Indiana Michigan Power and Lake Township have reached a settlement in a tax tribunal dispute over the value of the Cook nuclear power plant.

I&M protested the value of the Cook Plant for tax years 2022 through 2024 while the township argued its assessment was accurate. The fight affects how much tax revenue is received not only by Lake Township, but also Bridgman Public Schools, Lake Michigan College, Berrien County, and Berrien RESA.

RESA Superintendent Eric Hoppstock tells us the settlement will mean less revenue for those parties, but the impact will be less than what was originally possible. What’s it mean for RESA?

“We will experience about a 12% revenue loss for the years, the next school year and the two school years after that, because the plant will be reassessed from its current value back to the fiscal year ’22 value, which is about a 12% decline,” Hoppstock said. “That will remain flat or hold steady for the ’25, ’26, ’27 [tax years], and then ’28, ’29, ’30, it begins to increase again.”

Hoppstock says all affected parties will see the same 12% decline, but how much it hurts depends on the entity. For example, he says Bridgman Public Schools may find this a little harder to digest than RESA.

Hoppstock says a good thing about the settlement is that none of the taxing entities will have to pay anything back to I&M. That gave RESA and others time to prepare and budget for the revenue adjustment.

Lake Township Supervisor Zach Carson says township leaders are pleased to have reached a resolution that ensures affected parties can continue serving their residents.