Austin Monitor

Thursday was Mayor Pro Tem Brewster McCracken’s last day at the dais, and the event provided an opportunity for the Council to honor his six years of service, and dispel any harsh feelings left over from a tough mayoral campaign. And it gave McCracken an opportunity to bid farewell to his colleagues and staff.   […]

Council has rejected an attempt to subject PUDs (Planned Unit Developments) along Lady Bird Lake to requirements of the new waterfront overlay—unless there are substantial changes to the proposed PUD. So owners of PUDs that have already been approved need not worry about the new height limitations. The waterfront overlay will still limit the height […]

City of Austin water conservation programs are catching on with the public, resulting in calculated savings of more than 312,000 gallons of water a day in the first half of fiscal year 2009, according to the Austin Water Utility.   Expanded public education and marketing have helped the water utility see big increases in public […]

Members of the board of the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services employees union voted this morning to open contract negotiations with the city in order to help resolve the current $30-43 million shortfall.   Steve Stewart, president of the EMS employees union, told In Fact Daily that the board had taken a vote this morning. […]

Mayor-elect Lee Leffingwell confirmed Tuesday what had been the talk of political backrooms and watering holes for the past couple of weeks—political consultant Mark Nathan will indeed return to City Hall, this time as chief of staff for Leffingwell.   Nathan, who has helped five of the current Council Members win election, is expected to […]

Three Council members who served on a task force that wrote the city’s current Commercial Design Standards, have informed the Board of Adjustment that they believe a recent ruling by the board was erroneous.   Council Members Laura Morrison and Brewster McCracken and Council Member elect Chris Riley penned the message as a result of […]

This afternoon, City Manager Marc Ott delivered to the City Council a book-length binder of budget cuts they will be able to choose from in crafting this year’s bare bones budget.   The menu includes more than $45 million in possible savings from General Fund departments, including $5 million saved if the Council decides to […]

Next week, the City of Austin will hold the first of three public meetings to gather input on how to cut the city’s budget. According to the last estimate, projected revenues will leave the city at least $30 million short.   Where should the city cut? In previous years, the City Council has held budget […]

The WBE/MBE Advisory Committee presented a lot more opposition than Austin  Senior Buyer Aidan Cohen might have predicted upon hearing his presentation Tuesday night on a potential green purchasing policy that will go to Council on June 11. Austin’s small and minority businesses have been hit hard by the recent recession. Cohen’s pronouncement that another […]

The Senate adjourned on Monday night, harshly critical of the House’s inaction on passing “safety net” legislation that would stop agencies under sunset review from ceasing operations. A special session called by the Governor, if not imminent, does appear to be in the near future to continue operations of both the Texas Department of Insurance […]

The sunset bill for the Texas Department of Transportation was a back-and-forth tug of war between the House and the Senate on Sunday as lawmakers raised the stakes in a battle over whether regions like Austin should have the right to tax themselves to pay for various transit projects. The culmination of this fight won’t […]

Even factoring in a proposed three percent increase in the effective tax rate, Travis County’s first projected revenues for next year still fall $4 million short of this year’s revenue—and that gap could grow in the coming months.   On Tuesday, County Auditor Susan Spataro presented the latest estimates for this fiscal year and the […]