ADESA Birmingham sets Record Straight

INDIANAPOLIS After a major expansion to ADESA Birmingham that provided an increase in available jobs, ordinance number M101-12-27 was passed in the City of Moody, Ala. by a unanimous vote on Dec. 27, 2001. The ordinance states that ADESA Birmingham must pay a $5 license fee per vehicle sold, capping off at $200,000 per year. The ordinance only applies to ADESA Birmingham and states that the fee must be paid on Oct. 1 of every year with delinquency charges applied after Jan. 1. The ordinance offers no specific expiration date.

This is an increase of 400 percent over the original $50,000 the auction was paying years before, said Don Harris, chief operating officer for ADESA Corporation. As a business, we recognize that we must pay a business licensing fee and that it is standard that fees might increase to complement the cost of living and doing business, however without substantiated reasoning, we cannot accept such an increase.

Attorneys from ADESA Corp. and the offices of Maynard, Cooper and Gale, P.C. went to court on Jan. 4 to seek an injunction against the ordinance and to maintain a business license fee of $65,000, a fee the auction considers more than fair. The effort was deposed by mayor, Bill Morris and ADESA Birmingham paid $200,000 to keep their doors open. A refund of $187, 306.60 has been requested by ADESA. That refund is likely to be deposed by Morris in May and a trial date will be scheduled.

We are very aggressively pursuing the refund and we hope that all businesses in Saint Clair County will take note of the councils decision and their predatory taxing nature, Harris said. Were serious about sending all businesses in Saint Clair County a message about negative business practices that we hope the business community will consider.   

Headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind., ADESA Corp. is a wholly owned subsidiary of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE: ALE). Through its network of subsidiaries, ADESA operates 52 wholesale vehicle auctions and six heavy-duty commercial vehicle auctions strategically located across the United States and Canada. The ADESA network of companies operates several other related businesses in the vehicle remarketing industry including ADESA Impact total loss management (with 24 auction locations), Automotive Finance Corporation (AFC) dealer financing, AutoVIN inspection services, Micro 21 dealer software, PAR North America remarketing services, Great Rigs auto transporters, and ADESA Importation Services (AIS). For further information on ADESA Corporation, call 1-800-923-3725 or go to www.adesa.com.

The statements contained in this release and statements that ADESA may make orally in connection with this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The forward-thinking statements involve risks and uncertainties and investors are directed to the risks in documents filed by ALLETE, ADESA Corporations parent company, with the Securities and Exchange Commission.