In today’s litigious culture, municipalities have to worry constantly about lawsuits. From a visitor slipping and falling on public grounds to a car accident involving a state-owned vehicle, the threat of litigation is high. So is the cost of arbitration, mediation or...
Counsel for Texas municipalities
Tug of war over Texas online sales tax
A simple change to the sales tax sourcing rule by the Texas Comptroller will go into effect later this year. Comptroller’s Rule 3.334 will redirect sales tax revenue from online purchases. Instead of going to the seller’s place of business, the revenue will go to the...
Texas city to help other municipalities learn from its drought survival
It started back in 2010 and lasted five years. The extreme drought that put a dry, dusty chokehold on Wichita Falls forced a number of changes in the lives of its residents. None of the changes were harder to swallow than the switch to Direct Potable Reuse (DPR) – a...
Texas county and petrochemical company settle lawsuit
A mid-March weekend two years ago was interrupted by a Saturday afternoon fire at Exxon Mobil’s Baytown refinery. News reports stated that the blaze was extinguished after about four hours. Details of that incident were forgotten by area residents less than 24 hours...