JAY — A team of experts was at Verso Paper Corp.’s mill Tuesday to begin working on the town’s revaluation of the paper mill and associated properties, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said Tuesday.

Verso Androscoggin LLC requested a tax abatement in February for $469 million in valuation for 2013. The town values the mill and property at $929 million. The town has until Dec. 1 to make a decision on the abatement request.

Voters transferred $425,000 from the town’s surplus for the revaluation and associated fees earlier this year.

Representatives of KSH Solutions Inc. of Canada along with Spearhead Valuation Group and BinnCor LLC, both of Oregon, will do different aspects of the revaluation, LaFreniere said.

The engineers from KSH will look at designing a facility that basically would replace the current mill, she said.

Spearhead Valuation and Peter Binn of BinnCor, who is under contract to Corporate Valuations Inc. of Oregon, will look at what is in place and what that value is, along with depreciation, additions and other factors. Corporate Valuations will focus on the accounting data and financial information, LaFreniere said.

Some of the groups are expected to be in town for the next week, while others may be here longer, she said.

The mill’s taxes are $9 million, after factoring in two TIF agreements. Verso pays 69 percent of the town’s property taxes, according to assessing agent Paul Binette.

Verso’s abatement request equals about $6.5 million in taxes, not factoring in any exemptions, Binette said.

The town is also having John E. O’Donnell & Associates Inc. of New Gloucester conduct a revaluation of other properties in town.

The revaluation of the mill and property is expected to cost $247,175 and the revaluation of the other property in the town is expected to cost $50,000, LaFreniere previously said. The money for the latter will also come from the money voters transferred to a valuation account.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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