West Deptford Committee Opts to Settle with Sunoco on Eagle Point

One tax appeal down, a few more to go.

After a lengthy closed session last week and a second special closed session meeting Tuesday night, the voted 3-2 to settle the Eagle Point refinery complex tax appeals with Sunoco, avoiding a potential protracted court battle.

The settlement is conditioned on approval from the state local finance board, to make sure funding the settlement works, Mayor Ray Chintall said.

The terms of the deal haven't been disclosed, since it's still pending legal action, but Chintall called it a good first step.

“There's still a lot of things that have to be worked out,” he said.

Sunoco's appeal was slated to be heard in state tax court next month.

While the settlement would bring things to a close with Sunoco, Chintall said they're also considering the appeals by Coastal/El Paso, the former owner of the refinery, and could move on those soon.

The sprawling complex, which covers nearly 1,000 acres between the Delaware River and Crown Point Road, was assessed at $92,615,500 prior to the county revaluation, yielding a tax bill of just over $4 million, according to property tax records.

Sunoco also owns a number of smaller lots that abut the refinery, which add about $90,000 in taxes on top of the main property. There's been quite a bit of action at the site in the last year; , Sunoco Logistics, and there's been speculation about a possible deal , which has since been called premature at best.

The appeal itself has been a matter of some intense discussion, both and , over the last year, given concerns about the potential budget implications of either a settlement or judgement in favor of Sunoco.

West Deptford has put aside money in the budget in recent years to offset potential tax appeals; in 2010, the township allowed for $425,000 for appeals, but only paid out $120,523.87. In the 2011 budget, the amount was bumped up to half a million dollars. The freeholders indicated last year that the county holds a surplus in its budget at least in part to guard against appeals, since the county can't specifically budget for those judgements.