Bill Aleshire, the attorney representing Dirty Martin's and the other plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Austin's light-rail project, said the Debt Service tax is the constitutionally dedicated way to retire debt. The city's deviation from Texas norms by funding the project through a transfer of general fund revenues raises legal and constitutional concerns as well as significant questions about whether the debt payments could be stopped at any point. Aleshire was a guest on a recent episode of the Texas Talks Podcast.

"The debt service tax is constitutionally dedicated to retiring debt; it can't be used for anything else, and it is guaranteed," said Aleshire on a recent edition of the Texas Talks Podcast. "If a governmental body had issued bonds and did not adopt the tax rate needed each year to service those bonds, to repay the amount due that year in installments, then the bondholders could come in and force them to impose that tax. That's the constitutional way to incur debt."

“The city, in this case, is trying to fund debt out of the general fund tax; trying to put it in a position that it's a tax in perpetuity, but, in reality, there's actually no dedicated tax to repay the bonds because the revenue is subject to annual appropriation," said Aleshire.

Aleshire, representing the owner of Dirty Martin's and others in a lawsuit against the City of Austin over Project Connect, is challenging the city's authority to move forward with the project when it is so different from what voters approved in 2020. 

Further, the lawsuit contends that the way the city is proposing to fund the public transit project is novel and violates the Texas Constitution. 

The city is proposing to issue up to $5 billion in bonds for the project that would be paid by a transfer of revenue that must be approved by the City Council each year. 

Texas Talks podcast is hosted by Brad Swail. The weekly show is focused on public policy in the state of Texas, with insights from the people and organizations that influence it.

The podcast is available on Simple Cast and YouTube.