by BRAD ROLLINS

A group that opposes San Marcos CISD’s annexation into the Austin Community College District has asked a state district judge to prohibit San Marcos Mayor Susan Narvaiz and council member Kim Porterfield from using city resources to promote the effort.

Citizens Advocating Responsible Education, represented by longtime ACC annexation foes Andrew Gary and Billy McNabb, filed a petition for an injunction on Sept. 10 in 274th District Judge Gary Steel’s court. The filing alleges that Narvaiz and Porterfield, who is a co-chair of the San Marcos ACCess advocacy group, used city facilities and personnel in support of the measure.

In media statements, Narvaiz and Porterfield have been dismissive of the lawsuit’s legal merits, noting for example that it was aimed only at two members of a city council that unanimously passed a resolution in support of annexing property that lies within San Marcos CISD boundaries into the ACC taxing district.

“It is very clearly a political move without legal substance. I’m not concerned about it because I haven’t done anything wrong,” the mayor said. “I realize this is something that a lot of people are passionate about. I just think it’s in the voters’ hands and we ought to leave it to them to decide.”

Said Porterfield, “This is politics, pure and simple. This is an attempt to influence the outcome of the ACC election. It won’t work. This lawsuit asks the Court to order us to stop doing something we never did. That makes no sense. This lawsuit is a reckless abuse of the judicial system.”

In their filing, Citizens Advocating Responsible Education say Narvaiz and Porterfield used their city e-mail accounts to communicate with ACC officials and used meeting space in the San Marcos Public Library and City Hall for planning sessions and presentations and used those facilities to collect petition signatures. The suit also faults them for use of the San Marcos city manager, city attorney and other employees to draft the council’s resolution in support of annexation.

San Marcos attorney Charles Soechting, who with prominent election law attorney Buck Wood represents both Narvaiz and Porterfield, said the lawsuit is “nothing more than a lame attempt to sway an election.”

“The conduct they are complaining of happened months ago but they’re just now getting around to filing the lawsuit. It’s clear that this lawsuit was intended merely as an election ploy and that’s not what courtrooms are for,” Soechting said.

Along with a full ballot of federal, state, county and city offices, voters will decide Nov. 2 whether to join the community college’s taxing district. Voters in Hays CISD, Bastrop ISD, Elgin ISD and McDade ISD are also considering annexation measures.

If it passes, property owners who live in affected school districts will pay the college district’s tax of 9.46 cents per $100 in property value. Residents could then attend ACC for the in-district tuition rate of $42 per semester hour instead of the out-of-district rate of $150 per hour. ACC has bought land in San Marcos and Kyle for future campuses if those communities approve annexation.