What Happened to South Side Library?

                (Remember Property Taxes are Based on Valuations?)

                                                    by Ron West

                                                          September 30, 2007

        This morning, the Fort Worth Star Telegram did an article on the vacant property that is problematic for the cities of Northeast Tarrant County.  Included in the photos and listings was the vacant Food Lion building located on Rufe Snow Drive in the Southern part of the city of North Richland Hills.  Three important facts emerged from the article beyond the wish of local officials for more tax revenue:

    1.    The city acquired this building for $650,000 approximately 10 years ago ostensibly for a location for a south branch library.  This was to occur after the city spent over $10,000,000 to relocate the library to the northeast side of the city so that residents south of loop 820 would have easy access to the branch library.   All of this was predicated on the very misleading information that the current library would be displaced by the expansion of Loop 820.  In retrospect, we now know that only a small portion of the parking of the present library will be impacted by the expansion of Loop 820 so even the premise for its move was based on false or misleading information.  Despite all of this, the new library promises to be an expensive - but nice - addition to the city.

    2.    Now it is reported that the wish of current elected officials is to utilize the building for services displaced by the expansion of Loop 820.  Since there is minimal impact on City Hall to the city from the expansion, this is probably simply an expansion of the ever expanding city government.  Note that no longer is there any mention of the branch library which was probably never a consideration from the existing City Council.

3.        Most Important:   Probably the most important element of this article was the valuation of the old Food Lion property. It is now valued at $1,900,000 - up $1,250,000 since the acquisition by the city.  This valuation increase is in spite of the obvious deterioration of the building due to being vacant for such a period of time.  This is an increase in valuation of 293%.   For several years, I have been writing and opposing the runaway spending by our local council based on the ever increasing taxes in our city.  This year was the 15th consecutive year of tax increases in North Richland Hills, TX.  If you are under 65 years of age and bought a $100,000 house 10 years ago, and if the same valuation increase was applied to your property, you would now be paying property taxes on $293,000 for your home.  In other words, the rent (called property taxes) on your "home" is going up both rapidly and dramatically.  We live in a city that believes that we can afford the continual increases. 

        While the valuation published was probably meant to imply good stewardship by the city, the real news is that a vacant building was purchased by the city under the false flag of a branch library required by the false premise of being caused by the expansion of Loop 820.  The real news is that the local officials plan to further expand city government based on additional tax revenues from ever increasing property valuations and no tax relief to local citizens.