City Council ratifies property tax deal with steel mill

The city will receive $21.8 million of the $23.8 million owed by Essar Steel Algoma Inc. for the tax years 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, under an agreement approved Monday at a special City Council meeting.

The deal was cut after a recent decision reduced the current value assessment of Algoma's local property holdings to $39 million, compared to $83 million in 2014 to 2016.

The city's negotiating team consisted of Mayor Christian Provenzano, chief administrative officer Al Horsman, city solicitor Nuala Kenny, assistant city solicitor Melanie Borowicz-Sibenik, city treasurer Shelley Schell and outside legal specialists.

It agreed to negotiate taxes based on an assessed value of $60 million, agreeing not to appeal the tax years 2017 to 2020.

The deal is expected court approval on Wednesday. 

Mayor Provenzano said municipal tax rates are not expected to increase and no service cuts will be necessitated by today's deal.

When interest is taken into account, the $21.8 million to be received by the city is about $4 million less than might have been received before the assessment decision.

More detailed coverage will follow.

Editor's note: The decision to reduce the assessed value of Algoma’s local real estate holdings to $39 million resulted from a routine reassessment by Municipal Property Assessment Corp. An earlier version of this article incorrectly attributed the reduction to an Assessment Review Board appeal.