Dallas Taxpayers Possibly On Hook For $1 Billion
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Dallas taxpayers may find themselves on the hook for $2,600 each thanks to a lawsuit involving some of the city's police and firefighters. It's a fight decades in the making, involving 10,000 current and former first responders.
Retired Dallas Police sergeant Mike Flusche is one of them. He was shot on the job years ago. Flusche is suing the city over a 1979 voter mandate to raise the pay of low-ranking officers at the same rate as chiefs. But the pay for chiefs has gone up more during the last three decades, thus Flusche is seeking more than a $1 billion in back pay.
"I think that they should pay they what they promised them," said one officer's widow who's suing.
Many people don't agree with her; Dallas City Councilman Phillip Kingston is one of them.
"These are people who are supposed to be dedicated to safety of Dallas," said Kingston. "Yet they are willing to play chicken with the city's future."
But plaintiffs like Jan Furr argue her husband Marshall literally worked himself to death with extra jobs over the years.
The 20 year old lawsuit finally goes to trial in August.
The city said it has no interest in settling and has hired a high powered legal team to fight.
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