Stronger together: Lubbock, Amarillo, Lufkin leaders discuss future of cities in rural Texas

LUBBOCK — Amarillo mayor Ginger Nelson, Lubbock city councilman Steve Massengale and Lufkin mayor Mark Hicks gathered for a panel discussion Friday afternoon, discussing their cities’ roles in the challenging future of rural Texas and laying out their wishes for the upcoming 88th Texas Legislature.

The discussion, hosted at Texas Tech’s McKenzie-Merket Alumni Center, was part of The Texas Tribune’s “The Future of Rural Texas” event and was moderated by Sewell Chan, editor-in-chief for the Tribune.

Big wins and challenges for cities in rural Texas

Chan began the discussion by asking each representative about the most pressing issues facing their cities. Massengale discussed the need to keep up with growth by addressing infrastructure in Lubbock, which Chan described as “a city in rural Texas, but a substantial city.”

Massengale applauded voters for passing a $200 million street bond package Nov. 8 after rejecting a similar measure a year prior in the city of more than 260,000 people.

“We’re thankful that the voters have supported our most recent bond election,” Massengale said. “All growing cities in Texas, as y’all well know, you’ve got to keep up with infrastructure.”

Massengale said Lubbock’s growth is steady yet manageable, but infrastructure still has him tossing and turning.

“If you live here in Lubbock, it feels like we’re experiencing significant growth,” Massengale said. “Lubbock’s fortunate we have a lot of land, we have great traffic infrastructure, and so we find that piece of it is attractive and easy to manage as a city council. I think we stay up at night thinking about infrastructure.

Amarillo, Nelson said, has not yet been as fortunate in getting voters to agree to fund projects. Voters in the city of more than 200,000 rejected a $275 million bond proposal to expand and renovate an aging civic center in 2020, and the city recently lost a battle in court over its alternate plan to fund the project. Voters this year also rejected four ballot measures to build and rehabilitate Amarillo ISD facilities.

Nelson blames a general distrust of government and rapidly circulating disinformation, which she said was not distributed by the media but rather a small group of powerful citizens, for the failed initiatives.

“It’s not just local politics, and it’s certainly not just rural politics, but our nation as a whole is really in a season of struggling to trust government. And the more those narratives are pushed … nationally, the more we feel that locally,” Nelson said. “You would not believe how much disinformation came out in that (school bond) election.”

Nelson said the recently opened Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine is one of Amarillo’s newest, proudest achievements.

“What a win for rural Texas, and what a win for every student who has a dream of going to veterinary school,” Nelson said. “And we’re thrilled already with the return. We are already receiving more economic return on that investment than we had projected. It’s a $76 million return to us every year in our local economy, and we made about a $60 million investment, so I think that’s a pretty good deal for us.”

Hicks said one of Lufkin’s proudest achievements is its downtown, which he says is vital to attracting industry to his East Texas city of about 35,000.

“For me, the biggest reason to improve our downtown area in Lufkin was because it’s the heart of our community,” Hicks said. “We’re also realizing when we’re trying to bring businesses or industry to Lufkin, it’s not so much about tax breaks or how much money you’re going to give me. It’s about, ‘Are my employees going to want to relocate here? Are they going to be happy here?’ And we’re finding young people really embrace this new urbanism in downtown areas.”

Thinking regionally

The leaders agreed that for rural Texas to continue to thrive and overcome, municipalities need to stick together, keeping the best interests of the entire region in mind.

Nelson said that, especially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Amarillo acted and continues to act as a regional partner for not just the Panhandle, but also for the four neighboring High Plains states.

“The superpower of West Texas … is that we think regionally,” Nelson said. “We are partners, and we think as a region.”

“We don’t necessarily stop being neighbors at county lines, and we don’t stop being neighbors at state lines. We are neighbors with people even though they may live in New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma or Kansas,” she said.

“Lubbock has worked so well with all of our surrounding communities, and at the same time, we know they’re struggling,” Massengale added. “It’s important to recognize the struggles they have and at the same time do what we can to provide the resources they need.”

Hicks added that regionalism is also critical when it comes time to advocate for cities’ needs at the state and federal capitols.

“We’ve got to come together if we’re going to have a voice in Austin or on the federal level,” Hicks said.

One big legislative ask

The city leaders thanked their state legislators for working on behalf of their municipalities but agreed that for their cities to be successful in the future, the legislature must defend local control and refrain from imposing additional restrictions on how local governments conduct their business.

“I understand why some things happen the way they do (in Austin), but when your responsibility and your constituency are inside the city limits, local control is important,” Massengale said. “I hope we don’t see any more property tax reform. I hope we don’t see any more adjustment of revenue caps or anything to do with rollback.”

Nelson agreed.

“Of course, local control is something that we have to have a lot of conversations about,” Nelson said. “Amarillo’s inflation in our budget last year was 9%. We’re capped at 3.5%. It will take us three years just to catch up on what we’ve lost in one year.

“So again, a cookie-cutter approach across the whole state of Texas is not local control. I understand that you have to respond to taxpayers. They’re talking to me all the time about taxes. I know they’re talking to state legislators about taxes, and so that felt like a good fix. But it really just continues to bind cities in the problems that they have,” Nelson said.