County will repair road to mine to repay debt to Revett

Lincoln County and Revett Mining Co. have come to an agreement over how Revett wil be compensated for being overtaxed for multiple years starting in 2010.

The agreement calls for the county to repair and maintain the road that leads to Revett’s Troy Mine.

Revett, which is the largest property taxpayer in the Troy district, was hit the hardest by clerical errors that resulted in the county collecting roughly $2.2 million more than the authorized limit.

But Revett also was uniquely affected by a separate error in calculating its net and gross proceeds taxes, or metal mines taxes. Revett ultimately overpaid $105,478 on its net and gross proceeds taxes, according to Lincoln County.

The overtaxation on Revett’s net and gross proceeds will be handled differently than the property-tax oversight that affected county residents. However, Revett will be treated the same way as other Lincoln County residents in regards to the property tax error, according to a press release from the county.

“The county commissioners are reducing taxes for the next few years for property owners as a way of paying back taxpayers those over-charges,” the press release states. “The overpayment of Revett’s property taxes is separate from the net and gross proceeds taxes, and Revett will be treated the same way as all taxpayers with regards to its property taxes.

“The agreement was needed since the mine is currently accessing their ore body through a new adit, is not processing ore, and a tax reduction on production was therefore not possible.” County Commissioner Tony Berget said the county has created a plan that will reduce the tax burden by 20 mills over three years to make up for the overtaxation on property taxes.

The agreement between Revett and Lincoln County is two-fold: First, Revett will allow the Asarco Mine Road, which leads to both the Troy Mine and a panoply of recreational activity due west of the mine, to be publicly accessible all the way to the mine property.

County Commissioner Greg Larson said this access is important because residents frequently use the road for recreation, and having it blocked off because of the private mine works impedes residents’ ability to get to the recreational areas. Larson said Revett has agreed to the stipulation that when the mine was closed, the road would be publicly accessible.

“The deal was, when the mine is closed, the road shouldn’t also be closed,” Larson said. “People need that access. This is an important deal. Having that road open to residents is helping future generations.”

Former County Commissioner Ron Downey said he took a big role in working with Revett to establish how the company would be compensated the $105,478. He said that not only is the road important access to natural areas, but many private residences are on the site and use the road on a daily basis.

Downey said improving the road is a good opportunity for the county to re-establish its role in helping Revett and improving infrastructure in general.  

In exchange for this public access, the county is paying back the $105,478 debt from overtaxation to Revett by paying for chip-sealing road maintenance on the road leading to the mine.

Since Revett did not mine in 2013 and 2014, Clerk and Recorder Tammy Lauer said the company would be unable to qualify for tax cuts that come from mining. Lauer said this agreement between Revett and Lincoln County helps Revett in making up for those lost costs from the county’s fiscal oversight.

County Commissioner Tony Berget said the county’s construction on the mine road will take approximately a week to complete and will cover about three miles of the road. This limited span of road construction is due to the fact that any more construction would have exceeded the $105,478 cap the county will pay.

“This was a good deal struck between Revett and the county,” Berget said. “With all the history of the overtaxation and everything that’s happened up to this point, we are looking ahead.”

Berget said a county crew of workers will conduct the maintenance instead of a privately hired crew. He said this saves money and puts the owed $105,478 to better use.

Berget and Downey said the tentative start date for the road construction will be this fall.