Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Company to get refund in tax battle settlement

A tax refund of several hundred thousand dollars is due Roadway Express Inc. under a settlement of a 10-year property assessment battle over the value of its sprawling Middlesex Twp. truck terminal.

The Cumberland County commissioners approved the deal with the Akron, Ohio-based company yesterday.

The county will have to refund $96,500 to the firm, said Stephen D. Tiley, county assessment solicitor.


Middlesex Twp. and Cumberland Valley School District must refund part of the property tax payments Roadway has made to them since the assessment battle erupted in 1996, Tiley said.

He said the deal calls for the county to set the value for the 400-door terminal, which is near Interstate 81, Route 11 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike, at $10.4 million, down from $17.4 million.

The property's assessment for 1996 will drop to $9.8 million, Tiley said. The terminal had been valued at $11.4 million for that year, he said.

Cumberland County has conducted two countywide property reassessments since 1996.

Tiley said the Roadway settlement was negotiated based on sale prices of other truck terminals, including the former Consolidated Freightways terminal in Middlesex, which was sold after that firm filed for bankruptcy in 2002.

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