Imagine this bizarre scenario: the Dallas Country Club has itself a membership crisis. Swine flu sweeps through the city this winter and kills off all the older members. The DCC can’t replenish its numbers with enough new members because anyone serious about golf knows that Lakewood, Dallas Athletic Club, and Brook Hollow all have better tracks. Whatever. Just work with me here.
Here’s the question: what would the remaining members get for their 118 acres and the clubhouse and all the rest? Does $15 million sound low to you? That’s the current valuation placed on the club’s property by the Dallas Central Appraisal District — and the DCC thinks that’s too high. Over on Unfair Park, Robert Wilonsky, the 10th-most powerful person in Dallas, has posted a lawsuit filed by the DCC to get that valuation lowered. The members apparently felt the previous valuation of $10 million was more fair.
Two things about this. First, as Wick pointed out a while back (and as Wilonsky was kind enough to link to), treating the DCC’s 118 acres as tax-exempt real property amounts to subsidized racism. That’s no good. But forget the land under the club. Let’s talk about the buildings themselves. The DCC is currently undergoing a huge renovation. I’m told, in fact, that the wrecking ball is scheduled to swing in about a week. This sort of work requires the filing of much official paperwork that should give DCAD a fairly precise gauge of what the structures are worth and will be worth when the project is completed.
I rule in favor of DCAD.
