The Truth about Coppell and Taxes
The citizens of Coppell have been put in a hard dilemma. Some present and past city leaders had to be tough and show Lucy Billingsley and the Billingsley Corporation who was “boss” over the controversial Cypress Waters development at Northlake. In the end, the citizens of Coppell get to pay $26 million in land debt, only the first of more debt for the Northlake development. This is after the city and school district spent well over $2 million in legal fees. And in the end, Lucy Billingsley gets to build her dream, Cypress Waters, with even less dollars than originally projected. The citizens of Coppell are just now realizing the total story.
I had the privilege to meet privately with Lucy Billingsley two times during the negotiations of Northlake between Billingsley Corporation and Coppell. Both times were lengthy and pleasant meetings. The first meeting was at the beginning of the controversy of Northlake and Ms. Billingsley repeated several times in her willingness to work with Coppell, her desire to be a good neighbor, grant land for Coppell schools, etc. The second meeting was months later. By that point she had long realized that Coppell did not want to work together and while the City of Coppell and the Coppell ISD had spent over $2 million in legal fees attempting to block her development, she knew in the end that she would prevail. She had the favor of the City of Dallas, the Texas courts and Texas law on her side. Coppell’s actions between these two meetings had been disappointing at best. A former city leader told two African-American Dallas City Councilmen that the city did not need to negotiate with Dallas since these two councilmen would soon be in jail anyway over alleged crimes. Rarely did the minority members of the Dallas City Council vote with the then Mayor Laura Miller. But Coppell’s attitude prompted a Dallas City Council unanimous vote in favor of Billingsley and against Coppell. The local Coppell newspapers rarely, if at all, reported such incidents. Stories such as this could be found in The Dallas Observer and the Dallas Morning News.
So Lucy Billingsley decided to wait it out, knowing that in the end she would prevail. But the final outcome could not have been sweeter for Billingsley. Coppell paid millions for land and a lake that they do not need and will eventually remove a power plant – all on land that is in the City of Dallas, and all at the expense of the Coppell taxpayers. Lucy, well, she gets to build her 10,000 unit development complete with all Dallas city services and Coppell schools at Coppell taxpayer cost.
The saddest part of this commentary is that the vast majority of citizens never had the opportunity to view the original or current proposal of Cypress Waters. Lucy Billingsley came two times to my company and met with my agents and shared her vision and dream. Most of the agents were impressed. I think most of Coppell could have been as well before the need to spend over $26 million for a land purchase that we may never use.
Now, the City Council wants to raise taxes five cents to pay for the first of several bonds for Northlake. And they are seeking this increase with no fiscal cuts, no staff decrease (even if through attrition) and a huge overage in the city’s fund balance. Today, Coppell has a bloated city government with 2.5 times more employees at 40,000 population than we had at 25,000 population in the mid 1990s.
Something is terribly wrong with this picture. That is why the citizens of Coppell are finally saying, “No New Taxes".
Mark Wolfe
Next Coppell Public Hearing
Tuesday, September 1st, 6:00 pm
Coppell City Hall
The Coppell City Council is considering raising residents' property tax rate as much as 5 cents – but the city isn't in financial straits.
City services aren't being threatened. Staffers aren't facing pink slips. And the general fund has a healthy surplus.
The council is trying to figure out the best way to begin paying down $26.5 million in bond debt from the purchase of land outside the city limits. It's the same land that voters overwhelmingly approved buying in 2006.
"The only reason there's a question about raising taxes on the table is the North Lake debt service," City Manager Clay Phillips said.
Almost everyone on the council agrees that at some point the city will have to raise taxes to pay down the debt. Some favor phasing in a five-cent increase over two years.
The question at ongoing council meetings is whether to increase taxes this year as residents muddle through a historic recession – especially when their past tax contributions have created a $10 million general fund surplus that is not currently earmarked for other expenditures.
The council is to have a public hearing on the matter Tuesday. It's scheduled to vote on the final rate on Sept. 8.
At last Tuesday's public hearing, more than 150 residents packed the council chambers to show their disdain for higher taxes. Many wore T-shirts that said, "No new taxes."
But some residents say it's not just a possible tax increase that has them stirred up. They say a majority of council members haven't publicly discussed the matter enough.
They wonder whether the issue would be on the table if the next council election wasn't more than 18 months away. And they accuse officials of making up their minds before hearing from residents.
Talks of a recall effort have already begun.
North Lake is just north of LBJ Freeway, connected to Coppell by a small strip of land. But the property borders Coppell and Irving and is mostly in the Coppell school district. Coppell and its school district bought parcels of the land as part of settlement agreements stemming from their opposition to long-held plans for development in the area.
The city issued about $26.5 million in bonds last year to buy about 468 acres, all but about 100 acres of which is lake acreage. The annual payments for the debt are about $2.8 million.
Mayor Jayne Peters wants to hold off at least a year before raising taxes.
"With these economic times, do we need to be raising the tax rate?" she said. "Based on the fund balance, we can afford to absorb it."
But Peters will only get to vote on the matter if there's a tie. And so far, only council member Marvin Franklin has publicly voiced opposition to raising taxes.
The current tax rate is 64.146 cents per $100 of assessment, which amounts to a tax bill of about $1,603.65 for a $250,000 home.
According to a budget memo presented to the council earlier this summer, the tax rate at some point will have to go up to 69.146 cents per $100 of value to service the debt. That's an increase of about $125, or 7.8 percent, for a $250,000 home.
story
It appears the proposed property rate tax increase is going to be a contentious issue.
At Tuesday’s Coppell City Council meeting, Coppell Town Center was crowded with more than 150 people, many of whom openly protested, wearing T-shirts that read, “No New Taxes!!”
During the first of two public hearings, the standing-room-only crowd overwhelmingly opposed the increase and implored city leaders to not raise taxes.
The second hearing is scheduled 6 p.m. Sept. 1 at Coppell Town Center.
“This is not the time to raise taxes,” resident Nick Brounoff told city leaders. “We need to be tightening our belts and watching our expenses.”
The proposed 5-cent increase in the tax rate, or 7 percent, is intended to pay down debt service from the sale of $26.5 million in bonds from the purchase of 468 acres land at North Lake.
Residents suggested alternatives to raising taxes, including cutting unnecessary expenses such as signage, city events and holiday decorations, and paying off the North Lake debt with existing funds, such as the general fund balance.
The general fund balance, which includes $16 million of undesignated funds, is used for operations, maintenance, services and programs. Each year, the city’s leftover budgeted funds go back into the fund balance, City Manager Clay Phillips said. And this year, the city will have an excess of expenditures, which will go into that account, he said.
“A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into the reserving of those funds during our great times, when tax revenues were going up significantly,” resident Cliff Long said during the public forum. “But we knew that at some point in time there was going to be an abatement of that increase.
“If we wanted to maintain the quality of life here and continue with the services that we have here, something was going to have to be done. One of those tools was the reserve of funds that we could use somewhere in the future.”
Nonetheless, the majority of council members expressed the need for an increased property tax rate to pay down the North Lake debt. Opinions on the time frame and percentage of the increase varied.
“The taxes are going to be raised. They have to be raised. We have issued debt – the largest amount of debt we ever had in one time,” councilwoman Marsha Tunnell said. “I don’t know how much … and I don’t know when. But we don’t have the luxury of sitting on this kind of debt. We don’t have the growth we have had in the past to absorb this.”
At the council’s budget work session, five alternative taxing options were brought up. One of the options called for a 2.5 percent increase next year and another 2.5 percent increase the following year, which is the option most people landed on, Mayor Jayne Peters said.
But councilman Marvin Franklin was not one of them.
“We don’t need new taxes this year – that’s where I stand,” he said. “With a plan I think we can, yes, we keep taxes flat, and we can still pursue our long-term goals. But we pay our bills, and we’re going to have to pay for this North Lake debt. You’re going to have to work with us to get that debt paid for. We don’t have a choice.”
For your info
Blogger Todd Storch Twittered council updates during Tuesday’s meeting. Check out his blog, concernedcitizen75019.blogspot.com, or read his Tweets at twitter.com/concerncoppell.
Lindsey Bever is a reporter with neighborsgo and can be reached at 972-436-5551 ext. 3004 or via e-mail at lbever@neighborsgo.com. If you have a story, photo or video you'd like to share, please post it directly on neighborsgo.com.
READ PART 1 HERE
Posts
All Comments
