A municipal law professor says a private-public partnership between the City of Ottawa and an U.S. home warranty company puts the city at risk of financial liability, and the royalties paid to the city aren't worth it. "If this private partner doesn't do its job properly, the city might end up on the hook for whatever damages they cause or whatever work they haven't done. And that to me as a taxpayer ... concerns me," said Stéphane Émard-Chabot, a former Ottawa city councillor who now teaches municipal law at the University of Ottawa.