On Oct. 16, the Texas Indigent Defense Commission presented a report to the Commissioners Court in which it recommended the creation of a public defender office in Travis County along with numerous specific suggestions concerning the ideal composition of the office and the process of its creation. The Commissioners Court enthusiastically received the recommendations from […]
Travis County
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TCAD not giving taxpayers timely hearings
Faced with an unprecedented number of property tax protests, the Travis Central Appraisal District is scheduling formal hearings through the month of December – months after the appraisal roll was certified and tax bills set. Attorney Bill Aleshire told the Austin Monitor that there were 8,881 Travis County properties on which appraisal protests were filed […]
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Multifamily affordable housing breaks western Travis County development pattern
As the overwhelming support for Proposition A at last week’s election indicates, Austin-area residents want affordable housing as much as they need it. This fact is especially apparent following Travis County Commissioners Court’s support on Tuesday morning of a dense and affordable multifamily development to be built in an expensive, exclusively single-family neighborhood in the […]
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Public defender office task force off to a slow start
Having decided to establish a public defender office in Travis County, the Commissioners Court now faces the task of organizing the preliminary steps to begin that process. After a recommendation to the court last Tuesday in a report from the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, the court decided to create a working group of people with […]
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County looks at legal community for public defender office task force
Using data from the Planning and Budget Office and the Justice Planning Department, the Texas Indigent Defense Commission recently studied the feasibility and benefits of having a public defender office in Travis County. Geoff Burkhart, executive director of TIDC, presented the study’s recommendations to the Travis County Commissioners Court Tuesday morning, with a strong preference […]
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County faces a future of frequent, heavy storms
As anyone who has sat for hours in Austin traffic knows, city infrastructure is often built to meet the needs of the present, not the needs of 15 or even 10 years down the road. This is a problem when adapting to rapid population growth, but when accommodating for something as unpredictable as natural disaster, […]
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County dedicates $3M to permanent supportive housing
The Travis County Commissioners Court voted Tuesday morning to dedicate $3 million to permanent supportive housing for repeat users of the criminal justice and health care systems. The county’s $3 million, comprising $600,000 annually over five years, is roughly a fifth of the total $15.5 million dedicated to the program, which aims to create 250 […]
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Courts to explain more trials, fewer inmates
The Travis County Commissioners Court approved requests for two budget transfers from the allocated reserve to the civil and criminal court systems Tuesday morning. The criminal courts and civil courts are to receive $1,580,000 and $332,223, respectively. The decision passed 3-0 with the abstention of Commissioner Jeff Travillion. Commissioner Brigid Shea was absent. Budget Director […]
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Travis County approves new voting system
The Travis County Commissioners Court unanimously approved a new electronic voting system for Travis County Tuesday morning. The $8.2 million contract with Election Systems and Software’s (ES&S) ExpressVote system was recommended by Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir after 15 years of work to bring a system of its caliber to Travis County voters. “We have […]
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Travis County reveals proposed location for new courthouse
Travis County is negotiating with a private development group to build a brand-new civil courthouse at West 17th and Guadalupe streets. The location was revealed after County Judge Sarah Eckhardt announced at Tuesday’s Commissioners Court meeting that she had signed off on entering into exclusive negotiations with Travis County Courthouse Development Partners LLC to acquire […]
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Elfant updates Commissioners Court on Tax Office troubles following arrests
The Travis County Tax Office says that the first of four satellite offices that closed down after a fraud investigation netted seven arrests last month won’t reopen until late July at the earliest. Tax Assessor-Collector Bruce Elfant delivered that news along with a collection of other updates to the Commissioners Court on Tuesday afternoon. He […]
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Report shows good, bad and ugly of Travis County economy
People in Travis County are enjoying the fruits of a strong national and regional economy. A new analysis shows that rates of poverty, crime and educational outcomes are moving in the right direction. Between 2012 and 2016, crime dropped by 27 percent. Those living under the federal poverty level decreased from 18 percent to 12 […]