On Thursday, City Council elevated the significance of Austin’s trees by initiating a comprehensive inventory of the city’s trees alongside a detailed tree planting and maintenance strategy. The measure follows Council’s approval last month of a direction for more street trees and green infrastructure on future city right-of-way projects. Both actions are part of a […]
City Hall
Posted inCity Council
Extra security, extra stress, new rules at Council meeting
Each speaker at a City Council meeting now has three minutes – instead of two – to speak on each item they signed up to address because of a temporary restraining order granted Wednesday by Travis County District Judge Madeleine Connor. At Thursday’s meeting, that ruling had some impact on timing, but the meeting generally […]
Posted inAustin
Arts commissioners signal support for city funds for The Contemporary art museum
Members of the Arts Commission appear ready to advocate for The Contemporary Austin fine art museum and sculpture park to receive consistent city funding beyond Hotel Occupancy Tax dollars. This week’s commission meeting featured a presentation from Sharon Maidenberg, executive director and CEO of The Contemporary, detailing the organization’s plans for the next five years […]
Posted inCity Council
Marshalling Yard shelter could get $1M extension and stay open through March 2025
The city’s Marshalling Yard congregate shelter, which currently serves up to 300 people at a time, could receive an extension from City Council to stay open until next March. An item on today’s agenda would provide an additional $1 million to Family Endeavors Inc. to continue managing the shelter while the city works to add […]
Posted inTipSheets
TipSheet: Austin City Council, 4.18.24
City Council will once again honor us with a Thursday meeting, and we’ve done the work of looking through the agenda for you and picking out what strikes us as interesting from said agenda. There’s a whole bunch of interesting stuff (OK, resolutions) coming from City Council members this week. We’ve already written about Council […]
Posted inBudget
Budget deficit looms over city this year and beyond
The city of Austin is facing a $3.5 million deficit for the current year, with a much larger deficit – more than $13 million – projected for Fiscal Year 2025, which starts on Oct. 1, 2024. That’s the bad news as presented to City Council at Tuesday’s work session by longtime financial consultant Jon Hockenyos […]
Posted inCity Charter
Council hears proposed changes to city charter for November ballot
City Council on Tuesday officially received the Charter Review Commission’s proposed revisions to the city charter, along with some additional staff-proposed changes. Council members limited their questions to the administrative items brought by staff because the commission’s nine recommendations will return to Council on May 2 for discussion and will be considered for action later […]
Posted inAustin
Women entrepreneurs seek greater support and opportunities throughout Austin
A group of Austin’s leading women entrepreneurs wants the city and business stakeholders to help increase access to capital for women business owners and founders, while creating broader professional networks and providing more business tools and services. Those three areas of need were the most common threads among the 12 recommendations included in a recent […]
Posted inCity Council
Tourism Commission pushes Council for more equitable funding for arts groups, districts
Using Hotel Occupancy Tax dollars or General Fund budget allocations, the Tourism Commission wants the city to fund cultural districts and local arts groups that have historically been left out of consideration for ongoing city support. At its most recent meeting, the commission approved a resolution to maintain a category for arts funding aimed at […]
Posted inCity Hall
Austin hires T.C. Broadnax as city manager with $470K salary
T.C. Broadnax will be making $82,000 more than his predecessor when he starts his job as Austin’s city manager next month. City Council on Thursday approved an employment agreement with a base salary of $470,000. Broadnax will also receive an array of fringe benefits, including a $5,000 per month housing allowance for six months to offset […]
Posted inTipSheets
TipSheet: Austin City Council, 4.4.24
City Council will convene today for a regular Thursday meeting. But, like every meeting, there are a few things on the agenda that we will be paying particular attention to. Those items have been detailed below in this, our humble TipSheet. Word is out that Austin’s next city manager is almost certainly T.C. Broadnax. Today, […]
Posted inCity Hall
Memo supports mobile community court pilot ahead of $1.5M budget request
A pilot program to make the Downtown Austin Community Court more accessible to those needing help clearing up misdemeanor offenses and receiving social services has been ruled a success, with organizers pushing to make the expansion permanent. A memo released last week from the DACC court administrator Robert Kingham recommends the city move forward with […]