As campaign season heats up, fills up and bravely goes where no Austin City Council has gone before, 78 candidates are facing very full schedules. Is the new 10-1 District system working? And is it new enough to accommodate this very different city election? Candidates are also feeling the pressure of sticking with the tried-and-true City […]
Local Politics
Posted inPremium Types
TipSheet: Audit and Finance Committee
The Council Audit and Finance Committee meets at 11 am Wednesday. In the interest of space, we’ve decided not to post the entire agenda here. The city hosts a copy at its website. Items of interest for Wednesday’s meeting include: 3. Staff presentations on financial planning for each taxing jurisdiction in the City of Austin […]
Posted inPremium Types
TipSheet: ATX Council meetings, 8.26 & 8.28
The Austin City Council meets in a work session Tuesday and for its regular meeting Thursday. In the interest of space, we’ve decided not to post the entire agenda here. The City Clerk’s office hosts a copy at its web site, here. We’ve posted these in chronological order. Where applicable, however, we’ve paired items that […]
Posted inLocal Politics
Labor wants to make its mark on Council races
Local labor leader Jack Kirfman reported that the union for local government employees, AFSCME, has interviewed candidates and decided on its choices for City Council. Kirfman said American Federation of State, County and Municipal employees would present their recommendations to the Central Labor Council Saturday. In District 1, AFSCME picked Ora Houston, a front-runner in […]
Posted inLocal Politics
Austin Environmental Democrats Endorse Garza
The Austin Environmental Democrats got an early start on endorsements Wednesday, or at least voting on endorsements. Though they heard from candidates from Districts 1, 2 and 3, they finalized only one endorsement in the end. Only District 2’s Delia Garza got more than 60 percent of member votes, which is the threshold set by […]
Posted inLocal Politics
Austin Monitor Radio, Show 12: The budget
Mike Kanin and Liz Pagano talk Austin City Council budget, budget history, and taxes with Council members Laura Morrison and Bill Spelman. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/164014431″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
Posted inLocal Politics
Morrison, Spelman see progress on budget
Council Members Bill Spelman and Laura Morrison told the Monitor Tuesday that they’ve seen serious progress in the process of developing the City’s annual budget. Their comments were heard Wednesday on the weekly Austin Monitor Radio news show on KOOP 91.7 FM. “My first budget, I went down to the budget hearing. I was basically […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Resources
City Council closing in on a final budget
City Council didn’t pull any punches at the start of Tuesday’s budget session, setting next year’s tax rate before anyone’s coffee had time to cool. Council members voted unanimously to adopt the tax rate of 48.09 cents per $100 taxable value, which is in line with the budget proposed by City Manager Marc Ott. The […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Transportation
Council OKs rail ballot tweak; foes protest
Austin City Council members Thursday approved what they called a clarifying language change to what is now a November mobility bond ballot question. As they did so, they continued to hear vocal opposition from a handful of opponents to the item, which is set as a $600 million bond question and a “covenant” to construct […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Resources, Uncategorized
Council punts decision on AE reserves
The Austin City Council decided with a 4-3 vote Thursday to postpone a decision to transfer $30 million from Austin Energy’s Operating Fund to its Strategic Reserve Contingency Fund as requested by staff in order to bring the utility closer to complying with its own financial reserve policies. Council Member Laura Morrison made the motion. Joining her […]
Posted inLocal Politics
Library staff holds the line on 2015 funds
Despite the imminence of a glowing new Central Library on the horizon, the library department kept it humble Wednesday afternoon. As part of the city’s budget process, City Council heard from Brenda Branch, director of the Austin Public Library department. Branch presented her $36.8 million budget along with an overview of the city’s public library […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Public Safety
Background checks for dog walkers ?
Fingerprinting and an eight-week wait for a background check … to walk shelter dogs? At Wednesday’s City Council budget work session, Council Member and mayoral candidate Mike Martinez noted that some would-be Austin Animal Center volunteers decide to help elsewhere when faced with these stringent requirements. According to Chief Animal Services Officer Abigail Smith, all […]