PORTLAND, Maine (From The Bangor Daily News) -- Jay mill owner Verso Corp. has asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge to step in and decide whether the town of Jay should hand back as much as $11.4 million in taxes assessed during the past three years.

The company's request comes as Verso has three appeals of its most recent tax bills pending before a state review board and local review boards. The town plans to argue the disputes should stay at the state and local levels.

"We will be filing our objection tomorrow afternoon, on schedule, asking the bankruptcy judge to leave the proceedings in Maine so that they can come to a conclusion in Maine," Gerald Petrucelli, the attorney for the town of Jay, said Tuesday.

A hearing on Verso's request is scheduled for April 13 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. The company's 2013 tax year appeal is set for a hearing May 9 and 10 before the Maine Board of Property Tax Review in Augusta.

There's a complicated series of "ifs" before the three separate tax appeals are decided, which moving the process into its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization would simplify for the company.

The bankruptcy court first has to decide whether it will step into disputed tax bill conflicts for 2013, 2014 and 2015. If it does, that would consolidate the various local and state appeals running since 2013 into the bankruptcy hearing.

That could have short-term impacts for the town up to the $11.4 million the company claims it's owed. The outcome also would affect the company's tax bill going forward.

Verso argued the impact of that valuation on its future profitability is important to creditors who have to vote to approve its restructuring plan, which depends on creditors agreeing to convert more than $2.4 billion in debt into equity in the restructured company.

Verso has argued that sorting out its tax bill is key to meeting deadlines required in the financing agreement to sustain the company through its bankruptcy restructuring.

"Resolving this dispute expeditiously and in this forum is important to the Debtors as they embark on the next, critical phase of these chapter 11 cases," the company wrote in its motion filed last week.

The company argues that it's entitled to as much as $11.4 million over the years 2013, 2014 and 2015. In 2013, it argues the mill's valuation decreased but that local officials taxed its property at a higher property tax rate, resulting in a $3.7 million premium on its tax bill.

The company argues it's owed a $3.3 million refund for 2014, when it claims the value of the property was cut in half from one year before, to less than $400 million. In 2015, it claims a $4.4 million refund again because of taxation at a higher rate than other property.

Troubles for the paper industry in recent years have put many towns in conflict with their largest taxpayers, who argue that assets in the troubled paper industry are a fraction of their past worth. Assessments for industrial facilities can be complicated, partly for the amount of production equipment and various tax incentives and benefit programs that may apply.

On top of that, such large facilities are not often put on the market and each typically has a unique mix of papermaking and power generation assets.

In a bankruptcy auction last fall, the Lincoln Paper and Tissue Mill sold for about 11 percent of the assessed value of its personal property.