Austin Monitor

On July 8, the Solid Waste Advisory Committee recommended increasing residential garbage collection fees, and approved a rough timeline for the Solid Waste Services Integrated Master Plan.   Staff presented a spreadsheet to SWAC that detailed the revenue impact of raising fees for 30, 60 and 90-gallon trash bins. SWAC Chair Gerry Acuña requested a […]

Austin, along with Texas’ other major cities, reported a continued drop in sales tax for the month of May.   Chief Financial Officer Leslie Browder says sales tax revenues dropped 11.4 percent in May from $12.1 million last year to $10.8 million this year.   Overall, “for the first eight months of fiscal year 2009, […]

Negotiators for city management and the Austin Police Association reached a tentative agreement late Tuesday that would save $4.1 million out of the tight 2010 budget by postponing police raises, and also extend the contract between the police union and the city by a year.   Assistant City Manager Mike McDonald said members of the […]

On Tuesday Travis County Commissioners heard the second budget revenue projections from the County Auditor, and the situation has not improved much since the initial estimates, only going up $826,000. However it still represents a decrease of $3.76 million from this year’s revenue.   County Auditor Susan Spataro told the court she is “not seeing […]

Developer Leslie Moore has a reputation as an eclectic developer who caters to Austin’s eclectic sensibility, but Moore’s achievements did not win over neighbors who are opposing his potential redevelopment of an acre lot on Red Bird Lane. Moore and wife, Magdalena Rood, restored the older houses along South 1st Street that make up the […]

The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Monday that the city of New Haven, Connecticut, discriminated against white firefighters when it threw out the results of a test that yielded no black contenders for promotion. http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/07-1428.pdf Legal pundits noted that the case could lead to even more battles over the meaning of Title VII of the […]

The City of Austin has released the results of its first three nights of citizen input into forthcoming city budget cuts. (There’s one more budget meeting tonight.)   Citizens participating in the meetings indicated they do not want to eliminate or postpone a planned police cadet class, a $5.2 million item. They also were opposed […]

City Manager Marc Ott said Wednesday that the city’s bargaining team had reached a tentative agreement with representatives from the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) employees union that would save the city around $750,000 for the upcoming fiscal year. Members of the union must ratify the agreement before it becomes effective.   Ott said the agreement […]

Mayor Will Wynn convened the special meeting of the city council Monday by saying, “I’m Mayor Will Wynn . . . for the next ten minutes.”    With nine years on the dais, Wynn got to spend the last few minutes saying farewell. He tipped his rhetorical hat to all the Council Members, Mayors and […]

Assistant City Manager Rudy Garza concluded his investigation into the allegations that Parkeon, a city contractor, had engaged in bid shopping on June 16, and determined that the contractor had in fact followed protocol.   The issue involved the city of Austin’s contract with Parkeon, a multinational company tasked with refitting the city’s parking meters. […]

There have been significant developments in this story since it was originally posted. See update.–Editor   The MBE/WBE and Small Business Council Subcommittee has asked city staff to investigate a possible case of bid shopping, which is prohibited under city rules.   Ben Warmate, President of Unism Development, Inc., says he was promised a job […]

In a blow to the city’s neighborhood planning process, Council last week refused to allow the Highlands/Skyview Terrace Neighborhood Contact Team the standing to formally challenge a conditional use permit granted to the male strip club La Bare. Neighborhood representatives argued at the Council meeting Thursday that contact teams, as much as neighborhood associations, consider […]