Three Warren County industries have submitted their initial applications requesting property tax exemptions to the Warren County Board of Supervisors.

Tyson Foods, Cooper Lighting and Vicksburg Forest Products each submitted their documents to the county recently to begin the process of getting years of tax exemptions for improvements made in the facilities.

If approved by the supervisors, the exemptions could be provided for up to 10 years. While this is the first step and the initial valuation, the final amount to be exempt is determined by the Warren County Tax Assessor’s Office and the Mississippi Department of Revenue.

Tyson Foods, who operates a facility at the Ceres Industrial Park that employs more than 500 workers, submitted two applications. The first was for a 10-year exemption for asset improvements totaling $21,181,490. The second, which was for an 8-year exemption for asset improvements in 2017, totaled $2,195,993.

The reason the 2017 work could only be exempt for eight years is that it occurred in 2017. Had the company filed a request in 2018 for those improvements, then it could have been exempt for a maximum of 10 years.

According to Warren County Tax Assessor Ben Luckett, the amount of county property taxes that would be abated for Tyson, if the full is amount is approved, would be $156,955 per year for the 10-year request and another $16,272 per year for the 8-year request.

The request from Cooper, for asset improvements made in 2019, totals $1,096,182. Vicksburg Forest Products’ application included work in 2019 and totaled $4,606,141.

As for Cooper’s amount, if fully approved the exemption would account for $8,082 per year for 10 years. The abatement for Vicksburg Forest Products would be $33,959 per year for 10 years. Cooper Lighting was purchased by Eaton Electric Holdings in 2018, but the application is for Cooper assets.

Companies have until June 1 to file the paperwork requesting such tax exemptions. Also, this abatement is for property taxes only. Taxes that are paid to support the public school system cannot be abated.