Zimmerman votes against ‘annexation’

District 6 City Council Member Don Zimmerman got to fulfill what we can only assume was one of his fondest wishes Tuesday by voting against annexation of a property, albeit imaginary. It was part of the new Council’s mock meeting. In the script, Council Member Leslie Pool was assigned the task of moving in favor of the annexation, and Zimmerman was assigned to provide the second. He wanted to make sure he was not committed to voting for the item, and asked Mayor Steve Adler if he could still vote against it. Adler assured him that he could, and the vote proceeded with Zimmerman casting the only “no.” In order to prevent members of the public who happened to tune in on the city’s ATXN station (previously Channel 6) from being alarmed, Adler made an announcement at that point referring to the “War of the Worlds” 1938 radio broadcast that frightened thousands of radio listeners who believed that the show about the arrival of Martians on Earth was real. As a result of annexation, residents of the Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District #1 were paying both city taxes and MUD taxes simultaneously. As president of the MUD, Zimmerman instigated a lawsuit to end the collection of both taxes. As a result, the MUD was dissolved and taxpayers only had to pay city taxes.