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Farmers Branch OKs talks to sell Four Corners site to Wal-Mart

July 15, 2010 By DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News

FARMERS BRANCH - The City Council has voted unanimously to advance contract negotiations to sell four acres to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to develop a grocery store.

The city purchased the land for nearly $17 a square foot but would sell it for $5 a square foot to Wal-Mart, John Land, the city's economic development director, told the council Tuesday night. The land was appraised at $5 a square foot during negotiations with Wal-Mart, he said.

About $6.8 million was used to purchase the land, demolish buildings and buy out remaining leases at the southeast corner of Josey and Valley View lanes, Land said.

The city will break even on its deal in a little less than eight years because of a rise in property, sales and business inventory taxes, according to an analysis prepared by Impact DataSource, an Austin consulting firm. More

Wal-Mart grocery deal okayed by Farmers Branch City Council

11:00 PM Tue, Jul 13, 2010 Dianne Solis/Reporter

The City Council here voted unanimously tonight to advance talks to sell a four-acre plot of land to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to develop a small grocery.

The city purchased the land for nearly $17 a square foot. It will sell at $5 a square foot to Wal-Mart, a global corporation once known for the slogan "always low prices."

The move caps last year's controversial city purchase of about nine acres through financing raised by a property tax increase for a bond during a recession. Read more

Federal judge orders unspecified payment of legal fees in Farmers Branch immigration case

5:24 PM Fri, Jul 09, 2010 Dianne Solis/Reporter

E-mails show ex-Farmers Branch official warned of expensive fight over immigration ordinance

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 By DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News dsolis@dallasnews.com

The Farmers Branch City Council was warned by its former city manager that litigation over its immigration ordinance would be costly and that similar issues were already being litigated by the city of Hazleton, Pa., "with somebody else's money," according to e-mails disclosed in lawsuits against the city.

Since September 2006, Farmers Branch has paid $3.4 million to fight civil suits in federal and state courts over its renter ordinances aimed at barring illegal immigrants from housing in the Dallas suburb.

In addition, two teams of lawyers have submitted $2 million in bills as the winning side in the federal suit in which a judge ruled in March that immigration regulation to be "exclusively a federal power." The city plans to appeal, and city officials said that effectively puts a hold on any payout to the law firms. Read more

Read this Branch Forum article This is Clearly NOT What the Council Promised Us In 2007

Budget gap revealed at Farmers Branch Town Hall

Fri, Jun 18, 2010 Dallas Morning News Dianne Solis/Reporter

It'll be a lean budget year in Farmers Branch. There's a budget gap of $3 million to $4 million in the upcoming fiscal year of 2010-2011, reports city Finance Director Charles Cox.

He delivered the bad news at a Town Hall last night at the FB senior center--following a video presentation clearly intended to soften the blow coming to the current $42.5 million general fund. Read more

Property tax valuations down in Farmers Branch, and across Dallas County

2:37 PM Fri, May 21, 2010 Dianne Solis/Reporter

It's a lousy day for numbers.

The state jobless rate went up. And Dallas County property tax valuations went down, putting more pressure on city budgets and spending priorities.

In Dallas County, the overall preliminary tax roll fell nearly 5 percent, according to the Dallas Central Appraisal District. Farmers Branch fell 11 percent--one of the few double-digit dips. Carrollton slipped 1 percent. The downward trajectory took in University Park by nearly 5 percent and Highland Park by nearly 2 percent.

The Farmers Branch residential property drop was 4.75 percent, but its commercial drop was 11.10 percent and the bulk of tax revenue comes from commercial property.

All of it amounts to the largest drop in the Dallas County tax roll in nearly two decades, reports my colleague Kevin Krause. Here's more, and here's a link to the preliminary numbers.

Note - In a related story Mayor Tim O'Hare said the city was able to add to its reserves mid-year despite the "worst economy since the Great Depression."