Johnson County’s Commissioners have voted to approve and accept a tax settlement with Carbon Creek/US Realm in the amount of $22.7 million.
During a special meeting Tuesday morning, the commission explained that the settlement calls for the company to pay an up-front amount of $10 million, and then pay the remaining $22.7 million in monthly payments of $125,000 over the next eight years.
Chairman Bill Novotny said the commissioners thought long and hard about the settlement.
Novotny said the settlement, along with work the county and the Wyoming Legislature have done on the transition to monthly ad valorem tax payments as well as the possible passage of HB0089 which will allow counties to petition the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to shut down companies that do not pay their taxes, will mean that no future county commissions will have to deal with this problem moving forward.
According to discussions, as of March 1, Carbon Creek owed Johnson County $31.7 million, and with the settlement the county will be losing about $9 million which is mostly penalties and interest they likely would not see if the process continued to drag on.
The settlement agreement must now go before the bankruptcy judge for his approval before it is finalized.
We will have more on the settlement in upcoming stories.
More Like this
Last modified: March 9, 2022