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Lessons learned and information gathered, the Crook County Commissioners have agreed to waive $1552.78 in penalty fees on personal property tax payments that Black Thunder Oil was not aware were owed.
Jeff Waliezer and Roni Steed of Black Thunder approached the commission last month to explain that the company had not received any notice of these taxes until a bill arrived with a ‘past due’ penalty.
According to Waliezer, Black Thunder found itself in a messy situation after acquiring the assets of BW Oil, which went bankrupt in 2013. The company has spent the time since the acquisition attempting to figure out what it actually owns.
For example, much of the equipment had to be scrapped and some of the listed wells cannot be found on the ground – and may not ever have been drilled.
It took months to figure out what was going on, the representatives said.
The company did not receive notice of the owed taxes, which County Attorney Joe Baron explained was because the necessary paperwork to change the ownership of the assets had not been filed with the Assessor’s Office. At last month’s meeting, Baron stated that it was Black Thunder’s responsibility to file that paperwork.
Baron also explained that the issue could not be resolved until the company put in a formal request with the county. Until this was done, he advised that Black Thunder pay the full amount, including the fees, and the county could hold it in escrow to prevent it from accruing more interest.
This was done, and the issue appeared on the commission’s agenda again on Wednesday. Waliezer began the conversation by stressing that Black Thunder is only seeking assistance with the penalty fees accrued on the unpaid taxes from 2018, 2019 and 2021.
“We did not come here to seek tax relief,” he said, telling the commission that Black Thunder wants to pay its taxes and the question is really only about the interest.
He also told the commission that Black Thunder did not ignore the Assessor’s Office – the delay in coming in to figure things out was due to the months it took to figure out what was going on with the company’s new assets.
Given that Black Thunder had not yet figured out what it actually owned, the question arose as to how the personal property tax had been calculated. County Treasurer Tammy Jundt explained that property owners are required to report ownership by March 1; if this is not done, the Assessor’s Office will use the “best assessment available”.
But how do you report something that has been scrapped and doesn’t actually exist, wondered representatives. That, said Jundt, is why it’s important to get with the Assessor’s Office ever year.
Black Thunder representatives appealed to the commission to bear in mind two things: firstly, that the company is an asset to the county that has brought in over $90,000 in ad valorum taxes since taking over; and secondly, that lessons have very much been learned from the situation.
“It sounds to me like it was a major cluster,” responded Commissioner Bob Latham, expressing his willingness to forgive the penalty. Everyone makes mistakes, he said, and Black Thunder has learned from this.
His fellow commissioners were in agreement and passed a motion to forgive the interest in the amount of $1552.78.