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.
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