Sugar Land mayor pushes back on misinformation about power plant, tax rate and gondola

At the start of the meeting, Mayor Zimmerman criticized what he described as “misinformation and lies” circulating during the election and used his opening remarks to correct several points he said were being misstated.

“There's no other plan for a power plant, not gonna be a power plant,” Zimmerman said, referring to a power‑plant proposal he said was terminated in March. He also said the city’s tax rate was approved unanimously by council and that the gondola referenced in public discussion was merely an application for federal funding to support a preliminary feasibility study; “nobody's committed capital funds,” he said.

The mayor also addressed a previous subsidence district requirement for surface water treatment expansion. He said that city staff, along with representatives from the Fort Bend County Mayors Association, reviewed available data and successfully asked the subsidence district to suspend a previously discussed 30% expansion requirement; he attributed that action to collective mayoral and consultant engagement rather than to a single council member.

Zimmerman said he planned to call out individual candidates at future council meetings if the spread of what he described as false information continued. He opened the formal council meeting immediately after these remarks.

The statements were presented as mayoral clarifications and informational comment rather than as formal council actions; no ordinance or policy change was proposed in response to the remarks during the meeting.