Published: 02/15/2018 23:18:03
Bow has paid off much of his Merrimack Station debt to Eversource, but how much the city will owe the utility company is still unclear.
Bow board chairman Harry Judd said he “hand-delivered” a check for $5,722,373 to Eversource on Monday, slightly more than the $5,548,166 that the state Supreme Court ruled that the city overcharged Eversource for the Bow Power Plant for the years 2012 and 2013.
About $1.4 million of that figure comes from a tax overlay the city lifted when it set the tax rate last year, according to city documents.
An additional million dollars came from money the city decided to set aside in an effort to pay off the fallout from the appraisal case.
The rest of the money — about $3.3 million — came from the unrestricted fund balance, leaving a balance of $891,867.
According to the city’s projected budget, the payment will represent a $1.745 million increase in the city’s legal services line item in the upcoming budget.
There is no settlement agreement at this point, but Judd said the city decided to repay the $5.7 million because that amount owed was made incontrovertible by the Supreme Court decision.
“We pay our bills first and then we take care of the things that we want to do with the city,” he said.
Judd said the city is still in discussions with Eversource about how it will repay the $1.8 million it owes the company in interest from the 2012-13 valuation. How the parties will deal with a valuation difference for the years 2014 to 2017 is also up in the air.
Judd said there’s a silver lining: The city and school budgets will have no impact on the tax rate this year despite the payment to Eversource. The city’s operating budget recommended by the budget committee is $11.6 million, a decrease of $21,589 from last year’s budget, according to city documents. The school’s proposed budget is approximately $27.6 million.
But that doesn’t mean residents haven’t felt the impact of the loss of the assessment record. About a quarter of last year’s tax rate increase — which rose from $26.27 to $27.77, a 5.6% increase — came from the city lowering the tax rate. Valuation of Merrimack station at $75 million, according to city documents.
The rest of the increase comes from the aforementioned overlay, which increased the tax rate by 7.8 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. This represents $235 more on the tax bill for a house worth $300,000.
(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, [email protected] or on Twitter at @ActualCANdrews.)
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