Jesús Garza surprised by campaign finance report

Former Austin City Manager Jesús Garza is working on the campaign to defeat Proposition F, which would change the management of Austin’s city government from the current Council-manager form to a strong-mayor system. Garza, who is retired, was surprised to hear that a document had been filed this week indicating he was the treasurer for a group called Yes on Prop E. The group filed an affidavit of dissolution on March 22 and indicated making donations to the nonprofits Avance Austin, Con mi Madre and the Del Valle Coalition. Prop E on the May 1 ballot asks voters, “Shall the City Charter be amended to provide for the use of ranked choice voting in city elections, if such voting is permitted by state law?” Garza clarified that he had been the treasurer for a group supporting Proposition E in 2018, which voters approved to provide $16 million in general obligation bonds for the design, construction and equipping of a new neighborhood public health clinic in the Dove Springs area. Garza told the Austin Monitor that he wasn’t taking a public position on the ranked choice voting proposition and that he would talk to the person who filed the paperwork to see if it could be amended to avoid confusion.