FORT COLLINS — A fight over the value of the Anheuser- Busch brewery site north of Fort Collins and how much the beer giant owes in property taxes could cost Larimer County millions.
The company is appealing the Larimer County assessor’s claim that the brewery business is valued at $91 million. Anheuser-Busch says the site is valued at $20 million and is asking the state Board of Assessment Appeals to rule.
The beer company is targeting the last three years of property tax payments to the county, which have run roughly $2.3 million annually, said Assistant County Attorney William Ressue.
If the state backs the beer company, Larimer County could owe Anheuser-Busch nearly $6 million in tax abatements, based on an interest rate of 1 percent a month on abated taxes, Ressue said.
The company’s tax bill could also be cut to about $500,000 a year.
The county collects taxes for several entities, including the Poudre School District and cities and towns as well as special districts, Ressue said. “We’d be asked to essentially give all that money back.”
The state board is scheduled to have three days of hearings on the issue in May.
The company originally wanted its assessed value cut to $50 million. Its latest appeal to the county wants the value rolled back to $20 million.
But the company has not yet produced an appraisal that would back its claim, said Larimer County Assessor Steve Miller.
“It’s only in the last few weeks they’ve come up with the $20 million,” Miller said. “We just don’t know where they are coming up with that.”
The brewer sits on a 1,130-acre site that opened in 1988. Its annual payroll totals $42 million.
The county’s $91 million appraisal has stood for years, but when Anheuser-Busch was purchased by Belgium-based InBev in 2008, it’s likely that the new owners began looking at ways to cut costs at its recently acquired plants, Miller said.
“They (InBev) are a much bigger company than A-B was and it’s a much different outlook,” Miller said. “Anytime you buy a company as big as A-B, you have to look at what your plants are doing.”
A company statement released to the Fort Collins Coloradoan says that Anheuser-Busch has been a strong contributor to the Fort Collins economy, paying about $8 million a year in real estate and personal property taxes.
“We seek to work with Larimer County to continue to contribute our fair share in taxes, which is why we hired an independent appraiser to conduct a fair and accurate appraisal of our property,” the statement said.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
