The council regularly waives fees for rallies and special events, covering the cost of city services such as police officers.
AUSTIN, Texas — A question during a Wednesday media roundtable with President Donald Trump brought a local Austin City Council item into the national spotlight.
The question centered on an item that had already been withdrawn from the council’s Thursday agenda. The measure would have waived over $120,000 in city fees for a “No Kings Day 2” protest scheduled to march from the Texas State Capitol to Auditorium Shores on Oct. 18.
The council regularly waives fees for rallies and special events, covering the cost of city services such as police officers.
Of the total cost, city documents showed that approximately $80,000 would have been used to cover fees for Austin Police Department patrol services.
Since June, the city waived about $18,000 in fees from events ranging from back-to-school bashes to bike festivals. Each council office can waive $6,000 in fees per year.
Trump appeared to be unaware of the local Austin item before the question.
“I would like you to make a big deal, though, if they’re waiving a fee,” President Trump said. “But I guarantee they wouldn’t do waive it for … it’s not Trump. If it were a conservative rally, they wouldn’t be waiving it.”
The president then connected the local issue to elections.
“I would love to do something about that. Bring a lawsuit, do something. You know, the best thing you can do is have honest elections. Because the elections are totally rigged in so many of these places,” he added.
Around 29% of Travis County voters supported Trump in 2024.
Sophia Mirto, the president of the organization Hands off Central Texas, will be participating in the protest. Mirto said they have already filed for permits, and will be using crowd funding to cover the costs.
“APD of course, as everyone does, knows what our plan is, where we’ll be marching and it is up to the city and APD to figure out how to accommodate whatever they need for our protest,” said Mirto, “But our approach is, it’s going to happen anyway.”
Mirto added, “I think it’s really important that we respect the Texas state Constitution as well as the United States Constitution, and that we let municipalities do their own thing with the people we elected to manage our community.”
Council Member Chito Vela proposed the waiver. His office declined an interview with KVUE on Thursday to discuss the topic, with his team instead providing the following statement:
“Unlike President Trump, I fully support the First Amendment and the people’s right to peaceably assemble.”
KVUE also asked Vela’s office about the cap in fees, but they simply said, “no comment.”
According to city documents, the item was withdrawn and it is not expected to return for future consideration.