Ameren, Cape Girardeau County tax dispute drags on

This story is updated to add the thoughts of Cape Girardeau County's presiding commissioner.

Ameren Missouri and assessors in multiple Missouri counties, including Cape Girardeau, have been fighting a quiet battle that has gone on for years — and there appears to be no end in sight.

The St. Louis-based utility says assessments for Ameren's underground natural gas distribution systems are too high and Ameren has fought the amounts in court.

Cape Girardeau County and Ameren managed to settle the 2013 tax bill but all the years since have been in dispute.

The nearly decadelong disagreement has deprived the Cape Girardeau School District, for example, of millions of dollars in tax revenue.

Ameren has been paying the county's yearly assessment but because both sides can't agree on what is rightly owed, the county has been holding Ameren's payment in escrow pending either a settlement between the county and the utility or a court ruling.

The numbers

The most recent figures provided by County Collector Barbara Gholson show her office is holding, in a protested account, a total of $4,073,937.42 since 2014. The lion's share of the amount, $3,014,996.31, is due to the Cape Girardeau School District.

"I'm not exactly sure where this (dispute) is at," said district superintendent Neil Glass. "It's gone to circuit court, to the court of appeals and to the state tax commission; it just seems like nobody wants to make a decision on it. The protest by Ameren makes it very difficult for us to game out an annual budget and these are significant dollars we've been losing out on."

Battle lines

Cape Girardeau County decided to join forces with other Missouri counties to form a mutual defense fund coalition to fight a legal battle with Ameren.

Assessor Bob Adams said he believes Ameren, with deeper pockets to fight litigation, is just waiting out its county opponents, figuring the counties will tire of the mounting legal bills and give up.

"Ameren dropped its appeal with Boone County because Boone has a lot of money. Over the years, we've lost several counties (from the coalition). Ameren's mode of operation has been to keep us in court until (our mutual funds) are bankrupted and they've literally done that with some of our counties who couldn't afford to go on," Adams said.

Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy said Monday he is looking forward to a successful end to litigation, adding, "Everybody needs to pay their fair share (of taxes)."

Ameren Missouri responded to an inquiry by the Southeast Missourian about the situation and views it quite differently.

"At Ameren Missouri, we care about keeping costs down for our customers. We strive to protect our customers from unnecessary cost increases — (and) this includes costs brought about by overpayment of natural gas property taxes," said Warren Wood, Ameren Missouri's vice president of regulatory and legislative affairs, in an email to the Southeast Missourian.

"The tax values we have submitted follow methodology approved by the Missouri State Tax Commission, ensuring fairness and equity in taxation across all counties where Ameren Missouri distributes natural gas. While we have paid all amounts of property tax requested by Cape Girardeau County, only the disputed amount has been held in escrow. We will continue to advocate for Ameren Missouri customers through the legal process."

Rationale for the fight

Adams said the county's below-ground valuation of Ameren Missouri's distribution equipment is based on real property calculations, not personal property assessments — which appears to be a major bone of contention between both camps.

"Take your home, for example. Homes are real property. They don't depreciate in value. If you buy a home in 1990, if you kept it in good condition, it's probably worth twice what it was 30 years ago. Cars, on the other hand, are personal property and are valued differently. That vehicle you bought in 1990 is worth less," Adams said.

Adams said it defies logic to believe permanently based underground equipment can be anything other than real property.

"We've been trying to get to the Supreme Court because what we're asking for is strictly defined by (state) statutes," he added.

Again, the two camps do not see eye to eye.

Ameren Missouri told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2016 the utility is following a State Tax Commission advisory that companies follow an Internal Revenue Service depreciation schedule rather than a market value model advocated by county assessors.

Adams thinks the state panel gave assessors the final word.

"The bottom line was the last sentence in the tax commission's reply," Adams said. "The commission said assessors are free to appraise the property with whatever method they so determine."

That guidance also said the assessors were the final word on which method to use, Adams explained.

Stay tuned.

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