Austin faces open meetings complaint over budget transparency

Lawyer Bill Aleshire discusses the Project Connect lawsuit during a press conference at Dirty Martin's Place Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. A group of citizens and former elected officials filed a class-action lawsuit against the Austin City Council, alleging taxes were collected for a different version of Project Connect than what voters approved.

Austin City Council is set to convene Thursday to discuss what cuts to make to the budget now that voters have rejected Proposition Q. But a complaint from two Austin attorneys throws that plan into question.

Bill Aleshire and Rick Fine sent a letter to the mayor, city council and the city attorney this week, accusing the city of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act. They say the city’s notice for Thursday’s meeting left out two key pieces of information required by state law: the proposed budget itself and an updated taxpayer impact statement.

"They're rushing this process, and they are not being fair to the public by not making it easy for them to see what the budget actually contains," Aleshire said.

The city did not immediately respond to the American-Statesman’s requests for comment.

The issue stems from a new law the Legislature passed earlier this year that added more transparency requirements for government budget meetings. Under the law, cities and other local governments must post a meeting notice at least three days in advance along with a copy of the proposed budget and a statement explaining how it would affect taxpayers.

"The whole point of the Open Meetings Act is so that the public can have notice about what a government’s going to be considering, and they can be informed," said Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, who supported the bill. "They can decide whether they want to attend the meeting, if they want to speak out — all of these things come together to help facilitate public involvement in their government."

Aleshire warned that Austin’s apparent failure to comply with the law could have ripple effects beyond this week’s meeting, especially given the city’s already rocky relationship with the Texas Legislature.

"When Austin does stuff like this, it's not only violating law, it’s insulting taxpayers again after they claim they understand they need to rebuild trust," he said. "They're gonna show members of the legislature again that Austin is just lawless. [The Legislature] can pass laws and Austin just ignores them. That’s not good politics."

Aleshire, who has filed numerous lawsuits against the city over the years, previously sued the city for Prop Q’s ballot language, arguing that the wording was misleading and did not specify how the revenue would be used or that the tax would be permanent. The Texas Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit, saying that though the question is close, voters would make the ultimate decision.