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Tag Archives: Austin City Council Audit and Finance Committee

Lobby ordinance needs revision to cover virtual meetings

City auditors have found that, while the city’s registered lobbyists are largely complying with city regulations, there is one significant gap in the reporting requirements. Although lobbyists are required to report their in-person meetings, no such requirement exists for virtual…

New EMS chief outlines progress on collections

With a projected budget deficit by Fiscal Year 2027, any news about increasing collections from those who owe the city of Austin money, including the state of Texas, is good news for City Council. Robert Luckritz, who recently joined the…

Airport Hilton rebounds from pandemic losses

The Hilton hotel at Austin’s airport has made a significant recovery from the dark days of the pandemic, airport executives Tracy Thompson and Rajeev Thomas explained to the City Council Audit & Finance Committee Wednesday. During 2021, the Hilton’s occupancy…

Committee tells auditor to seek water audit contract with UT

On Wednesday, City Council’s Audit & Finance Committee directed City Auditor Corrie Stokes to move forward with an interlocal agreement with the University of Texas to conduct an audit to review problems at Austin Water. The city has just released…

Street cut follow-up audit shows progress on repairs

When a team from the Office of the City Auditor examined street cuts in 2017, they found a significant backlog in repairing the damaged areas left behind on streets when utility work is done by the city. Those damaged streets have been…

Auditors find few faults with utility bill assistance program

Austin Energy, which manages billings for city utility customers, provides reduced utility bills for more than 35,000 electric, water and wastewater customers with low incomes. The Customer Assistance Program offers discounts that average about $650 a year for residential customers…

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Audit finds city slow to move on workforce development recommendations

An updated audit has found the city has yet to implement most of the recommendations made five years ago related to improving workforce development programs within the Economic Development Department and Austin Public Health. The 2022 audit, which was discussed…

Who will help Austin enforce its traffic laws?

Although Austin continues to address dangerous driving behaviors through engineering and educational efforts, traffic fatalities continue to happen. The issue “remains a critical one for the city to analyze and address moving forward,” according to a follow-up audit presented to…

City races to prepare for the next emergency

City Council’s Audit & Finance Committee received an updated report Wednesday on the city’s efforts to prepare for what Assistant City Manager Rey Arellano has described as “complex, cascading disasters,” like the city faced last February during Winter Storm Uri.…

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Committee sends 'meeting place question' to full Council

Although they rejected the idea of changing the bylaws of three land use commissions to designate a specific meeting place, members of the City Council Audit & Finance Committee on Wednesday expressed their willingness to consider directing staff to hold…

EMS makes progress on billing backlog

Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services is chipping away at a billing backlog that started with a demanding learning curve associated with a new patient records system implemented in 2019. Additional billing delays carried over into 2020 as city staffers started…

Council members pose tough questions about city's storm response

During Wednesday’s City Council Audit & Finance Committee meeting, Chair Alison Alter and fellow committee members Kathie Tovo and Mackenzie Kelly praised city staffers’ heroic efforts as Winter Storm Uri ground the city to a halt in February. But those…

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