In an effort to dramatically reduce its property taxes, Luminant, Texas’ largest utility may force a community hospital in Somervell County to close, according to an article on the Texas Observer website.
The utility is waging a six-county legal campaign to force local appraisal districts to reduce the appraisals on its power plants.
In Somervell County — the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant accounts for 80 percent of the property taxes in the county.
Luminant is suing the Somervell County Appraisal District, claiming the plant’s value is only $450 million — a little more than one-sixth of the appraisal district’s $2.4 billion valuation. Under state law, Luminant only has to pay taxes on the $450 million while the two sides fight it out in court. That’s squeezing the community hospital, school district and county government. In 2015 alone, the Glen Rose Medical Center, which is funded through a hospital tax district, lost $2.4 million in revenue.
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