At the end of today’s agenda, City Council is set to appoint Deputy City Clerk Erika Brady to become city clerk as Myrna Rios retires. Brady has been with the city clerk’s office for nearly 11 years, according to her LinkedIn profile. Agenda backup documents indicate that her new salary will be $191,110.40. Rios was […]
Jo Clifton
Jo Clifton is the Politics Editor for the Austin Monitor.
Posted inBudget
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 Manager T.C. Broadnax and Budget Director Kerri Lang at Tuesday’s City Council work session. One […]
Posted inBudget
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, 2024, deadline to spend or encumber the money, which must be spent by Dec. 31, […]
Posted inCourts
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 greatest threats we’ve seen to Barton Springs, Barton Creek, and the Edwards Aquifer in recent […]
Posted inWhispers
Bill raises flooding concerns related to impervious cover
Community not Commodity is sounding the alarm on HB 3919, called the small lot impervious cover bill, which would “would allow 70 percent impervious cover on residential lots of 4,000 square feet or less.” The bill is set for a hearing on Wednesday at 8am in the House Land & Resource Management Committee. Since Austin […]
Posted inWhispers
Council, commission to take comments on land code changes
City Council and the Planning Commission will host a joint meeting at 2 p.m. today to hear public comment on a proposal to allow larger homes on lots where there is already existing housing. According to the posting, if adopted the proposal would “increase the maximum square footage limits of two new housing units when […]
Posted inWhispers
Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Austin’s first woman mayor, dies at 85
Carole Keeton, Austin’s first woman mayor, died Wednesday at the age of 85. She was born in Austin to Page and Madge Keeton and devoted herself to the city throughout her life. Her father was a much-lauded dean at the University of Texas Law School. Carole graduated from UT and married attorney Barr McClellan in […]
Posted inCity Hall
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 looks like this is the year. As a reader pointed out, Austin did have a […]
Posted inWater
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 Audit & Finance Committee on Wednesday. As the audit team observed, the utility has taken […]
Posted inCity Hall
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 of the City Auditor. The employee, David Johnson, resigned during the investigation in January 2025. […]
Posted inWhispers
Council to hear about extending pilot for license plate readers
City Council work sessions have been considerably shorter since the new Council took office in January. On Tuesday, work session attendees are scheduled to hear what will likely be a brief presentation on extending the automated license plate reader pilot program. The program was implemented last March and is slated to end on March 28 […]
Posted inWhispers
South River City Citizens oppose changes to neighborhood plan
The South River City Citizens neighborhood group is officially opposing changing the city’s future land use map to exclude a part of their neighborhood in order to expedite placement of a new transit center station for Project Connect. The group expressed its concerns in a resolution unanimously adopted by those attending last week’s neighborhood meeting. […]