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Stories by Jo Clifton

City facing a $33 million deficit for 2026

Given current conditions, the city’s budget analysts are projecting a $33 million shortfall in the city’s General Fund in Fiscal Year 2026, with that number increasing to $79.9 million by FY 2030. City Council heard the bad news from City…

Budget • By Jo Clifton • Apr 9, 2025

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City looking to fill in gaps after spending or encumbering all ARPA funds

The city has spent or encumbered a total of $188.5 million that it received from the federal government through the American Rescue Plan Act. According to a memo to the mayor and City Council, the city met the Dec. 31,…

Budget • By Jo Clifton • Apr 8, 2025

SOS suing state agency over failure to provide information on MoPac expansion

The Save our Springs Alliance has filed suit against the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority because of the agency’s failure to release information about the proposed 8-mile expansion of MoPac Expressway South. SOS says that expansion is “one of the…

Courts • By Jo Clifton • Apr 3, 2025

Tax rate election looks likely for Austin this year

Under state law, Austin is only allowed to raise its tax rate by 3.5 percent without asking voters for permission. That law has been on the books since 2019 without the city scheduling a regular tax rate election. But it…

City Hall • By Jo Clifton • Mar 28, 2025

Audit finds Austin Water needs to document how it fixes leaks

While Austin Water has worked to limit the amount of water lost through breaks in its water lines, over time the amount of water lost through such leaks has steadily increased, according to an audit discussed at the City Council…

Water • By Jo Clifton • Mar 27, 2025

Audit shows former Austin Water employee directed search of boss’ inbox

The former chief information officer for Austin Water misused the city’s resources in an effort to find out the identity of the person who lodged a complaint against him, according to an audit report released this week by the Office…

City Hall • By Jo Clifton • Mar 26, 2025

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City moves toward starting downtown strategy office

In response to a resolution from City Council, as well as the many projects and disruptions foreseen for downtown in the next few years, the city plans to create a new downtown strategy office by the end of September. The…

City Hall • By Jo Clifton • Mar 19, 2025

Austin's water reuse program is moving forward, but slowly

Austin adopted what were called “historic” water reuse regulations a year ago, so the program is still in its infancy, especially compared with Los Angeles and San Francisco, which adopted regulations requiring builders to put in the necessary plumbing to…

Water • By Jo Clifton • Mar 14, 2025

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Austin Public Health staff to seek more bond money

Austin Public Health facilities are funded through bonds approved by Austin voters – and only through those bonds. If the city health department needs a new facility, it must convince members of a bond advisory committee to put the proposition…

Bonds & Propositions • By Jo Clifton • Mar 13, 2025

Council decides against historic zoning for Running Rope Ranch

Despite strong statements of support for historic zoning from two of the newest members of City Council at last week’s meeting, fewer than half of the Council members voted in favor of designating a portion of the property known as…

Preservation • By Jo Clifton • Mar 10, 2025

Council is likely to briefly stop rate hikes for natural gas

Texas Gas Service Company and CenterPoint Energy Resources, which serve gas customers in Austin and surrounding areas as well as other parts of the state, have filed notices of their plan to raise rates for the service regions that include…

Resources • By Jo Clifton • Mar 6, 2025

Austin Energy seeks to dampen fears of cooling department employees

Despite assurances that Austin Energy is not currently contemplating a sale of its District Energy and Cooling Department, called the DEC, some employees remain concerned that the utility might decide to sell the cooling system, which provides chilled water cooling…

Energy • By Jo Clifton • Mar 4, 2025

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