Broward County, Florida Must Pay Back Taxes On Two Incinerators

Date: August 29, 2002

Source: News Room

Broward County, Florida's government will owe $25 million in back taxes on two privately owned incinerators under a settlement reached in a decade-long legal battle between the plants' owners and the county property appraiser. Wheelabrator Technologies and the county had long contended that the waste-to-energy plants should be taxed at only a nominal amount because the state offers tax incentives for pollution control equipment. But a Broward property appraiser disagreed and fought for higher tax payments going back to 1992 when the plants started their operations. The county, not Wheelabrator, will have to pay the tax bill because of an obscure clause written into the agreement to build the plants in the 1980s.

Sign up to receive our free Weekly News Bulletin