Remarks by Mary Coffey
32 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 2
- Play at 33:49
“Well, there's two towns that are in litigation right now for this very fee. So what's going to separate that? Even the defense, being able to defend yourself is going to cost a lot of money. But how is that? illegal and ours legal.”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 34:29
“One is Austin, the other is El Paso. Okay.”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 34:50
“Well, it still costs a lot of money to defend yourself on it. Now, we're looking for $10.5 million, and this would take over our shortfall in our budget. And I know that municipalities can't pass a deficit budget. Could we accomplish the same goals of paying for that shortfall at half this? And the other question would be, if we're short, say, 4, 4.5, make it an even 5 million is what we're short. So does that mean we're going to get $5 million ahead and then not have to do it the next year? Or is this, I mean, that's a lot of money. And especially when you look at, it's unproportional or…”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 36:44
“So it's just a coincidence that that happened.”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 38:40
“I am just reflecting and asking the questions that we have been asked. It makes sense. The citizens don't really care. What it is called is $15. That is it. And we can dance it up all we want with use and all of that. And I see their point. So can all these streets and everything, $10.5 million, will that get them all taken care of? Or how long, I guess, because of that, how many years are we going to have to endure the fee?”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 41:18
“So this is a result of kicking the can down the road? for many years, and I'm not assigning blame. I'm just the vessel that the citizens are flowing through with the questions.”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 43:10
“Well, and it's another... Looking at it from many different angles, they're basing it on, you know, why am I at a 1,000-square-foot house? Why am I paying this amount and everybody else is paying the same, but they can afford it, I can't kind of thing. And so it's based on the street usage. Now, I have a warehouse. It's in the city limits, but it's vacant for the most part. So... Even though, I mean, it's a one-way street really in there. So I'm going to be hit with that, with that fee, even though it's vacant, there's really nobody on that road.”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 44:28
“Okay. Well, I appreciate that. I didn't expect to go into that deep into the weeds. Thank you, though, for helping me. With this going through the utilities and on the water bill, aren't the citizens, if they can't pay that, is that going to cut their water off? I mean, we've got a lot of older citizens here that may be I know that we require a special line at my home for medical reasons. The nursing homes and what have you, if they're not able to pay this, or let's say they don't pay it, that's their retaliation for it. Wouldn't that signal a disconnect notice?”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 46:33
“Okay, but you're not going to cut somebody off?”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 46:45
“So we are in a place, we're prepared to address that. That's the thing, too. You know, a lot of these questions come up, and it's like, well, I guess we'll figure it out and handle it. And... People are getting better at asking the questions, and they can nail you to the wall on that. Yes, ma'am.”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 48:00
“Shane, thank you. I think for right now that's all the questions that... in District 6 have brought forward to me. So thank you for a very detailed, but a very thorough and easy to understand method. So I thank you for that.”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 1:21:16
“If we were to adopt the $16.5 million, because it's going to take us $10 million just to get back to zero, is what it sounds like. So if we did the $16 million, will that then get us over the hump? How much more money would we need the next year if we were to get all caught up and everything's”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 1:22:31
“We're still just putting a Band-Aid on it at 10 million.”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 1:22:55
“And then the next year, wouldn't that $10 million come back into play? Because if that's what's going to get us to the baseline, once we fix it at $16 million.”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 1:23:11
“So the $10 million is just good money after bad?”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 1:24:25
“That gets me. I'm sure there's more questions as we go, but I won't hog the mic this time.”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 0:35
“Texas, one state, under God, one and indivisible.”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 23:12
“Carl, before we grant a $50,000 plan, Can you cycle down some funding sources? I mean, I hear a lot of, I think we can, and this should work or could work, but before we shell out 50 grand to see, you know, obviously you can't secure that funding, but have more than just, well, the elephant gave a, seems supportive, you know, or they like the idea. Let's figure out where we're going to get the funds and have a better handle on that before we 50 grand for not even a well thought out plan.”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 46:08
“Aaron, how much money are we talking about? Just curiosity.”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 46:50
“How do you catch them if they don't, I mean, this is self-reporting, right? And so if, let's say I decided to keep one of my houses and I'm just going to do short-term rental.”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 47:32
“Are there any fines if you find out? In this case, it claims that there was a previous owner and they didn't know, which I can understand that. Are there fines for knowingly not reporting that as a short-term rental? Do we have that in place?”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 48:38
“That gets me. I have a couple ideas I may share with you later. But thank you, Erin. Thank you, Brenda.”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 49:24
“I really appreciate having that many sets of eyes on it from the community all the way to staff. And also I do appreciate that. But thanks for answering my questions, Aaron. Yes, ma'am.”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 1:33:08
“And again, thank you very much. It's sometimes kind of hard to get excited about grants, but it really turns me on. So I'm glad you're enthused. Just to clarify, and Patrick got some of it, you asked for the $20 million. Could they grade it down, or is it all or nothing?”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 1:34:06
“I just didn't want to get hung with $8 million and then have to beef it up on that. Thank you so much.”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026