KiOR on Thursday paid local entities the $1.1 million in back taxes it owed.
Lowndes County Tax Collector Greg Andrews told The Dispatch that KiOR made a payment of $1,105,000 to stakeholders Thursday, nine months past the deadline. KiOR had owed $1,014,000 but was assessed a 1 percent per month penalty after missing their February 2 deadline.
Andrews said the Lowndes County School District will receive $376,000 from the payback. Both Lowndes County and Columbus will each add $364,000 to their coffers, according to Andrews.
KiOR, a Texas-based business, built a $200 million plant on The Island designed to convert wood chips to fuel. The plant has not operated since late 2013. KiOR officials have said they struggled to perfect the conversion method.
The remaining equipment at the defunct plant has been sold at a value of $3.7 million. Georgia Renewable Power purchased the majority of equipment last Friday for $2.1 million, according to Derek Henderson, a Jackson attorney who a judge assigned to manage KiOR’s receivership when the Texas-based company declared bankruptcy earlier this year. Georgia Renewable Power plans to remove the equipment by March 2016.
Henderson told The Dispatch last week that KiOR sold a separate piece of equipment — a Hydro-treater system — to Iowa-based Renewable Energy Group “several weeks ago” for $1.6 million.
The sales generated the money needed for KiOR to pay back its property taxes.
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