Three firms won relief on their property taxes for 2009 after the Warren County Tax Assessor’s Office agreed Friday to lower values on key infrastructure.

Ameristar Casino was the biggest winner, as assessor’s officials’ recommended cutting 24 percent off the value of Vicksburg’s largest casino. The value, agreed on unanimously by Warren County supervisors, will be $92,451,454, down from $121,751,980.

Most of the decrease was due to a change in how a connecting structure between the casino and its parking garage and the formerly-floating casino’s unused cofferdam was valued, Deputy Tax Assessor Jim Agent said. In a county board meeting Wednesday, representatives of the casino had argued for a value between $66.5 million and $82.7 million on the basis that the cemented cofferdam and building comprised less space for tax purposes than originally figured.

Other recommended changes supervisors OK’d were for Magnolia Mobile LLC and Mission Ridge Apartments. Value decreases there totaled about $16,000 and $34,000, respectively.

No change was made for Magnolia Hill LLC, the holding company for Riverwalk Casino. Values of $21.6 million and $55.4 million on personal and real property parcels owned by the casino were protested by the July 31 deadline set for formal objections to values set for the tax year.

Information from Ameristar came after that deadline, the result of communications between the local and corporate offices lagging past supervisors’ equalization of the tax rolls, Agent said.

Values were lowered for the mobile home park and the apartment complex after corrected financial information was sent from its respective owners, Agent said.

Overall, property rolls grew by 5.9 percent this year, to $3,343,404,905, due largely to new commercial development including the new casino and three hotels that were completed in 2008. A fourth of all parcels are revalued in Warren County each year, often resulting in higher assessments.

In addition to property taxes, casinos pay taxes on gaming revenue totaling 12 percent and collect state and local sales, tourism and bed taxes. Vicksburg also collects a devices fee of $150 per gaming position. Casinos are exempt from the state corporate income tax.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com