The City Council approved up to $12 million in tax breaks for a developer who plans to build a shopping center at the former Masonic Home at East Berry Street and U.S. 287. FW Mason Heights, a development partnership led by Happy Baggett, plans to build 300,000 to 500,000 square feet of stores. The tenants haven’t been named, but Baggett said this month that they could include a grocery store and clothing stores. Baggett will have to invest at least $46 million and will qualify for the full $12.5 million only if he and his partners finish the shopping center by 2012 and meet hiring and contracts goals. Councilwoman Kathleen Hicks praised the project as the biggest economic development in southeast Fort Worth in more than 30 years.

City’s auditors to be paid $1 million more

The council also voted to pay its outside auditing firm, Deloitte & Touche, an additional $1 million. The auditors have been working since 2005 to bring Fort Worth’s books up to date. The city is required to audit its books once a year to prove its creditworthiness to lenders, but it hasn’t finished an audit on time since 2004 because of outdated equipment and staffing issues in the Finance Department. Deloitte has been asking for extra money to perform the audits because it has had to reconcile numerous problems, including accounts that haven’t been balanced for years. The city’s original contract with Deloitte was for $1.1 million over four years. The council increased the payment in November to $3.8 million. The latest increase — $135,000 for the fiscal 2006-07 audit and $869,000 for the fiscal 2007-08 audit — brings the total to $4.8 million. — Mike Lee
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