the FY19 assessed value was about 1/5 of the assessed value in 2018. Obviously that type of hit in revenue from the town’s largest taxpayer is going to shake things up a bit.
Somerset re-assessed everybody in town. Up 7% in valuation on average for residential and commercial up 12%. The total assessed value for the town went down 2% due to the death of the coal plant. The residential mill rate last year went up $1.29 to $18.25. Add that on top of your 7% higher valuation and you're not at all happy when you get your tax bill in the mail. The average was a 15% hike.
True. I think the FY19 assessed value was about 1/5 of the assessed value in 2018. Obviously that type of hit in revenue from the town’s largest taxpayer is going to shake things up a bit.
Agreed, town is going through a bit of a hard time as it transitions away from the power plants footing the majority of the bill. Hopefully the power plant land being a federal opportunity zone helps attract redevelopment, the area could certainly use a new tax base along with some jobs.
As an aside, I have heard many people saying property values will be going up for the area particularly properties who had this as a "view". I know lot of people would avoid homes with a view of the plant and the towers etc. However, I question how much values will actually increase vs listings just being more attractive to a broader buyer pool and potentially bumping up values some with increased competition.
At the end of the day the property is still zoned industrial and a large piece of what would have been outstanding residential property that will never be. It would be interesting to think of how different the town of Somerset would be today had the plant not been built when it was.
Somerset re-assessed everybody in town. Up 7% in valuation on average for residential and commercial up 12%. The total assessed value for the town went down 2% due to the death of the coal plant. The residential mill rate last year went up $1.29 to $18.25. [/url]
The mill rate in Somerset is a bit deceiving. The town offers a residential exemption of just under 28k FY19, up from right about 26k FY18
I do think it may get a bit worse for residents before it gets better, the Commercial and Industrial mill rates might need to come down some to make it more attractive for some significant new development to come in. Either that or TIF or PILOT programs.
From the link: Brayton Point is uniquely positioned to support the emerging offshore wind energy sector due to its proximity to offshore wind energy tracts in the Atlantic Ocean, a deep water port, access to major highway transportation, and public support for energy diversification. For these reasons, it is anticipated that Brayton Point will be utilized as a logistics, manufacturing, and support center for offshore wind and other industries.
It will still pay taxes. But the point of all this is that the proximity of the plant in MA near the RI border should no longer negatively affect RI.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,936 posts, read 36,962,945 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hollytree
Which has now changed...
LOL
Things do change in 7 years. Freaking kids.
BTW, it was a fun Sat morning things to do for a bit. My partner and I brought her nephew out for it and got breakfast after. There were lots of people out.
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