An Alabama bank has taken care of delinquent taxes owed to Lowndes County on the defunct Southern Wood Fiber’s wood chipper facility at the Lowndes County Port.
County Tax Assessor Greg Andrews said Sheffield, Alabama-based Bank Independent, which owns the equipment, paid the county $52,331 for the back taxes last week. Andrews said the company owed real estate and personal property taxes for equipment and structures located at the property.
Lowndes County Port Authority Director Will Sanders said the development is good for the port, which is waiting for the former Southern Wood Fiber site to be cleared. Sanders said the property has a wood debarker, a wood chipper and conveyor and a building.
The equipment was scheduled to be auctioned in late August. However, Andrews said the tax liens disrupted those plans. Now, he said, Bank Independent will try to sell the equipment by the end of November.
Once the equipment is cleared, Sanders said the port can work with the Golden Triangle Development LINK to market a 90-acre site, with Southern Wood Fiber’s land in conjunction with the former KiOR site, to attract a development.
“The sooner they can sell [the equipment], the sooner it can be [moved] off of the property,” Sanders said. “Hopefully, that will be sooner rather than later. Right now, we’re just kind of in waiting mode for Bank Independent to tell us they sold it.”
Equipment is currently being removed from the former KiOR site. The deadline for removing equipment from the site has been extended through the end of this month. It’s unclear if removal efforts will meet that deadline.
Additional tax liens
Andrews said Lowndes County is still awaiting payment on more than $330,000 in tax liens owed by KiOR and CalStar.
In August, the board of supervisors authorized Andrews to pursue the taxes, which are owed for 2015.
He said no payments have been received for either the KiOR or CalStar property. Should that hold until Monday’s board of supervisors meeting, he said supervisors will gain the option to sue for the taxes.
“If they’re not paid by the Monday board meeting they’ll be spread on the insolvent list,” Andrews said. “Then the board can take legal action.”
KiOR owes Lowndes County $296,594 in property taxes on its now-defunct fuel processing plant on The Island in Columbus.
The company built the $200 million facility with hopes of converting wood chips into fuel. The plant has not operated since 2013.
KiOR Inc., which is based out of Houston, Texas, filed for bankruptcy in 2014. However, Andrews said the company’s Mississippi assets were never in bankruptcy. The plant was ultimately sold to Georgia Renewable Power in October 2015, but it still owes property taxes for 2015.
KiOR has rebranded as Inaeris Technologies since its bankruptcy.
Andrews previously told The Dispatch KiOR still owned the plant site and its equipment on Jan. 1, 2015, and according to State Auditor Stacy Pickering, owed taxes for that year.
CalStar owes the county $40,285.
The eco-friendly brick and masonry manufacturer entered a lease agreement with the county in September 2013 for a building in the Golden Triangle Industrial Park off of Highway 82. Production at the facility started in 2014 and ended Oct. 2, 2015.
Lowndes County now owns the facility, which is leased to Agracel.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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