A campaign finance report filed Monday showed that Austin City Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison appears to have violated city campaign finance rules by continuing to raise money after her election last year.

Harper-Madison reported $3,695 in campaign contributions in 2019, her latest report showed. Austin's campaign finance rules allow local candidates to raise money only within a one-year period before an election. Harper-Madison took office in January and won't be up for reelection until 2022.

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The discovery of a possible violation comes as candidates and local political action committees filed a flurry of campaign finance documents as part of a required midyear report.

The reports also showed that a PAC pushing an ordinance designed to put Austin's Major League Soccer stadium deal to a vote and possibly derail it continues to be almost single-handedly funded by Bobby Epstein, the head of Circuit of the Americas and owner of the United Soccer League franchise Austin Bold FC.

In addition, the reports showed that longtime environmental advocate Bill Bunch and his organization, the Save Our Springs Alliance, are funding a PAC that wants any expansion to the Austin Convention Center to first be approved by voters.

In an email, Harper-Madison called the contributions she received this year an "innocent error."

"The hard part about being new to politics is sometimes you learn the rules the hard way," she wrote. "In this case, my team and I were unaware of the law preventing office holders from raising money immediately after their successful campaigns. ... I fully understand the spirit of the law and am hopeful that the fact that most of the contributions in question came in just weeks after my runoff victory indicate that I am in no way actively soliciting donations at this time."

Austin previously allowed a six-month window for fundraising before an election. Courts overturned that provision in 2016 after a lawsuit from former City Council Member Don Zimmerman. Council members approved a new ordinance establishing the one-year window in 2017.

Harper-Madison’s report listed monetary contributions from 10 supporters between Jan. 7 and March 1. Each contribution in violation of city campaign finance rules could become a Class C misdemeanor charge punishable by a fine up to $500.

No other Austin City Council members recorded raising money this year.

Push for soccer stadium vote

A campaign finance report filed Friday also showed Epstein continued to spend thousands of dollars to make the case for a vote on the McKalla Place soccer stadium, set to break ground in North Austin in the September.

Epstein gave $200,000 to Fair Play Austin, the PAC behind the petition ordinance. It more than doubles Epstein's previous contributions toward the effort to place the deal for the future play site for Austin FC on the ballot.

READ: MLS stadium petition followed winding route to an uncertain future

"I support Fair Play Austin's work to give Austinites visibility to, and a voice in, how our city uses its resources," Epstein said in a text message. "These issues are especially important when our school district is wrestling with closures and our emergency service providers are struggling with staffing and fair pay."

In the past nine months, Epstein has given $384,612 to the effort. Besides a $25 donation from the PAC's treasurer, Epstein is the sole donor.

The latest report showed $178,594 in expenditures in what might become a major campaign this fall. The PAC paid $60,277 to the consulting firm of its campaign manager, Adam Resier, according to campaign spokesman Chris Lippincott, who is running communications for the PAC. Lippincott's firm was paid $37,250. An additional $24,000 went to a consulting firm being kept on retainer in case Fair Play Austin ramps up campaign efforts in the coming months.

The PAC has also paid four legal firms a total of $20,482. They include the firm of election law specialist Buck Wood and Capitol lobbyist Margo Cardwell.

Convention Center plan challenged

Meanwhile, the campaign finance report for Unconventional Austin, the PAC that filed a petition ordinance on Friday with more than 30,000 signatures, revealed that Bunch and the SOS Alliance largely funded efforts to gather signatures for the petition.

Bunch gave $12,720 to the PAC and loaned it $10,000. The SOS Alliance gave $51,343 to Unconventional Austin. Other notable donors include local attorney Fred Lewis, who previously teamed up with Bunch on a petition to put CodeNext — the failed attempt to revamp the city's zoning codes — to a vote. Lewis gave the PAC $5,000 and loaned it $10,000.

READ: PAC submits petition to put convention center expansion to public vote

Unconventional Austin raised $126,041 and spent $131,386, the vast majority on gathering petition signatures, during the filing period.

If passed, the proposed ordinance would require an election on any substantial expansion or improvements to the convention center. It would also require that no more than 34% of city hotel occupancy tax go to the convention center. PAC supporters have consistently argued that Austin should devote more of its hotel occupancy tax to other tourism-related items, such as arts and music. Some 70% of hotel taxes go to the convention center.

"Now that we have filed our financial report, we look forward to a vigorous civic debate on the merits of how we should be spending our hotel tourism tax dollars and whether Austin voters should have a say in how those dollars are spent over the next 30 years,” Bunch said in a news release.