An Avenue for relief for those property owners directly affected by the Trafalgar Stump Dump would be through property taxes.
I would suggest that those property owners living within a mile or so radius around the Stump Dump contact the Benton County Assessor or the Appraisal department and request that their 2019 property value be reduced to no value. This, of course, would result in no property taxes due in 2020. As of Jan. 1 of this year, your property value was drastically influenced by conditions well out of your control (economic obsolescence). Selling your property with the current conditions would prove fruitless now. You would be required, under the law, to disclose the hazardous conditions that directly affect your property to any prospective buyer. Thus, you have a valueless piece of property until the problem is resolved. You can't request relief for last year because of the Jan. 1 lien date imposed for assessment purposes. As an assessor for Saline County for almost two decades, this would have been an easy decision for me to make. You as a taxpayer deserve this relief. Hopefully, the relief will only be for this year.
As a side note, my wife and I retired to Bella Vista 4 years ago and have enjoyed every day of this wonderful community.
Jim Crawford
Bella Vista
Editorial on 01/23/2019