Officials with Cowlitz County say that they’re pleased with the results of a lawsuit that was brought by Equachlor, challenging the chemical company’s property tax assessment. Chief Civil Prosecutor Ron Marshall and County Assessor Terry McLaughlin discussed last Friday’s Superior Court decision, upholding the county’s assessment that had been developed several years ago. Marshall says that the case goes back to 2006, when Equachlor built some new facilities on their land that was being leased from Weyerhaeuser. McLaughlin’s office put a value of $69 million on the completed equipment, an assessment that wasn’t challenged until 2008, when the company paid its tax bill under protest. They filed suit the next year, asking for relief, going back to 2006. If the company had been successful, the county would have had to refund about $1.5 million in property tax payments, having to raise that money from all of the other taxpayers in the county. A rough estimate put that bill at about $46 per household.
