Carbon County is losing approximately $9,200 annually on one company’s real estate taxes as a result of a court order that lowered the assessment of three parcels of land in Palmerton.

On Thursday, the board of commissioners approved three tax refunds to BEFESA Zinc US Inc. of Moon Township, which operates the former American Zinc Recycling Corp.

The refunds represent the lowered assessments for the three properties and total $9,268.65.

“That is going to be the loss of revenue every year of about $9,000,” Commissioner Wayne Nothstein said. “That’s just for the county, not counting the borough of Palmerton as well as the Palmerton Area School District.

“This was the reason that we are contesting and hiring appraisers to contest some of these appraisals that are ridiculous amounts being lowered and trying to combat it,” he added. “ … It’s appeals like this that add up and our revenues have not been going up in real estate costs, even as high as property values are, we have not really seen any major increase in revenues from the total assessed value of properties. We’re getting hammered all the time and we just have to step up to the plate. It’s going to cost us some money, but so far we have been successful in remaining in the black with our appeals.”

In February, the commissioners partnered with Palmerton Area School District and Palmerton Borough to get an outside commercial appraisal from Richard J. Drzewiecki of Sunbury. The total cost for the appraisal, which was split between the three entities, was $8,500.

According to the petition for appeal filed by BEFESA regarding the decision of the Carbon County Tax Assessment Appeals Board, the company felt the fair market value that the assessment board determined was significantly higher than it should be.

At that meeting, the commissioners noted that there were several bigger tax appeals that, if lowered, could cost the county thousands in tax revenue annually.