Friendswood City Council sues citizens???
Mayor David J.H. Smith and the city council appear to have lost their marbles and Americans for Prosperity activists in Friendswood have sounded the alarm. The City of Friendswood has not been able to get voter approval for bonds the council wants to issue, so the city council has gone to court to ask if state law allowing for the issuance of tax revenue certificates of obligation without voter approval trumps the Friendswood City Charter which prohibits issuing CO's without voter approval. They will be in Travis County District Court on Monday, 179 miles away from the Citizens of Friendswood (over 350 miles round trip). So much for citizen participation…
This lunacy is best explained here: http://lonestartimes.com/2009/06/09/friendswood-city-govt-run-amuck/ and here: http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2009/06/10/Friendswood_journal/news/6-4_fj_lawsuit.txt. The following is from the Friendswood Journal News article:
Friendswood Mayor Smith said during Monday's session at City Hall. "We're the plaintiffs. We sue the citizens, per se, the citizens of the state of Texas…"
Since when should elected officials overrule the voters, let alone sue the citizens so the officials can dig deeper into taxpayers' pockets. Cities are not political subdivisions of the state, and that is why they have city charters. Clearly, the voters of Friendswood were justified in changing the city charter prohibiting city leaders from issuing non-voter approved bonds. Now we see why. Friendswood is carrying $74 million in debt (principal plus interest) and has a population of only 33,486…that represents city debt of $2,242 per man, woman and child.
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