The Genesee Landlords Association considered suing the city over plans to have Flint taxpayers pay for an $8 million judgment in the Genesee Towers case.
But in Circuit Court before Judge Geoffrey Neithercut, an attorney for the landlords says the group is convinced the city doesn't have the money to pay the judgment in favor of the building's former owner, Kumar Vemulapali, who was in the courtroom today.
Vemulapali declined an interview.
Even though that case was dismissed, it still gave all sides an opportunity to vent about the long legal case that went all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court.
"Who cares who pays? The greedy developer Kumar doesn't care. He just wants his money. The greedy attorneys who are behind the developer, they don't care. They just want their money," said Genesee Landlords Association Vice President Robert Burley.
"The city of Flint administration doesn't care. We're broke, they say. Dump it on the taxpayer.
City Attorney Peter Bade said the suit made things worse. "This lawsuit, in my view, has made a bad situation just a little bit worse. It was one additional chapter in a long saga that's been bad for the citizens of Flint. The city was compelled to either pay it out of its resources or put it on the tax roll. We do not have the resources to pay this judgment."
After the hearing, both sides met behind closed doors to see if some sort of financial arrangement could be made to make it less burdensome on Flint taxpayers. It was earlier estimated the owner of a $30,000 home would have to pay a one-time charge of $150 in new property taxes because of this case.
Larger taxpayers, like the landlords and General Motors Corp., would have to pay considerably more.
