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Home > Our Issues > This is Clearly NOT What the Council Promised Us In 2007 This is Clearly NOT What the Council Promised Us In 2007 Reality vs Fiction Source What Tim O'Hare Said in 2007 In April, 2007 Councilmen Tim O'Hare and Ben Robinson sent the following letter to voters: "As you are probably aware, Ordinance 2903, which prohibits apartment landlords from renting property to most illegal immigrants, comes to the voters for approval. We believe this ordinance is important to ensure the safety of community, the value of our homes, the quality of our schools, and the ability to redevelop many of our retail areas that have been in decline for several years. There is a tremendous amount of false information being spread about this ordinance and its effects." They go on to list 2 "FALSEHOODS". Let's revisit what they said. 1. We Can't Afford the Lawsuits THEIR TRUTH: "As a result of legal fees to date, there has not been one job eliminated within the City, not one service for our residents has been reduced or eliminated, and there has been no discussion of raising taxes to pay for legal fees." (1) The Reality -- The city budget has suffered - 28 persons have been laid off, there have been cuts in services, there was a 5% tax increase - all or some of which could have been avoided if we would have had that $4 million which will be spent on legal fees by the end of this year. The Council is getting ready to sell $5.5 million in bonds for a new fire station approved by voters which will again raise our taxes. If we had not spent so much money on legal fees, we could borrow much less or none at all for this project. Our Emergency Reserve fund has declined from $13+ million in 2006 to $8.8 million this includes the addition of the $1.2 million transferred from the water & sewer reserve fund. As for revitalization, the only new commercial construction in 3 years has been the Shell station 7/11 at LBJ and Webb Chapel. 2. WE DO NOT HAVE TO RAISE TAXES TO PAY FOR OUR LEGAL FEES. THEIR TRUTH: "Any assertion to the contrary is simply false. We have an insurance carrier who will pay all of our legal fees after our deductibles are met on two of the cases if they are not dismissed outright, which is a very real possibility. In addition, if the cases are dismissed or won by the City, we can seek reimbursement for all of our attorney fees from those who have sued us." (2) The Reality -- The city has lost both the 2903 and the 2952 lawsuits. They had to pay about $500,000 to the plaintiff attorneys in the first case and in the second case, plaintiff attorneys are asking for $1.1 million to reimburse their fees. The insurance paid little or nothing to defray the cost. In order for the insurance company to pay, the city would have had to use the attorney chosen by the insurance carrier. In 2007 the Council rejected that in favor of their lawyers, Strasburger & Price. The Council was also getting advice from Kris Kobach, a law professor at the University of Kansas who said he would help on a pro bono basis. Our legal bills are approaching $4 million by the end of this fiscal year that does not include paying any plaintiff attorney fees. Mr. Kobach, our "pro bono" lawyer, has gotten $100,000 of that for his work. These results are clearly NOT what the Council promised us in 2007. On April 20, 2010, the Council decided to appeal the latest loss to the 5th circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal will only cost $100-150,000 and when the City wins, the $1.1 million in plaintiff fees they owe will not have to be paid. If you believe this, we have some great swamp land in Florida; we'd like to sell you. April 20,2010 -- Council Votes to Appeal With a motion by Councilman Ben Robinson and a second by Councilman David Koch, the Farmers Branch City Council voted unanimously to appeal the March 25, 2010, Court judgment that city Ord. 2952 is unconstitutional to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Ord. 2952 regulates who may rent property in Farmers Branch by requiring prospective tenents to secure a permit from the city before leasing. The only recourse that we taxpayers have is to VOTE. In previous council meetings, both Mr. Scott and Mr. Koch said that if we did not like their vote to let them know at election time. Now is our chance to let them know that their vote will cost them. We need your help to elect people who care about the taxpayers of Farmers Branch. Saturday, May 8, 2010, is Election Day for Farmers Branch City Council Place 2 and Place 4, and CFBISD Board of Trustees Place 5, Place 6 and Place 7. Early voting is April 26 to May 4. Polling places and times can be found at http://www.dalcoelections.org/ Branch Forum delivered the Legal Cost Survey results to the council before their vote on the appeal. The survey results are here
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