BENSON -- The Swift County Board has reached agreement with the owner of the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton regarding the valuation of the 1,400-bed medium-security prison.
The board agreed to value the prison at $24 million for 2007 payable taxes, $28 million in 2008 and $32 million in 2009, according to Swift County Auditor Byron Giese.
The prison is privately owned by the Correctional Corporation of America, which owns or manages 65 prison facilities around the country. The county had valued the prison at $31.9 million for the 2007 payable taxes and the corporation appealed that valuation.
The appeal will be heard today by the Minnesota Tax Court. The ruling on the settlement is also expected today.
Three years ago, the county, the city of Appleton and Correctional Corporation of America reached an agreement valuing the prison at $14 million through 2005. The corporation had appealed the valuations and taxes payable in 2001, 2002 and 2003. The settlement of that appeal guaranteed that Swift County would receive at least $100,000 in annual taxes from Correctional Corporation of America. Prior to the 2003 agreement, the prison paid the county about $200,000 in taxes.
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In other action, the board:
- Agreed to a 15 percent reduction in property valuation of the Alliance Pipeline through the county. The pipeline is appealing the state's valuation of its natural gas pipeline through 13 counties, including Swift and Kandiyohi. The case will go before the Minnesota Tax Court in January, Giese said.
- Certified the 2007 county property tax levy of $6,494,486, which is a 12 percent increase over 2006.
- Agreed to pay the county's portion of the purchase price of a building in Montevideo to be used by 6W Community Corrections, which provides probation officer services to Swift, Chippewa, Lac qui Parle and Yellow Medicine counties. Officers handle about 250 cases in the four-county area.
- Agreed to a 3-percent increase in the county's recycling contract with Geyer Recycling.
