AGY Holding Corp., formerly known as Advanced Glassfiber Yarns LLC, owes USD 2.6 million in back taxes to Aiken County, South Carolina, where the firm is headquartered, according to records.
The comp…
AGY Holding Corp., formerly known as Advanced Glassfiber Yarns LLC, owes USD 2.6 million in back taxes to Aiken County, South Carolina, where the firm is headquartered, according to records. The company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2002 and re-emerged in April 2004, has challenged at least some of its appraised value and is negotiating a settlement, County Administrator Clay Killian said 23 May 2005. The company“s tax bill has two parts: real estate taxes on property worth USD 28.3 million and a fee in lieu of taxes on separate investments that were made after 1995, according to records and officials. In 2002, the company did not pay its USD 795,000 property tax bill or its USD 574,500 fee, records show. It made good in 2003 but again failed to make payments in 2004, when it owed USD 731,000 in property taxes and a USD 477,700 fee. AGY Chief Financial Officer Catherine Cuisson said the company was privately held and would not discuss details. “We are in negotiations with the county, so I cannot tell you anything,” she said. The firm“s fiberglass production facility at Aiken was formerly owned by Owens Corning. It was acquired in 1998 by French-based Groupe Porcher Industries, which paid USD 550 million in cash for 51% interest in Owens Corning“s Aiken plant and its plant in Huntington, Pennsylvania. Both companies made large investments in the plant. As part of a 1995 agreement with Aiken county, Owens Corning said it would invest at least USD 45 million by 2001. In return, it qualified to pay taxes on the upgrades based on a reduced millage over a 20-year period. Owens Corning and subsequent owners of the fiberglass plant exceeded the minimum and had spent USD 71 million through 2001, according to state Department of Revenue records provided by the county. The appraised value of the investment through 2004 was USD 75.8 million. Typically, tax defaulters must forfeit their property, but AGY is currently exempt because it filed bankruptcy. County Administrator Killian said the county only wanted the company to pay its “fair share.” “They“ve been a good corporate neighbor,” he said. “We want to solve this and get it behind us.”