The Austin Music Foundation nonprofit group has suspended activity and laid off its employees in response to a budget shortfall of nearly $200,000 from its planned budget of just over $300,000. At least $85,000 of that shortfall is the result of AMF not receiving a Cultural Arts contract from the city for one of the […]
City Hall
Posted inCity Hall
Council delays decision on new hotel tax that could fund homelessness services
City Council has put on hold a long-discussed partnership with local hotels that could generate millions of dollars in General Fund revenue to cover expenses related to services for the homeless. At last week’s meeting, Council voted to delay action on the proposed Austin Tourism Public Improvement District until Sept. 14. The delay in deciding […]
Posted inBudget
Integral Care, Austin’s largest mental health care provider, approves 48 layoffs in next budget
Integral Care, the mental health authority for Austin-Travis County, voted Thursday to approve a budget that eliminates nearly 10 percent of its positions. Along with the 48 individuals who were identified for layoffs, 67 vacant positions were also cut. Employees in the union United Workers of Integral Care said layoffs would further strain staff already struggling […]
Posted inCity Hall
Garza announces more changes at City Hall
A new memo outlines yet another shake-up at the city courtesy of interim City Manager Jesús Garza. City Council reappointed Garza interim city manager in February, following a vote that fired City Manager Spencer Cronk from the position. Since then, he has introduced a series of changes to the organizational structure of City Hall. The […]
Posted inCourts
Judge declares city campaign contribution blackout period unconstitutional
U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman on Wednesday declared an Austin regulation on campaign fundraising unconstitutional. The regulation prohibits candidates for City Council seats from seeking or accepting campaign contributions more than a year before an election. Pitman issued his ruling on a case brought by former candidate Jennifer Virden and one of her supporters, William […]
Posted inCity Council
Council approves push to make air conditioning a requirement in Austin
This summer, a stretch of hot, dry weather in Austin has tested everyone’s patience. The record-high heat has also posed a danger to those not lucky enough to feel the relief of air conditioning. A new City Council resolution looks to make sure that’s as few people as possible. The resolution, approved by Council on […]
Posted inAustin
Dianna Grey, Austin’s strategy officer for homelessness, has resigned
Dianna Grey, who has served as Austin’s strategy officer for homelessness since the beginning of 2021, has resigned. Interim City Manager Jesús Garza said in an emailed statement, “Dianna will certainly be missed, and I am sorry to see her go. She held a very challenging position as the Homeless Strategy Officer during particularly challenging […]
Posted inCity Hall
Council pushes for tweaks to new hotel tax envisioned to help serve homeless population
A hotel tax mechanism long eyed as a source of funding for homelessness services goes before City Council for possible approval today. It could face considerable scrutiny based on the structure of the deal, which some members see as unfavorable for the city. Council received a presentation at Tuesday’s work session on the proposed Austin […]
Posted inTipSheets
TipSheet: City Council, 8.31.23
Thursday’s City Council agenda has a variety of things going on – a tour of city issues, if you will. We’ve done our best to pick the highlights from the agenda but, as always, the entire thing is available online for those who don’t want to skip a stop. One of the most interesting things on […]
Posted inCity Hall
Ethics commission reprimands Velásquez
City Council Member Jose Velásquez has been found to be in violation of city code by the Ethics Review Commission, which voted Wednesday to issue a letter of admonition over failures to identify income and board tenure. Following Velásquez’s recusal on the Borden Dairy rezoning due to his ties with that project’s development partner, East […]
Posted inCity Hall
Pilot program to give small, local businesses preferences for city contracts
In October, the city will begin a two-year pilot program that will attempt to give preference for some contracting opportunities for small and locally owned businesses. At Wednesday’s meeting of City Council’s Audit and Finance Committee, staff from the city’s Central Procurement office presented plans for the program, which was called for when Council adopted […]
Posted inCity Hall
Audit finds police department backlog of 20,000 public information requests
The Austin Police Department recently had a backlog of more than 20,000 public information requests, causing some requests to wait for more than a year to receive a response, according to a recent city audit. That audit also found APD has far less public information staff to handle requests than the rest of the city […]