TMCnet News
Never legally dissolved, Rock Bluff has been sued over property taxes(Omaha World-Herald (NE) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Sep. 24--ROCK BLUFF, Neb. -- This historic community along the Missouri River does not exist on modern Nebraska road maps. No sign greets visitors. A volleyball net and grass lot occupy the site of what once was the village hall. "There hasn't been anything left of the town for a long time," said Jim Furlong, 66, whose great-grandfather was one of Rock Bluff's first settlers. "You won't find anything on a map that says 'Rock Bluff' for the last 30 to 40 years." This year, the long-forgotten village figured in an unusual legal dispute. The clash involved 19th century village boundaries and 21st century property tax laws. Present-day farmers with large tracts of corn and soybeans near Rock Bluff were sandwiched in the middle of the controversy. The town was hauled into court by farmers concerned that their property taxes would skyrocket. They objected to a county assessor's ruling that their property sits within the town boundaries and was subject to higher taxes. The farmers said the village hasn't been much of a village for, well, the past century. About two dozen modern-day homes and farmsteads surround this village 6 miles south of Plattsmouth. About 30 people live in Rock Bluff. Not a single storefront from the old town square still stands. With its hilly topography, Rock Bluff offers majestic views of the Missouri River. Scavengers still find Indian arrowheads near the old gated Rock Bluff Cemetery. Whitetail deer, wild turkey, badgers and fox live along the river's shoreline. Rock Bluff was incorporated June 10, 1856, and was a bustling river town in the 1860s. The town boasted three general stores, a steamboat landing, two blacksmith shops, three churches, a brick post office, more than 100 homes and Cass County's first high school. Ambitious town officials, banking on more growth, platted thousands of acres of countryside within the incorporated village limits. But a population boom never materialized. In 1869, the Burlington Railroad crossed the river at Plattsmouth with a new rail line. Rock Bluff slowly dried up. By 1904, the town post office had closed. By the 1930s, Rock Bluff was down to a small store and a gas pump. The town faded from the public eye. Two years ago, county officials determined that Rock Bluff had never taken the legal steps to dissolve the town or unincorporate its boundaries. Last spring, the newly elected county assessor notified several local landowners that their property did not qualify for tax advantages under the state's greenbelt laws. Their farmland sat within the existing village boundaries, he reasoned, so they would have to pay more in taxes. The greenbelt program was created to protect farmers and ranchers from higher property taxes because of encroaching development. State law was changed last year because some people getting the tax reduction were doing little or no farming. Now a property's primary use has to be agricultural to qualify. The greenbelt properties within the Rock Bluff boundaries are all legitimate farming operations that grow crops, Cass County officials said. More than 600 acres of farmland has since been removed from the Rock Bluff boundaries. All seven farmers who sued received a judge's permission to secede from the village, said Cass County Attorney Nathan Cox. The shrunken map of Rock Bluff now consists of a dozen single-family dwellings, spanning three blocks north-to-south and eight blocks east-to-west. The former boundaries stretched 24 blocks long and 14 blocks wide. With greenbelt status, land values in Rock Bluff range between $1,100 and $1,300 per acre. Without it, the land value is about $1,750 per acre. Furlong, who had 65 acres removed from the village boundaries, wishes the county would simply vote to dissolve Rock Bluff and move past the issue. "Yes, there is the old schoolhouse still standing in Rock Bluff," he said. But for all practical purposes, "the town does not exist anymore. It is gone." Rock Bluff actually has three landmarks left. The grain elevator still operates along the river. The former school, built in 1870, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The gated Rock Bluff Cemetery is home to hundreds of headstones, many dating to the Lewis and Clark era. "I love the living out here," said Rock Bluff resident Larry Simoneau. "Perfect solitude. You can hear coyotes in the night and 15 to 20 turkeys gobbling in the morning. I would not like to see Rock Bluff get any bigger." Simoneau raises horses and chickens on his 10-acre pasture. "It's a ghost town," Simoneau said. "Remaining a town (legally), it's nice for history but bad for the taxpayers and the people. Basically, Rock Bluff is nothing but a farm community anymore. We don't have a mayor or any gas station or general store. I'd rather be a farming community and be taxed as such." But unlike other Nebraska ghost towns, Rock Bluff has a promising chance for rebirth, said Ron Nolte, the County Board chairman. A local farmer has received county permission to build Rock Bluff Camping, a 24-lot RV park and campground along the riverbanks. A couple of mansions have been built recently. Thousands of acres of rolling hills and farmland are ripe for future subdivisions and developments. Rock Bluff sits one mile from the Beaver Lake dam. The private, unincorporated community of Beaver Lake has quickly become Cass County's second largest community, with more than 1,700 residents. "Since that town charter is still in place, I can see a resurgence for Rock Bluff sometime in the not-too-many years," Nolte said. "With more building headed south of Plattsmouth, I think there will be a time the village of Rock Bluff will have their own city council and be their own taxing body again. I think someone is going to be able to revitalize that area." To see more of the Omaha World-Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.omaha.com. Copyright (c) 2007, Omaha World-Herald, Neb. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |