David Wilcox
Executive editor
The city of Auburn and Nucor Steel have come to a tentative agreement on the assessments of the manufacturer's local properties after it argued in court that they should be almost $13 million lower.
The city and Nucor have agreed to a $7,927,800 reduction of the assessments, according to a resolution authorizing the agreement that'll be voted on by the Cayuga County Legislature's Ways & Means Committee on Tuesday. The meeting will be held at 4 p.m. at the Ward W. O'Hara Agricultural & Country Living Museum in Owasco.
Nucor challenged the assessments in court in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Last year, the steel manufacturer said its properties at 25 Quarry Road, 19 Quarry Road, 279-287 North St. and 33 York St. should be assessed a combined $2,428,800 instead of the city's value of $15,363,800 — a decrease of $12,935,000, or 84%. Nucor slightly decreased its requested assessments in each of its three challenges.Â
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The agreed reduction of $7,927,800 is about 60% of what Nucor sought. But according to the resolution, reductions and refunds for 2023 have been waived and no reduction is possible for 2022 because city, county and school district taxes were fixed under a PILOT agreement. The nearly $8 million reduction would therefore take effect starting in 2024, and result in PILOT refunds not to exceed $30,000.
Under the PILOT, which began in 2007, Nucor is receiving an abatement of taxes based on its assessed value that incrementally decreases every year from 60% in 2023-2024 to 10% in 2030-2031.Â
Nucor based its challenges on a consultant's review of comparable industrial facilities in the city, General Manager Jason Curtis told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» in 2023. City assessor Jeanne Hering, meanwhile, told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» she based the assessment on the sale prices of other Northeast steel mills, and noted that Nucor had the 12th highest assessment per square foot of manufacturing space in the city.Â
Auburn's corporation counsel, Nate Garland, told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» that despite the county committee's vote to authorize the agreement, the city and Nucor are still "fine-tuning" it.
Nucor, which is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the 16th largest steel producer in the world and employs more than 250 people in Auburn.Â
A representative of the manufacturer did not respond to a request for comment by ÈËÊÞÐÔ½».
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Executive Editor David Wilcox can be reached at (315) 282-2245 or david.wilcox@lee.net.
David Wilcox
Executive editor
