THOMASTON – Dragon Products Co. will not appeal a $143,540 building permit fee assessed by the town for its $50 million expansion project.

“It’s in our best interest to just pay it,” company spokesman Terry Veysey said Wednesday.

Dragon had until today to file an appeal in Knox County Superior Court opposing the zoning appeals board’s July 28 decision to uphold the fee imposed by the code enforcement officer.

In July, the zoning board sided with the code officer in determining that the cement manufacturing company’s building permit fee should be based on the cost of equipment and new structures for the project.

Dragon’s attorney, Matthew Manahan of Portland, argued the fee should not include equipment. Since the bulk of the expansion project is equipment, the company figured the fee should be $33,398.

Dragon paid its $143,540 building permit fee when it obtained its permit, according to Town Manager Valmore Blastow Jr. on Wednesday.

Code Enforcement Officer Peter Surek said Dragon recently met with selectmen on a different matter and indicated it would not appeal the fee.

In January 2002, Dragon first announced its modernization, which had a $40 million price tag. A year later, the company increased the project’s value to $50 million, when it decided to also do improvements to its distribution process.

The new method of manufacturing cement will be by a “dry” process rather than a “wet” process, which will save the company production time and money. The dry process shortens kiln time from 150 minutes to 45 minutes and allows the company to increase production by 40 percent.

In February 2003, when Dragon announced an additional $10 million would be spent for improvements in the distribution process, Veysey said that the increased cost of the project would not affect its tax increment financing deal with the town.

In March 2002, voters approved the $40 million tax agreement, which allows the additional property taxes generated by the new investment to be returned to the business for a limited number of years.