Ohio’s Inflated Rover Pipeline Tax Case Lingers in Court

Last December, MDN told you that Rover Pipeline had to file a lawsuit in self-defense against the Ohio Tax Commissioner for her overly aggressive property tax assessment that inflates the project’s market value, causing it to pay too much in property tax (see Ohio Tax Commissioner Putting New O&G Pipelines at Risk). The dispute centers on the state treating $2.2 billion in weather-related construction overruns and an unrealistic “infinite lifespan” assumption as value-adding assets, violating constitutional principles of fair market valuation, under which taxes should reflect what a willing buyer would pay rather than total development costs. The problem is, school districts and various municipalities thought they were going to get an extra windfall and are now in trouble because of their own poor planning and unrealistic expectations.

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