Dallas Wants to Sell a Farm It's Not Allowed to Sell

Council to decide in August, AG has already decided to fight Dallas

Dallas faces yet another budgetary shortfall for fiscal 2010-11, this one to the tune of about $130 million.

Council members and City Manager Mary Suhm have kicked around ideas such as a transportation user fee — which pretty much boils down to a fee per registered vehicle — a voluntary tax-like fee paid by magnanimous nonprofit groups that are exempt from taxes, and something about keeping city-generated trash in city-operated dumps so residents don’t take the trash elsewhere where dumping fees are less than in Dallas. How do you enforce that?

Another move proposed by council would be the sale of Samuell Farm, more than 300 acres just outside city limits bequeathed to Dallas in 1937 by Dr. W.W. Samuell.

Only thing is Samuell’s will stipulated that Dallas could never sell the property, but council wants to explore the option anyway, voting in August on whether or not to conduct a public hearing on the subject in advance of placing it on a November ballot near you.

State District Attorney Greg Abbot’s office said, in effect, do that boys and girls, and we’ll see you in court.

A Dallas resident, in response to all this, penned — keyboarded? — a letter to the editors of the Dallas Morning News. In it, he said, “This scheme will undoubtedly bring a lawsuit against the city. Outside attorneys will be hired at taxpayer expense to fight it, as in almost every instance. If there is a judgment, taxpayers will pay for it, not the people at City Hall who cooked up this plan.”

Amen to that, brother-man.

Bruce Felps owns and operates East Dallas Times, an online community news outlet serving the White Rock Lake area. Now, if Dallas ever gets serious about selling … nope, he can’t think of one thing he’d want.

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