Taxing times: municipalities must see things in perspective

Another issue facing ports today is addressing the changing dynamics of how municipalities tax their landholdings. Many regulatory bodies are discovering that their statutory valuation methods and ratings or property assessments have not been, in their opinion, generating sufficient tax revenue based on what they believe the port is worth. Ports need to take an active role in presenting and defending their case in order to strike a proper balance between the needs of the regulatory taxing body and their mandates, such as generating exports, jobs and maintaining a reliable and efficient point of distribution for exports and imports plus numerous other contributions to the community. All this is more easily accomplished when accurate property data is available.