Coppell Chronicle Vol. 4, No. 42
Judge Rules in Favor of ‘Coppell Plaintiffs’ • Burnt Home’s Owner Given Deadlines • Sports Leagues Report Resident Rates • Hearing on ‘Just Pots’ Bazaar Was Just Bizarre
Yesterday’s inclement weather led to the cancellation of Coppell’s holiday parade, but the city’s tree-lighting ceremony and its associated drone show have been rescheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday at Andrew Brown Park East. See you there?
Judge Rules in Favor of ‘Coppell Plaintiffs’
Coppell has recorded a victory in its protracted battle with the Texas comptroller.
In July of 2021, Coppell and a few other cities sued Comptroller Glenn Hegar over his proposed changes to the distribution of sales taxes for online transactions. Hegar wants those dollars to shift from the sellers’ cities to the buyers’ cities. If Hegar gets his way, Coppell and its fellow plaintiffs would lose millions. These statistics are from the latest version of their lawsuit.
Like Coppell, its fellow plaintiffs have their fair share of warehouses, distribution centers, and fulfillment centers. Hegar’s proposal would harm these cities because such facilities “all require city-supplied infrastructure and services that are more expensive than the cost of infrastructure and services provided for residential and retail development,” their suit said.
After many delays, a three-day trial finally happened in October, and Judge Karin Crump issued her final judgment on Tuesday. Crump ruled that Hegar’s proposal contradicted the Texas Tax Code’s language about determining where the sale of a taxable item is consummated. She prohibited him from enforcing his oft-amended proposal until it is consistent with the state’s laws.
Hegar has the right to appeal. On Wednesday, I emailed a Hegar spokesman with whom I’ve had previous contact to see if the comptroller had anything to say about Crump’s ruling. I have not yet received a response.
Although Coppell City Manager Mike Land was elated by the ruling, he expects future fights on this issue.
“We will face those trials and tribulations when they come, and they will come,” Land said.
Those fights may happen in the Legislature. Rep. Morgan Meyer, a Republican from University Park, introduced bills in 2021 and 2023 that would have switched Texas’ policy on sales taxes from “origin sourcing” to “destination sourcing.” If either of those bills had become law, Coppell’s lawsuit would have been rendered moot.
Meyer has not yet filed any bills for the 2025 legislative session, but he has plenty of time. In 2023, Meyer waited until the session’s 60th day, which is the deadline for filing bills that aren’t related to local matters or emergency items, to introduce House Bill 5089. That bill would have amended the Tax Code to say that “sales of taxable items are consummated at the location in this state to which the item is shipped or delivered or at which possession is taken by the purchaser.”
Meyer is not the only legislator interested in this issue. Rep. Mike Schofield, a Republican from Katy, has already filed a bill that would support Coppell’s position. If none of the Tax Code’s existing language about businesses’ locations applied to a particular transaction, Schofield’s House Bill 924 would declare that the sale was consummated “at the location in this state where the item was stored immediately before shipment, delivery, or transfer of possession to the customer.” That sounds like a fulfillment center to this reader.
Schofield filed a similar bill in November of 2022. During the 2023 legislative session, his bill was not granted a hearing after being referred to the Ways and Means Committee. That committee is chaired by none other than Morgan Meyer.
Burnt Home’s Owner Given Deadlines
The owner of a house that burned a few years ago has been given 30 days to make progress on its restoration.
On Thursday, the Coppell Building and Standards Commission — an alter ego of the city’s Board of Adjustment — conducted a public hearing about the house at 407 Greenway Court. It has been in disrepair since a fire on May 28, 2022. Some windows are still replaced by boards, the electrical and plumbing systems do not meet minimum requirements, and the pool contains standing black water. According to Coppell’s code compliance officers, the home is “unfit for human occupancy.”