Phar-Mor tax payment is late

The late payment is in addition to $1.24 million the district won't get because of a tax refund to the company.
AUSTINTOWN -- Phar-Mor is late in paying $112,000 in personal property taxes slated to go to the Austintown school district.
The Mahoning County Auditor's office told school officials Tuesday that they should receive the $112,000 in June. They had expected to receive the money Monday. Phar-Mor is a bankrupt pharmacy chain that had been based in Youngstown.
On Monday, school officials received a share of the proceeds from the most-recent personal property tax collections in the county, minus $1.24 million for a tax refund for Phar-Mor and $112,000 because of the late taxes. That was an unexpected loss.
The refund stemmed from an Ohio Board of Tax Appeals decision to reduce the taxable value of the personal property that was kept at the Tamco Distribution Center in 1994 and 1995. Phar-Mor had owned the distribution center. The board ruled that the distribution center's taxable value should not have included the value of inventory shipped to Phar-Mor pharmacies in 1994 and 1995.
Phar-Mor is slated to receive a total of $1.9 million in personal property tax refunds in coming weeks. The rest of the money is slated to be paid by Mahoning County, Austintown Township, Mill Creek Park and the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center.
Phar-Mor's assets were sold in bankruptcy proceedings. The Mahoning County Prosecutor's office is working to determine who should receive the money from the refund.
School officials are seeking a grant from the Ohio Department of Education for a grant from the state School District Solvency Fund to help cover their loss. If the district receives the $112,000, they won't be in debt until the end of the 2004-05 school year.
The entire $1.35 million loss would put the district in debt a year earlier.