FROM LEFT: Mayor Ginger Nelson and Councilmembers Freda Powell, Eddy Sauer, and Howard Smith/Photos by Nelson Campaign, City of Amarillo, Sauer Campaign, and Smith Campaign
By Thomas Warren III, Editor-in-Chief
There is no doubt that 2020 was a tough year for many people in our community. People lost their jobs, homes, and businesses last year and our municipal government was even short on certain revenues to pay debt service obligations.
Still, even throughout all of the financial troubles in 2020, the Amarillo City Council found ways to waste taxpayer money, hiring multiple Austin lobbyists at a time when the Texas Legislature wasn't even in session.
According to filings with the Texas Ethics Commission, Amarillo taxpayers paid the salaries for eight lobbyists in 2020, all of whom were from the Austin area. Even as local taxpayers are seeing their money funneled to out-of-town bureaucrats and swamp dwellers, the Amarillo City Council refused to listen to concerns about the state of our economy, voting to raise taxes while also pushing the proposed largest tax increase in Amarillo history.
I sincerely wonder why our elected officials believe it is acceptable to use our tax dollars to employ lobbyists when people in our city are struggling to make ends meet due to COVID-19 and related shutdowns. This disconnect between the reality of the real world and the rainbowland of City Hall should tell you everything you need to know about our City Council.
In my opinion, it is completely unacceptable for our elected officials to raise taxes and ignore citizens on issues like taxes and spending while continuing to sign the checks for the high-dollar Austin lobbyists who wouldn’t understand the issues facing the individual neighborhoods in this city if they tried.
And, remember, last year’s tax increase and lobbyist ATM still happened under the watch of Mayor Ginger Nelson and the self-proclaimed “champion for low taxes,” Councilman Eddy Sauer. Luckily, both of these high-tax incumbents are up for re-election this year.
It is unacceptable for our city government to blow money on things like lobbying contracts in the middle of the difficult financial situation our city finds itself in, adding their willingness to raise taxes as an insult to injury. However, Amarillo voters do not have to sit back and let our City Council ignore us while sending our tax dollars downstate.
On May 1, Amarillo voters will have the opportunity to select their new mayor and City Council for the next two years. Incumbent Mayor Nelson and her City Council loyalists Freda Powell, Sauer, and Howard Smith will once again be pushing their big-tax, big-government agenda, created by the establishment cronies at Amarillo Matters PAC.
But, with challengers like mayoral candidate Michael Hunt and City Council candidates Hobert “Gunny” Brown, Jason Foglesong, and Tom Scherlen on the ballot, voters do not have to blindly accept the incumbents’ anti-citizen agenda.
It’s time for more accountability at City Hall, but that can only happen if voters get out and demand a change this May.
Do not let the misuse of your tax dollars continue at City Hall. Get out and vote and let’s put our city back on the right track, Amarillo.