Real Estate Photographer in Lago Vista, TX

Current Texas law is trapping cities in unfavorable transit agreements with no way out but financial ruin. Cities whose citizens vote to leave these agreements are required to pay potentially millions in exit fees, calculated without regard to a city’s actual contributions or service use. State law further restricts voters from putting this issue on the ballot more than once every five years, limiting local control over transit decisions.

Lago Vista is contributing a 1% sales tax toward Capital Metro, which amounted to $1.17 million in 2024. But if citizens wanted us to leave, we would face an exit fee that isn’t based on our contributions, assets or service levels. It is based on a population-based calculation of our share of CapMetro's sizable financial obligations across its entire service area, including Austin.

Just a few years ago, in 2017, Lago Vista’s exit fee was estimated to be around $900,000. By 2022, it jumped to $6 million, and it would be even more today.

What changed? Nothing in Lago Vista. CapMetro’s own numbers show our city does not receive $6 million worth of transit service, yet we would be expected to pay that amount to leave.

That’s why we worked with state Rep. Ellen Troxclair, R-Lakeway, to file House Bill 3643, which would tie the exit fee to the fair market value of CapMetro-owned property that would remain in the city upon withdrawal. HB 3643 would also reduce the minimum amount of time between ballot measures on exiting a transit authority from five years to two years. Additionally, we are supporting SB 19/HB 1189 banning taxpayer funded lobbying.

As a small city, we know that advocating for HB 3643 will put us up against CapMetro’s taxpayer-funded lobbyists and government affairs staff. The city of Austin and CapMetro employ lobbyists and government affairs teams — paid for by taxpayers — to fight against reforms like ours. Small cities should not have to fight government lobbyists funded by their own tax dollars just to get a fair deal.

Where are our tax dollars going?

The unfair exit fee led us to take a closer look at our current transit service. What we found raised even more concern.

CapMetro’s website claims to serve all of Lago Vista, but residents know that isn’t true. CapMetro recently sent us an unpublished report showing the areas of Lago Vista they do not serve.

Recently, the City Council learned that many of the Lago Vista riders for CapMetro's Pickup service, an on-demand shared shuttle available in certain zones, are high school students going to school or the local Sonic, because it is nicer than school buses and runs on more convenient schedules. This means Lago Vista taxpayers are paying twice for student transportation: once for school buses, and again for CapMetro. But it's unclear if CapMetro drivers have all of the same training and security measures that school buses are required to have. Parents can track school buses, but can they do the same with CapMetro?

HB 3643, SB 19 and HB 1189 are about fairness, transparency and accountability. Any city should have the ability to leave a transit authority without being financially trapped. The exit fee should be proportional to what a city has contributed and the assets that the transit authority actually has in the community.

We need state reform, and we shouldn’t have to fight taxpayer-funded lobbyists to get it. To all small communities in Texas, please join us in calling for a fairer Texas.

Shane R. Saum is a member of the Lago Vista City Council.

The bi-district round of the Texas high school football playoffs is in the books.

As expected, there were a lot of blowout scores and most of the Central Texas heavyweights made it through. Some of the area winners were teams in our preseason top-10 countdown, such as Westlake, LBJ, Dripping Springs and Lake Travis. But the competition should be tougher in the area playoffs next round.

9 UIL PLAYOFF TEAMS TO WATCH INCLUDE STATE TITLE DEFENDERS, HOPEFULS

STATE-TITLE GAME PREDICTIONS FOR EACH CLASS

10 PLAYERS TO WATCH THIS POSTSEASON

Here is the schedule for the area football playoffs in the Austin area:

More:Central Texas scores from the bi-district round

Class 6A

Westlake (10-1) vs. S.A. Brennan 10-1), 7 p.m. Friday, Burger Stadium

Lake Travis (10-1) vs. S.A. Johnson (10-1), 7:30 p.m. Friday, San Marcos HS

Johnson (8-3) vs. Los Fresnos (10-1), 3 p.m. Saturday, Alamodome

Vandegrift (10-1) vs. S.A. Sotomayor (8-3), 7 p.m. Thursday, Alamodome

Dripping Springs (8-3) vs. S.A. Harlan (10-1), 7:30 p.m. Friday, New Braunfels Canyon HS

Class 5A

Georgetown (10-1) vs. Frisco Reedy (9-2), 7 p.m. Friday, Corsicana

Elgin (6-5) vs. Richmond Randle (11-0), 7 p.m. Friday, Merrill Green Stadium, Bryan

Liberty Hill (9-2) vs. Brenham (10-1), 7 p.m. Friday, The Pfield

Bastrop (9-2) vs. Fort Bend Marshall (9-2), 7:30 p.m. Friday, Waller ISD Stadium

Pflugerville (8-3) vs. Iowa Colony (10-1), 2 p.m. Saturday, Waller

Class 4A

LBJ (11-0) vs. La Vernia (8-3), 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Seguin

Lampasas (9-2) vs. Dumas (6-5), 6 p.m. Friday, Andrews

Lago Vista (8-3) vs. Port Isabel (9-2), 7 p.m. Friday, Texas A&M-Kingsville

Wimberley (9-2) vs. Rockport-Fulton (7-4), 7 p.m. Friday, Tuloso-Midway

Salado (7-4) vs. Sinton (11-0), 2 p.m. Saturday, San Antonio Comalander Stadium

Class 3A

Llano (10-1) vs. Orange Grove (8-3), 7:30 p.m. Friday, Lehnhoff Stadium, Schertz