By Lowell Brown / Staff Writer
Published: 02-20-08
City leaders approve new deal with lobbying firm to help hold sway at Capitol
An Austin lobbying firm will continue helping Denton city leaders promote their priorities at the state Capitol.
City Council members voted Tuesday to renew the city’s contract with HillCo Partners for 2008.
The city and HillCo previously agreed to a one-year $78000 contract to help push the city’s interests during last year’s state legislative session. The contract which expired Jan. 31 included an option for a second year.
The renewed contract is for $81000 which includes up to $3000 to cover consultants’ travel expenses for trips requested by the city. The agreement expires Jan. 31 2009.
City spokesman John Cabrales said HillCo consultants will help city leaders plan for the Texas Legislature’s next regular session which starts next January.
Cabrales said HillCo consultants helped Denton with a variety of key issues in 2007 including fighting stricter limits on tax revenue a city can collect and on how much a property can increase in value each year.
Supporters of tighter caps on government revenue and property appraisals call them commonsense taxpayer protections but many counties and cities say the limits would starve local governments of much-needed income.
HillCo also helped scuttle bills that would have created a sales tax holiday for textbooks and limited Denton’s ability to sell its Dyno Dirt mulch and compost products Cabrales said.
A textbook sales tax holiday could cost Denton — home to two universities — an estimated $1.62 million a year in tax revenue Cabrales said.
HillCo’s “targeted opposition was important because the issue did not have a significant direct impact on many cities” Cabrales said in a written report to the council. “Therefore the city of Denton’s opposition was key in defeating the measure.”
Many compost companies supported a bill to limit cities’ sales of compost and mulch products arguing that cities have lower operating costs and can unfairly undercut their prices. Denton countered that its Dyno Dirt operation benefits the environment by reusing waste that would otherwise go to the landfill.
Peggy Venable of Austin state director of the conservative group Americans for Prosperity criticized Denton’s use of lobbyists. The group supports a ban on taxpayer-funded lobbying.
“We believe elected officials are elected by us the voters and taxpayers to represent our views and they should not have to hire lobbyists to interact with one another” Venable said. “We think it is absolutely a dereliction of duty and a massive misappropriation of taxpayer dollars.”
Cabrales said hiring legislative consultants is akin to Denton hiring experts to help with construction projects legal matters or other specialized issues. Consultants are especially valuable when dealing with state leaders who have no local connections Cabrales said.
“They HillCo are the experts that can help us reach out to state elected officials and administrators that do not know Denton or have any reason to assist Denton since we are not part of their constituency” Cabrales said. “So it’s not as easy as some of these groups make it sound.”
Last year marked the first time Denton had hired a lobbying firm to help with general state government issues Cabrales has said. Denton Municipal Electric the city electric utility previously hired lobbyists related to electrical issues.
HillCo charged $481.24 in travel expenses to the city under last year’s contract Cabrales said. That included a trip to Denton in June to brief the council on the results of the 2007 legislative session.
LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com .
