By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

As a result of a 2008 lawsuit, wireline company Wedge Log-Tech is set to get a tax rebate from Ellis County of more than $650,000.

Ellis County Appraiser Lisa Ree told the Ellis County Commission at its weekly meeting Monday the county has run out of options on the lawsuit, which took nearly five and a half years to settle.

The ruling, which came down late last year, requires the county to refund $656,325.04 in taxes to Wedge Log-Tech paid by the company from 2008 through 2013.

The appraiser’s office had classified the company’s wireline equipment as oil and gas equipment — not commercial and industrial machinery and equipment, which is exempt from personal property tax if purchased after June 30, 2006. The courts ruled the wireline equipment, however, should be exempt.

Ree said that the office followed the state property valuation guidelines from the Property Valuation Department and was told the property was oil and gas equipment and so it would not qualify for the exemption.

Ellis County Treasurer Ann Pfeifer said the tax withholdings will affect a number of local entities including Hays USD 489, Big Creek Township and Ellis County. Those figures were not immediately available, but the reductions will begin in June.

County Administrator Greg Sund said there could be other wireline companies file a protest or have a hearing in the Court of Tax Appeals in an attempt to follow suit.

Ree also said changing the status of equipment for the county’s five wireline companies will reduce the 2014 assessed value of property in the county by more than $2 million.