A few weeks ago, I visited a long-term client at their 40-year-old Gulf Coast grain export terminal to explore potential reductions in their property tax liability. After our assessment, the client asked, “What do you think?” 

Upon discovering that the facility was operating at a fraction of its designed capacity due to numerous physical, functional, and economic obsolescence issues—including substantial annual repair and maintenance costs to sustain its economic viability, a shift in soybean and corn consumption trends toward the domestic renewable fuels market, declining exports due to global market changes favoring lower-cost foreign competition, and persistent multi-year drought conditions on the Mississippi River affecting barge operations—I responded, “I don’t know, but we certainly have a compelling story to tell.”

With nearly 50 years of experience representing major industrial operations across the country, including grain and chemical export terminals, barge companies, solar farms, semiconductor fabs, oilfield equipment manufacturers, newspapers, and many other complex properties, I have learned what works and what doesn’t in the realm of industrial property tax appeals.