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Josh Weiss spent thousands of dollars to prove that his new house was in compliance with city regulations.

DALLAS — "The city made the mess," Dallas homeowner Josh Weiss said. "They should clean it up."

For him, the wait wasn't worth it.

"It's not fair! We live in America!" Weiss added. "The government does not have freedom to make any mistake they want and just get away with it."

But that's what Weiss thinks the City of Dallas has done.

It has now offered to partially reimburse him for an expensive mistake eight city inspectors made — a settlement that Weiss says is jsut a fraction of the expenses he incurred.

This story centers on an invisible line.

Before Josh Weiss even laid the foundation for his southern Dallas home two years ago, eight building inspectors said his house had to be ten feet off the property line. He complied and started building.

But when the house was almost complete, another city inspector came in and said Weiss' house should have been built 30 feet off the property line.

The city admitted its mistake, but said Weiss' only options were to tear down the part of the house in violation or pay to have the property re-platted.

He paid to re-plat his property.

"They did offer to refund $1,300," Weiss told News 8, but $1,300 is only 30 percent of what he says he spent.

Dallas Councilman David Neumann, Weiss' city representative, has worked to solve the two-year-old issue over the last couple of months.

When asked if it's fair that Weiss only gets reimbursed $1,300, Neumann said: "I think mistakes were made on both sides."

What Weiss did wrong remains uncertain.

Councilman Neumann said he did persuade the city to refund the maximum amount it could legally bear — $1,300 for all of Weiss' building permit fees; anything more would be precedent-setting.

Weiss is considering the cash, but still wants what's right.

E-mail jwhitely@wfaa.com