AUSTIN, Texas — Plans for rail expansion in Austin are stuck in a legal battle, as a trial that was supposed to begin on Monday over Project Connect didn't go forward.
Project Connect is the multibillion-dollar voter-approved plan to expand public transit in Austin. Opponents argue the plan looks much different now than what was pitched to voters in 2020.
The funding mechanism for the project is at the center of the legal battle. Opponents say the city of Austin put Project Connect on the ballot, asking voters to approve the tax rate increase that funds the city's discretionary budget. They say instead, the city should have done a standard bond proposition, which sets aside additional taxes for specific projects.
On Monday, the Texas Attorney General's Office filed an appeal in the trial, essentially freezing it.
The executive director of the Austin Transit Partnership oversees the implementation of Project Connect and wants it to move forward. Attorneys on the other side of the lawsuit say city leaders should drop this version of Project Connect and put a bond election on the November ballot instead.
"We were looking for an impartial judge to confirm and validate what we've known all along, that through all the steps of creating and implementing and carrying out Project Connect and Austin Light Rail, we have complied with state law. We followed state law every step," said Austin Transit Partnership Executive Director Greg Canally.
"It is time, if there's any leaders left in the city of Austin government, for them to recognize the current plan for Project Connect is doomed, one way or the other – in court, or at the granite house." > said the attorney against Project Connect Bill Aleshire.
On Monday, Austin Council Member Mackenzie Kelly issued a statement on the legal battle.
“Unfortunately, in 2020, city leadership under Mayor Adler chose not only to overpromise on Project Connect but also to pay for it through a legally questionable funding mechanism,” said Kelly. “Austin voters and taxpayers will have to continue to wait for a drawn-out legal battle to unfold before transit improvements can be delivered – if they can ever be delivered at all – all while continuing to pay 21% higher taxes to the city in the meantime. As the council begins deliberations on the city’s annual budget, I will be working to provide Austinites tax relief on Project Connect until the dispute over its financing structure is resolved through the court system.”
Attorneys for the Austin Transit Partnership said they were going to file an emergency motion in hopes of stopping this delay in the case.