Bucksport and Champion

After three years of costly and unproductive conflict, Bucksport and its prime property taxpayer, Champion International Corp., wisely resolved their abatement dispute amicably through negotiation and compromise.

It’s a relief to the town, which already has sunk nearly $1 million in a fight to resist the company’s demand for a $1.45 million abatement on its 1992 property taxes. No need now to run the meters on expensive lawyers and accountants for battles in the state’s superior and high court.

It’s a late Christmas present of sorts to the community’s other taxpayers, who have been reassured by Town Manager Roger Raymond that there will be “no drastic tax increase” as a result of the settlement.

The company agreed to withdraw its suit appealing a November decision of the State Board of Property Tax Review, which favored the town. The ’92 assessment stands. The town, however, has agreed to a new formula that favors the company in depreciation of buildings and equipment. That should benefit the mill by close to $247,000 for the past three tax years, 1993-1995.

It’s a prudent gesture on the company’s part. Champion has the resources to drag the community through the courts indefinitely. A million dollars is not small change. A difference of $100 million in the valuation of its mill is significant. If real and verifiable, it’s worth fighting for, on principle alone.

But assessment is at least as much art as science, and the paper company sensibly decided to work with its town to find a mutually comfortable place in the vast gray area between their official positions. It was there all along.

This is good for the company and the town.

People need jobs. Municipal governments couldn’t survive without the property taxes paid by their mills and spin-off businesses. But mill owners, with their corporate networks of investment in real estate and fiber, need something too: public support. That begins at the community level. On the inside, its important to employee morale and productivity; outside, a strong local base is critical if paper companies expect to function successfully in the political arena.

Corporations can write checks to candidates, but officeholders phone home to check public sentiment. That’s where the votes are.

The end of the Bucksport-Champion controversy is a significant moment, for the town and the mill. The informational meeting scheduled for later this month — once a strategy session and an opportunity for townspeople to vent against the company’s decision to appeal — now can be useful in two ways.

The community can take time to examine the details of its agreement with the mill.

Other municipalities with assessment disputes involving major taxpayers can use the Bucksport-Champion episode as a learning experience, without the pain.