When the principals of BNE Energy were wooing the residents of Colebrook to approve a wind farm on Flagg Hill Road, they boasted that, if allowed to proceed, BNE Energy would become the biggest taxpayer in town.

“That was their pitch,” says James Millar, chairman of Colebrook’s Board of Finance.

A BNE subsidiary, Wind Colebrook South, is now suing the Town of Colebrook for setting the taxes on its wind farm too high.

Wind Colebrook South claims that Assessor Michele Sloane overvalued the two turbines and wrongly classified them as real property rather than as personal property, which has a higher depreciation schedule.

“We hired the best consultant we could find just to avoid this sort of situation,” says Millar. There is a $4 million difference between the figure provided by Colebrook’s expert energy appraiser and BNE’s.

Wind Colebrook South must pay 90 percent of its tax bill, even while the suit proceeds through the courts, according to Sloane, although the company has requested a refund for any overpayment it might make.

“We certainly calculated this year’s budget on the basis of Michele Sloane’s assessment,” says Millar. “If the case goes against us, it could have an impact.”

Colebrook’s largest taxpayer is MDC, a public water supply corporation and the owner of a hydroelectric facility on Colebrook River Lake.

BNE Energy reportedly has plans to build six more turbines in Goshen.