Assessment of Consol’s coal in McGuffey district mines in hands of two boards
The Washington County Board of Assessment Appeals scheduled a hearing Thursday on the value of 8,531.9 acres of coal being actively mined in Consol’s Enlow Fork and Harvey mines, but a tentative settlement, announced Thursday between McGuffey School District and the energy giant made testimony unnecessary.
According to a spreadsheet school district solicitor Anthony Giglio submitted to the assessment appeals board, under the settlement the current assessed valuation of actively mined coal per acre would increase to $1,350 from $1,208 on eight of the nine parcels that had been in dispute. A 102-plus-acre tract that is part of Harvey Mine in East Finley Township was assigned a value of $746 per acre.
Appeals board Chairman John Rheel told Giglio and Michael Snyder, the attorney representing Consol, they would be learning of the board’s decision on the proposed settlement in about five days by mail.
Giglio said the school board would be the next taxing body to consider the settlement, which places the proposed assessed valuation at $11.482 million, up from $10.259 million.
The acreage lies beneath Buffalo, East Finley, Morris and South Franklin townships and Green Hills Borough.
Dave Falkenstern, a geologist for Resource Technologies, was prepared to testify about the market value of the coal, a seven-and-a-half-foot seam that is being mined by the longwall method.
Coal is assessed on an income approach to valuation, according to experts in the field. The calculation to determine a per-acre value takes into account factors including the price of coal on the open market, its quality and marketability, a mine’s productivity and interest rates. Coal companies also have the option to receive permits for new areas of coal they expect to mine relatively soon, changing the coal’s taxable status from reserve to active. Active coal is given a higher assessed value.
The assessments, if approved, would take effect during the school district’s 2016-17 fiscal year, and they are unrelated to the new values that will be disseminated in January and July 2017 under the countywide property reassessment being performed under a $6.96 million contract with Tyler Technologies Inc.
Scott Burchill, McGuffey School District business manager, could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday about the change in revenue the district would expect due to the settlement in the Consol coal reassessment, which would, if approved by the taxing bodies, avoid a court case.