H.B. Sues to Regain Tax Revenue

Huntington Beach is suing to recoup $1.6 million in property taxes lost in December when the state Board of Equalization dropped the assessed value of the AES power plant on Pacific Coast Highway.

The city wants the state tax board to conduct a new assessment and shift the duty for setting future plant values to the Orange County assessor’s office. The lawsuit was filed this month in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Last month, the state board reduced the value of plants owned by AES Corp. in Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Redondo Beach and Newhall to $591 million from an initial assessment of $1.3 billion. The board cited falling income from the electricity they generate.

The action meant Huntington Beach would get $1.6 million less in tax revenue. The money was intended, among other uses, for affordable-housing projects and wetlands restoration within a redevelopment zone that included the power plant.

In recent years, power companies have insisted that plummeting energy prices in California and a glut of new power plants have devalued their properties.

State tax officials began assessing power plants in 2003 after local assessors had performed the job for five years. Power firms said local assessors set wildly different values.