Nov. 26--The Montgomery County Board of Revision rejected General Motors Corp.'s attempt to lower the local property valuation of its former plant in Moraine, county officials said.

The ruling's upshot: Property taxes from the facility will be maintained for tax year 2008.

The board "made their decision on the GM Moraine property and they are keeping the value the same, $69 million," Sam Braun, an administrative assistant to the board, wrote Wednesday Nov. 25, in an e-mail to the Dayton Daily News. "A certified letter will be sent to GM with the decision, and they will have 30 days to appeal."

Braun said that letter may be sent to the automaker in the next week.

Last month, an attorney and consultants for Motors Liquidation Co. -- which is now responsible for assets GM discarded during its time in bankruptcy protection last summer -- argued before the board that the plant's value should be $21.4 million.

Chris Lee, a GM spokesman, said Wednesday the company wants to see "proper market valuation on all its plants." He declined further comment.

Bill Loy -- an assistant country auditor and a member of the Board of Revision -- said the county taxes "in arrears," so the board considered the value of the plant as of Jan. 1, 2008, when the facility was still operating. (GM did not announce plans to close the facility until June 2008. The company closed the plant six months later.)

Higher property valuations mean higher property taxes, but Loy said GM can appeal the ruling at the state level or in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. Loy declined to speculate on how an appeals process might unfold, but he agreed it's "possible" that a new tax date may be brought to bear, affecting the property's value. The state, for example, "may make a ruling that we have not seen before," Loy said.

When GM closed the SUV-assembly plant in December 2008, it ended employment for what were then about 1,200 remaining employees. In June 2006, the plant had some 4,150 workers.

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