Trumbull prosecutor hails settlement with former Warren steel mill as huge savings

By Ed Runyan | August 26, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

WARREN

Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins is hailing an out-of-court, $120,000 settlement with the owners of the former WCI/RG steel mill a huge win for nine government bodies that formerly owed the company $4 million in tangible-personal-property-tax refunds.

The settlement is especially good for the Warren City Schools, which at one time owed more than $2 million.

The settlement arose from the county’s choosing to fight the $4 million claim in 2014. The claim arose from years of litigation between WCI and the Ohio Department of Taxation, Watkins said.

When that litigation was over, the Ohio Department of Taxation said the county owed $3.1 million plus interest – totaling more than $4 million – to the owners of the mill. The money was owed, state officials said, for property taxes the company said it overpaid to local government in 2001 through 2003.

The county received a favorable ruling from the 11th District Court of Appeals last December, but the company appealed that decision to the Ohio Supreme Court, which has jurisdiction at this time.

But because all parties have signed off on the county’s paying $120,000, the court action is expected to be permanently dismissed before the end of the month, Watkins said.

The prosecutor said the $120,000 payout is a “relatively modest sum” compared to the $4 million that would have been owed if the county had not fought the claim.

The entities involved in the overpayment are the city of Warren, Warren City Schools, Howland Local Schools, Howland Township, Howland Township Park District, Warren Township, Trumbull Career and Techical Center, Warren-Trumbull County Public Library and Trumbull County.

Those are all government bodies that received property taxes in the early 2000s from the mill.

“Warren City Schools alone would have lost more than $2 million,” Watkins said in a statement.

The mill closed in May 2012, and the owner, BDM Warren Steel Operations, began removing the mill’s buildings in 2013. BDM bought the mill in August 2012 out of bankruptcy for $17 million. The mill was just south of the city, off Pine Avenue in Howland and Warren townships. A small part of it is in the city of Warren.