Tryon International Equestrian Center is now ranked third on Polk County’s highest taxpayers list behind Adult Communities Total Services (ACTS, or Tryon Estates) first and Alianza Trinity (Bright’s Creek) at second. TIEC ranked as fourth highest taxpayer the previous year.

The Polk County Board of Commissioners recently heard its audit report for fiscal year 2015-2016 that includes information including the top 10 taxpayers of the year compared to the top taxpayers of 2007.

Tryon Estates was also the top taxpayer in Polk County in 2007. Tryon Estates had a total taxable assessed property value of $49,056,758 last year compared to $42,834,054 in 2007, according to the county’s audit report.

Bright’s Creek had a total taxable assessed property value of $40,076,307 last year compared to $6,255,382 in 2007, when it ranked the seventh highest taxpayer in the county.

TIEC had a total taxable assessed value of $22,210,857 last year according to the audit report. TIEC did not exist in 2007.

TIEC was formerly White Oak Development, which was listed as Polk’s fourth top taxpayer as of fiscal year end 2015. In 2015, TIEC had a total taxable assessed property value of $14,473,349, according to the 2015 audit report.

Duke Energy was the county’s fourth highest taxpayer last year and was the county’s third highest taxpayer in 2007. Duke Energy’s property value was $17,728,813 last year and $14,808,427 in 2007, according to the audit report.

Rutherford Electric Membership Corporation ranked as the county’s fifth highest taxpayer last year with a value of $11,816,106 and it also ranked fifth in 2007.

RL REGI-NC Little Wing LLC ranked sixth highest taxpayer last year, while Green River Farm LLC ranked seventh, Hidden Springs Holdings ranked eighth, Travis Oates LLC ranked ninth and Byana LLC ranked 10th.

In 2007, Polk County’s top taxpayers were Tryon Estates, Woodland Mills, Duke Energy, Alltel Carolina Inc., Rutherford Electric, Public Service Co. of NC, Alianza Trinity, Hatch Mill, White Oak Manor Inc. and Home Realty and Insurance Co., according to the county’s audit report.

The top ten taxpayers in fiscal year 2015-2016 totaled $181,799,750 of taxable assessed property value, which was 62.56 percent of the county’s taxable assessed value, according to the audit report.

The county’s current tax rate is 53.75 cents per $100 of property valuation.