Austin Beats Taxpayer Effort to Stop Collection for Light Rail

The city of Austin, Texas defeated an effort to stop it from collecting millions from taxpayers to build a light rail opponents say is greatly inferior to the system voters approved.

Travis County Court at Law Judge Eric Shepperd sided with the city, ruling taxpayers lack standing to bring the lawsuit under an untested provision in state law.

Shepperd’s unexplained order came Dec. 20, three days after a hearing where taxpayers argued the city pulled a bait-and-switch and was wrong to collect $187 million in taxes for the upcoming year to build the rail system.

Austin voters in 2020 approved ...