Potter County District Courthouse | Photo by Noah Dawson
Judge William Sowder, who ruled in October that Amarillo City Council violated state law by passing anticipation tax notes to fund proposed Civic Center Renovations, issued his “findings of fact and conclusions of law” earlier this week as requested by the city to detail his ruling. Sowder notes in the document that the City’s actions constituted “a plan by the city to ultimately issue tax anticipation notes with the intent to do so with as little notice and discussion as possible.”
Judge Sowder repeatedly states in the document that the proposed project would be a “matter of special interest to the public,” specifically citing the amount of debt involved, the interest surrounding the lawsuit, and the fact that the similar Proposition A Civic Center plan failed to gain voter approval in 2020.
Despite the special public interest in the proposed project, the document explains that meetings including items to further the plan “failed to sufficiently inform the public” of what they were doing.
Judge Sowder also states that the transmittal notices included in the agenda packet “was not sufficient notice to the public because it would be unlikely that an average Amarillo Citizen would know or spend time to look at the back of an agenda notice, sometimes hundreds of pages after the actual agenda notice, for additional information regarding specific agenda items.” He further states that state law required the city to hold a public hearing on the ordinance authorizing the tax notes, which the council failed to do. He further explains that certain actions taken by the council were done so in order “to avoid an election on an increase of ad valorem taxes.”
The document also points out that, even had the city provided proper notices, the use of anticipation tax notes was invalid due to the fact that “a civic center complex intended to house a semi or professional sports team cannot be considered a public work.” Mayor Ginger Nelson’s testimony during the trial proved to be fatal to the city’s arguments on this point, as she admitted that there had been discussions about bringing in a professional sports team as a part of the project.
Finally, Judge Sowder states that ordinances such as the one used by the city to authorize tax notes are subject to petitions for repeal “until the point in time when anticipation notes are authorized by the Texas Attorney General Public Finance Division.”
Going forward, there is still a possibility for either side, especially the City of Amarillo, to appeal the ruling to the Seventh Court of Appeals.
Meanwhile, businessman Alex Fairly, who initiated the lawsuit against the city government, is speculated to be pondering a bid for mayor. These calls have continued to grow following Mayor Ginger Nelson announcing she will not seek reelection. While Fairly has yet to announce a decision on running, he has already earned criticism from Amarillo Matters PAC, a group which has supported Mayor Nelson in past elections.
The full document can be downloaded by clicking the button below: