Austin Monitor

The hefty sewage spill that caused a precautionary closure of Barton Springs Sunday evening appears to also have had deeper consequences. On Monday morning, the Austin Water Utility issued a release that advised “(A)rea residents in Sunset Valley and those who receive their drinking water from a private well (should) boil all drinking water until […]

Thousands of little feet — and a lot of bigger ones — jump in and out of the Liz Carpenter Fountain at Butler Park next to the Palmer Events Center each weekend. Austin Monthly magazine even featured splashing in the fountain at the top of its list of “110 Fun Things to Do in the Summer.”   […]

A new report on the justice system and jail population of Hays County predicts only a slight increase in the daily average number of inmates over the next 10 years, even as the general population of the county continues to grow significantly.   The report, by national research and consulting firm MGT, is the most […]

City Budget Officer Ed Van Eenoo told the City Council this morning that city coffers will be down $11.4 million for the upcoming budget year even if the Council increases taxes to the rollback rate. Sticking at the effective tax rate—the rate needed to generate the same amount of money as the city took in […]

Construction costs for Hays County‘s massive new government center will be at least $6.2 million less than what county officials had estimated. On Tuesday, county commissioners approved design documents for the 233,600-square-foot building, which comes with a guaranteed maximum price of $52 million — far below the $58.3 million officials had estimated.   County commissioners […]

With all ballots counted, the Travis County Clerk’s office reported last night that Karen Sage would be the Democratic nominee for Judge of the 299th District Court. Sage will be running unopposed in November for the seat being vacated by Judge Charlie Baird.   Sage beat her rival in the runoff election, Mindy Montford, 59 […]

Those voting early in the Democratic runoff for Judge of the 299th District Court in Travis County favored Karen Sage with 57 percent of the vote to opponent Mindy Montford’s 42 percent. Sage had 2,375 votes more than Montford in the early vote—a fairly steep hill to climb in the judge’s race.   In the […]

A Council subcommittee composed of Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Council Members Randi Shade and Chris Riley approved nine names on Wednesday as their nominees to the 2010 Transportation Bond Citizen Task Force. If approved by the full Council today, the task force will help decide what goes into a bond election proposal in November.   […]

Hiring a racially diverse group of men and women into the ranks of Austin firefighters has proven a more difficult task than fighting fires and responding to other emergencies for the Austin Fire Department. So, when City Council approved a contract with Austin firefighters in December, one of the things the city won was the […]

Under pressure from City Manager Marc Ott, Austin Water Utility Deputy Director Perwez Moheet has decided to retire. Moheet was placed on administrative leave last week and sent his notice of retirement to Assistant City Manager Rudy Garza on Tuesday.   The action relates back to a report by MGT of America, Inc., which found significant […]

The director of the city’s Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services Office, Kevin Johns, has issued an apology for the way that arts groups were informed of proposed changes to the city’s arts funding process—and removed language related to generation of tourism dollars from the application forms.   A number of organizations were taken by surprise […]

Dear Readers,   By now, a few of you have heard the news: The Statesman Co. has purchased In Fact Daily but I will continue to report and edit all the news important to your understanding of the workings of Austin city government.   While the Statesman Co. will take over duties of managing the […]