Taxpayers’ Burden

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• While serving on the council, he ran for the Texas Supreme Court, was kept off the primary ballot over his petition signatures, and lost in court twice. — In late 2025 Rogers sought the Republican nomination for Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, Place 8, against incumbent Brett Busby. The chair of the Republican Party of Texas rejected his ballot application as deficient. Rogers sued in Travis County District Court, where Judge Amy Meachum dissolved a temporary restraining order and denied a temporary injunction. David Rogers then petitioned the Supreme Court of Texas for mandamus. On January 13, 2026 that Court denied the petition. Its per curiam opinion noted that he had neither appealed the trial court's denial nor sought emergency relief in the court of appeals, and instead “appears to have abandoned those proceedings, changing tactics to pursue mandamus relief a week after the trial court denied relief.”
• David Rogers cast the only vote against refinancing older city debt that staff said would produce savings. — The Council considered issuing Limited Tax Refunding Bonds, Series 2025. The minutes record staff describing the item as an opportunity to refund older issuances for some savings, and a representative of RBC Capital Markets reviewing the refunding and noting that recent market turmoil meant the authorisation was structured to issue within guidelines on the most beneficial timing. David Rogers was the only member voting against.
• Voted to approve a $4,362,224 developer reimbursement after city staff recommended denying it. The motion failed 2-5. — Assistant City Manager Emily Barron told the Council that staff recommended denial of the TIRZ reimbursement request for the North Pointe East development, finding it inconsistent with the City's land use, economic development and incentive goals, that it did not exceed minimum requirements, and that there was a lack of regional improvement needs. Asked about performance requirements, Barron said the application as submitted had none. Rogers and Metayer voted in favor; the motion failed 2-5 and no reimbursement was paid.
• David Rogers sued to stop an election, lost in every court, watched voters reject the annexation anyway — and then cast the only vote against ending a case that has cost the public at least $471,861. — The ESD 17 litigation ran from August 2021 to September 2024. It began with a suit David Rogers filed in his own name, failed at every level without a court ever reaching its central question, was overtaken by the election it sought to prevent, and ended with the city paying the other side's legal bills. Each stage below is sourced to the underlying record.