Wayne County cable company loses tax fight

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- The time for appealing a judgment against the company providing cable services through BoyCom Telecommunications in Poplar Bluff has expired, and the company owes more than $117,000.

In May 2013, Partel Broadband Telecommunications Inc. filed a petition for administrative review of the assessments levied by Wayne County Assessor Frances Huitt, according to a news release from Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Ramshur, who represented Huitt.

Partel, Ramshur said, is a cable-service provider through BoyCom Telecommunications to Poplar Bluff, Piedmont and other communities in Southeast Missouri.

"What they were complaining about was their property in Wayne County and how it was assessed ... the size of assessment of their lease-holds [leased property] and towers," Ramshur explained.

Partel had towers and cables in Greenville, Piedmont and Williamsville, Missouri, as well as "just a little bit of equipment ... receivers," a deputy assessor said.

Since "all this came about," she said, the company has torn down its tower in Greenville. "It's completely gone," she said.

Company officials said it was personal property, while it was assessed as real estate property, Ramshur said.

Personal property and real estate reportedly are calculated at different percentages when assessed.

Commercial real estate property, the deputy assessor said, is assessed at 32 percent of the appraised value, while business personal property is assessed at 33 1/3 percent. Personal property, she said, depreciates faster than real estate.

When the State Tax Commission ruled against Partel, it filed an appeal in Butler County Circuit Court to get a review by a judge, Ramshur said.

Senior Judge Paul McGhee of Dexter, Missouri, was assigned to hear the case.

During an April 4 hearing, Ramshur and Van Buren, Missouri, lawyer Rocky Kingree, who represented Partel, agreed to submit the case for review by the State Tax Commission.

McGhee reportedly took the case under advisement, issuing his ruling May 13, affirming the decision of the State Tax Commission ruling in favor of the Wayne County assessor's assessment.

The judgment became final 30 days after it was entered, Ramshur said. That was followed, he said, by a 10-day period for appeal to the Missouri Court of Appeals.

"The time for appealing has expired, thereby ending the litigation regarding the Wayne County assessments," Ramshur said.