Tax Settlement Gives New Life To Hospital
By Jack Douglas | Senior Investigative Producer
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SOMERVELL County COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - The only hospital in Glen Rose, for months in danger of closing because of a tax dispute with the nearby Comanche Peak Nuclear Plant, has received a financial shot in the arm following a settlement.
CBS 11's I-Team, which first reported on the hospital's struggles, has learned the nuclear plant's owner, Luminant, wrote a check this week for just under $20 million to Somerville County.
That will provide relief to the tax-supported hospital, as well as to taxing entities such as the sheriff's department, school district and road maintenance operations.
The county's chief appraisal officer, Wes Rollen, told the I-Team Luminant agreed to an assessed value of $2.1 billion, including the power plant, its nuclear fuel and $200 million in interest and penalties.
The county had originally assessed the value of the plant and its radioactive fuel at $2.4 billion.
The settlement ended a months-long court fight in which Luminant argued that, because of sinking energy profits, the nuclear plant's assessed value should have dropped 85 percent from its 2014 value of nearly $2 billion.
Rollen told the I-Team a dispute on the power plant's 2016 assessed value of $1.6 billion isn't expected.
If you want to reach CBS 11′s Senior Investigative Producer Jack Douglas Jr., email him at jdouglas@cbs.com. Reach CBS 11′s Jason Allen at jmallen@cbs.com.
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