Crown Pacific Bid To Cut Its Taxes Draws Rankin Ire Effort To Slash Mill Value Called ‘Epitome Of Corporate Greed’

The man who earned a statewide reputation by blasting property taxes as excessive and unjustified is now railing at a major Panhandle taxpayer for apparently agreeing with him.

Kootenai County Commissioner Ron Rankin, who has been pushing a cap on property taxes at 1 percent of taxable value and has been voting to slash tax assessments since joining the commission, claims Crown Pacific Partners LP is being selfish in trying to have the taxable value of its Coeur d’Alene mill slashed.

“They are out talking about what great corporate citizens they are, … handing out a couple of $1,000 checks to schools with one hand while they are trying to beat the school district out of $271,000,” Rankin declared.

“I think this is the epitome of corporate greed and corporate hypocrisy,” he said.

Rankin, who has failed three times to secure voter approval of his One Percent Initiative, has based much of his campaign for the tax slash on his contention that local property taxes should not be used to finance school operations.

Crown Pacific is pressing to have the valuation of its local mill slashed from the $16 million assessed by the county to the $3.8 million it claims the mill is actually worth because of what it calls economic obsolescence. The company argues that high log prices, tight log supplies and low finished lumber prices make the mill worth less.

The county has offered on separate occasions to cut the assessment by $3 million and later $6 million, but, Rankin said, “they won’t deal, they won’t talk, they won’t compromise.”

Rankin, who called Gov. Phil Batt’s 1995 compromise proposal for what today is $50 million in property tax relief essentially worthless, estimates that if Crown Pacific wins its legal challenge in court, other county taxpayers will have to cover the $640,000 it will be refunded for 1994, 1995, 1997 and 1998.

In addition, Rankin is miffed by the bill the county is running up fighting the court case - about $100,000 so far.

He and other county officials are rankled that the state will not step into the legal battle. But state officials pointed out that since 1993, the counties have been responsible for assessing industrial property so challenges are their responsibility. Prior to that, the state handled those assessments and challenges were fought by the attorney general.