The Silsbee Bee (Silsbee, Tex.), Vol. 91, No. 21, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 23, 2007 Page: 1 of 37
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Wednesday
May 23
2007
Silsbee Texas
77656
Vol. 91 ■ No. 21 ■ 38 Pages In Two Sections
The Silsbee Bee
50 Cents
County tax rates soar
Appraiser says properties had been undervalued
By GLENDA VERRETT
The Bee
If you are a homeowner in Hardin
County, then you have received or
should be receiving the new tax
appraised value of your home.
The numbers for most resident own-
ers in Hardin County have changed
dramatically. According to the Hardin
County Appraisal District, the value for
many of the homes and business in
Hardin County have increased.
“We went through our (real estate)
sales analysis and we discovered we
were 15 percent below our cost sched-
ule,” says Hardin County Appraisal
District Chief Appraiser Amador
Reyna. “We increased our cost sched-
ule by 15 percent”
Reyna says that the appraisal district
relies on current real estate sales, outside
See APPRAISAL on Page 6, Section 1
of the home appraisals and a block tier
system to calculate the home’s value.
The tier ranges from one to six with six
being a home that is expensive and one
being a home that is in poor condition or
a minimal structure. The tier level of the
Bee photo by Gerry L. Dickert
A Kountze police officer takes information from the driver of a 2005 Ford
Explorer after the vehicle was involved in an accident on Monday afternoon
in front of the Sonic Restaurant on Hwy. 69.
Read the full story on Page 5, Section 1
Bee photo by Gerry L. Dickert
Jack and Pat Mossburg are celebrating the opening of their new water-
park, Paradise Waterpark, located on Hwy. 96 between Lumberton and
Silsbee. The park has been under construction for the past several months,
but completion of the project means a Memorial Day Weekend grand
opening for the new attraction.
Grand
oaking
Paradise Waterpark sets
sights on weekend start
Accident takes life
of Silsbee woman
The Silsbee Bee
will be closed
on Monday in
honor of
Memorial Day
Fresenius
bridge is
replaced
By GLENDA VERRETT
The Bee
Old Mill Creek Road is seeing its
share of attention from Hardin County.
For a while, the one bridge leading
out of the narrow road onto Fresenius
Road has been needing to be recon-
structed. The county has patched the
bridge over the years, but since the flood
in October 2006, Pet. 1 County
Commissioner Bob Burgess decided the
bridge needed to be reconstructed.
“The primary reason we are replacing
the bridge,” says Burgess, “is the old
culverts are msted out. When it floods it
causes major sinkholes that have caved
in two or three times.”
According to one of the workers on
the site, who is also a resident on Old
Mill Road, in October of 2006 a woman
was fohowing an ambulance that was
taking her mother to the hospital down
Old Mill Road and the woman was
washed off the bridge by flood waters.
According to Burgess the barbed wire
that was on the edge of the bridge is
what kept the woman’s vehicle from
being swept away with the flood waters.
Burgess says the bridge wih still most
likely flood in the future, but the new
bridge should not have the same prob-
lems that are caused by the weak rusted-
out culverts that are being replaced,
“We are replacing the culverts with
aluminized steel,” says Burgess. “They
wih last for a long, long time.”
Construction to replace the culverts
with the new 4,420-pound aluminized
culverts began on Thursday, May 17.
Burgess says that the project should be
completed as soon as next week.
Time for Prayer
Lord,
As we enter this weekend of remem-
brance, help us always to remember You in
the decisions that we make in our lives. We
thank You especially, Lord, for the brave
men and women who have fought and died
for the freedoms we enjoy every day.
In Jesus' name,
Amen
Contact The Bee
Main number............385-5278
Fax number..............385-5270
E-mail: editor@silsbeebee.com
advertising@silsbeebee.com
www.silsbeebee.com
By GERRY L. DICKERT
The Bee
Things in Hardin County are about to
get wet and wild, but this time, the
spring weather has nothing to do with it.
Paradise Waterpark, after a few
delays and lots of anticipation, will
have its grand opening this Saturday at
10 a.m. when the doors open for the
first time to the general public.
Paradise Waterpark is the brainchild
of Jack and Pat Mossburg, who set out
some time ago to create a tourist attrac-
tion unlike any other in Southeast
Texas.
As their dreams became reality, water
slides, water canons and a lazy river
took shape at the park’s location off the
northbound side of Hwy. 96 between
Lumberton and Silsbee.
The initial plan was to have the park
open by May 5, but flooding in October
and other weather-related delays have
pushed the start to Memorial Day week-
end.
“We had a ‘soft opening’ last weekend
See OPENING on Page 7, Section 1
An accident that involved three vehi-
cles ended with one person in critical
condition in St. Elizabeth hospital and
one person dead at the scene, according
to reports.
Jason Rush was walking down the
center of FM 92 about three miles north
of Silsbee when he was struck by the
vehicle that was driven by Ricardo
Rodriquez of Silsbee.
Rodriquez and his wife got out of
By GERRY L. DICKERT
The Bee
The Silsbee City Council will hold a
special meeting next Thursday, May 31,
to give Hardin County Chief Appraiser
Amador Reyna a chance to explain his
request for an increase in his budget for
the coming fiscal year, one that includes
as much as an 11 percent hike in pay for
his employees..
Council members were faced with the
decision during Monday night’s regular
council meeting as to whether or not to
approve Reyna’s request for more
money to run the county’s appraisal dis-
trict. Because the district uses money
provided by the county’s different enti-
ties — school districts, cities and utility
districts — those groups must approve
the appraisal district’s budget, particu-
larly increases, each year.
Reyna sent information to the council
via Silsbee City Manager Tommy
Bartosh, who suggested to the council
that the information that was presented
wasn’t enough to make an educated
decision about an increase of the magni-
tude for which Reyna was requesting.
their vehicle to help Rush, when a sec-
ond vehicle hit Rush. A third vehicle, a
1998 Astro van driven by a 15 year old,
was behind the vehicle and swerved to
miss the accident scene. The 1998 Astro
van hit the 21-year old mother of one
from Silsbee. Samantha Armstrong
Rodriquez died on the scene. Funeral
Service for Rodriquez were held at
Broussard’s Mortuary on Wednesday,
May 23.
According to the request, Reyna is
wanting to increase the size of an
appraisal office as well as adding
appraisers and a new digital monitoring
system which would allow the appraisal
district to view homes in Hardin County
via the Internet through a digital satellite
photography service.
“I have a hard time considering an
increase of this size when they’re going
to use it to make it even easier to
increase our taxes next year,” said
newly-installed council member Mike
Holzapfel, referring to a recent across-
the-board increase in the county’s
appraised tax values, some of which
rose more than 20 percent for some
homeowners.
Reyna is asking for an additional
$2,928 from the City of Silsbee as its part
of a more than $200,000 increase in its
budget over last year. Council members
had the option to make no decision con-
cerning the increase, which would have
automatically allowed for the request for
additional money. Instead, Council opted
to meet on May 31 to further
See COUNCIL on Page 6, Section 1
Bee photo by Gerry L. Dickert
Three incumbent city council members and one newly-elected member
were sworn into office on Monday night during the regular monthly meet-
ing of the Silsbee Chamber of Commerce. Incumbent District D
Councilman Thomas Tyler, left, is sworn in by Silsbee Associate City Judge
Walter Land.
Enough is enough?
Silsbee Council meets to discuss
appraisal rate increase proposal
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Dickert, Gerry. The Silsbee Bee (Silsbee, Tex.), Vol. 91, No. 21, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 23, 2007, newspaper, May 23, 2007; Silsbee, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1244820/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Silsbee Public Library.