AUSTIN, Texas — Project Connect, the voter-approved, taxpayer-funded effort to revamp public transit across Austin, faces opposition again.
The group that previously sued over proposed routes for the project has filed another lawsuit to stop the city from collecting millions of dollars in property taxes for Project Connect.
Plaintiffs gathered together at Dirty Martin’s Tuesday afternoon to say what the plan has evolved into is not what they voted for back in 2020.
Bill Aleshire, leading counsel, said the new class-action lawsuit is based on a “relatively new and untested provision” in Texas Tax Code 16.05. He said it strengthens taxpayer protections and can stop the city from collecting its property tax if the tax rate is miscalculated.
The lawsuit claims the city is illegally collecting property tax that renews every year for Project Connect because voters are not getting what they agreed to.
“They’re pursuing what I call a ‘miniature’ Project Connect that’s not citywide,” Aleshire said.
He said what started as a $7 billion plan that included 30 miles of rail and a route to the airport and downtown now has a more than an $11 billion price tag and half the routes.
Aleshire said the 2024 tax rate the Austin City Council approved on Aug. 14 is miscalculated and must be removed. The lawsuit also alleges that some of the property tax money that’s already been collected will not be spent this year anyway.
“Not including this year’s $187 million, Austin’s Project Connect tax levy has been for over $630 million. But there is $476 million on hand, unspent, uncommitted,” Aleshire said. “There’s no way they will spend this year’s Project Connect levy on Project Connect this year. They’re just stockpiling taxes that working families ought to be able to keep.”
Cathy Cocco, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, said she was shocked to see how different the project has become.
Cocco, who voted for Project Connect in 2020, said she has always been supportive of light rail and has used it her whole life. She said Austin was a city with a lot of potential for that kind of growth and said the plan presented in 2020 would be good for the community.
She said she now considers Project Connect a “bait-and-switch scheme." For less than 10 miles of rail, more money and longer times to wait for construction, she said it doesn't serve the city or solve its traffic problems.
“The light rail and Project Connect solution is an unaffordable, outdated, yesterday idea not suited for the 21st century city that needs to be efficient, agile, affordable and more equitable for all Austin residents,” Cocco said. “As a result, I support this lawsuit against the Austin City Council."
Plaintiffs say city leaders need to stop the tax, rethink the project in a feasible way and go back to people to vote for it in a bond election.
In a statement, the Austin Transit Partnership, which oversees Project Connect, called the lawsuit “baseless,” saying the money saved up now will be used in upcoming years for future construction.
Local leaders plan to give another update on Project Connect's progress at their annual meeting Wednesday morning.