Attorney general disputes validity of Project Connect financing

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday filed a scathing rebuke to the city of Austin and Austin Transit Partnership over an attempt by those entities to have a Travis County court validate bonds that ATP wants to issue to fund Project Connect. In its response, the AG’s office declares that Proposition A, which voters approved in 2020 to finance the light-rail system, is invalid. Additionally, the attorney general said that the funding agreement between the city and ATP is invalid. If the courts agree with Paxton, ATP will have to hold another election and the city will have to stop collecting the additional taxes it currently collects to pay for Project Connect. The attorney general’s position aligns with that of arguments made by attorney Bill Aleshire on behalf of his clients – the long-standing Guadalupe Street burger joint Dirty Martin’s, Travis County Commissioner Margaret Gómez, former Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, former Council Member Ora Houston and east side activist Susana Almanza. Aleshire told the Austin Monitor via email, “You are seeing the beginning of the end of the biggest con job ever perpetrated on the taxpayers of Austin. When all is said and done, I expect the final court decision to result in a rollback of the almost 21 percent Austin property tax increase being used to (fund) Project Connect and a refund of hundreds of millions of those dollars that ATP has on hand, unspent.” Late Friday afternoon, a city spokesperson told the Monitor, “The City just received the AG’s pleading. We disagree with the AG’s assertions and are certain the court will allow the City and ATP time to file responses.” There was no immediate response from ATP. Aleshire said, “We believe there is consensus that this case will go to trial on May 28th for two days.”