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BG Reads 4.17.2024

BG Reads 4.17.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - April 17, 2024

April 17, 2024

Bingham Group Reads

Presented by:

Today, Bingham Group celebrates seven years in business! We are grateful to our past and present clients, team members, contractors, and supporters for being part of this journey. Thank you all!

//A.J. Bingham, Founder and CEO

April 17, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

🟣 Budget deficit looms over city this year and beyond

🟣 Austin's airport is getting a new concourse and 20 more gates, but not until the 2030s

🟣 Austin HOME Initiative: Realtors analyze potential impacts

🟣 TX leaders, advocates build momentum on pre-K, child care ahead of Legislature

Read On!

CLICK HERE TO REVIEW CITY OF AUSTIN PUBLIC MEETINGS / AGENDAS FOR THE WEEK OF APRIL 15, 2024

[BINGHAM GROUP]

✅ (NEW) BG Podcast Ep. 247: Austin Politics Weekly Recap and What's Ahead

✅ (NEW) BG Podcast Ep. 246: 2024 Elections - Austin Mayoral Round Up

On this episode we welcome back Jack Craver, independent reporter and founder of The Austin Politics Newsletter. Jack and Bingham Group CEO A.J. Bingham discuss the candidate field for the 2024 Austin Mayoral elections, including incumbent Mayor Kirk Watson.

✅ BG Blog: Land Development Code Amendments (4) Overview

✅ BG Blog - City of Austin org chart red line (as of 2/9/2024)

[AUSTIN CITY HALL]

✅ VIDEO - Tuesday’s Austin City Council Work Session (ATXN Live)

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Budget deficit looms over city this year and beyond (Austin Monitor)

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 and city Budget Officer Kerri Lang. Much of that has to do with national trends, including high interest rates, with Hockenyos predicting the possibility of one rate cut this year. Perhaps the biggest problem he cited is that city sales tax collections are not nearly as robust as budget writers predicted they would be when the current budget was created. Inflation causes shoppers to buy less, he noted.

For city employees, there was good news, with financial staff recommending a 4 percent across-the-board wage increase. Employees, however, will be required to put an additional 1 percent of their salaries into the city retirement fund, starting in January.

That means the increase is more like 3 percent, if Council accepts staff recommendations. Carol Guthrie – business manager for the local branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees – told the Austin Monitor she thought the salary proposal was “a good start.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin's airport is getting a new concourse and 20 more gates, but not until the 2030s (KUT)

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) is gearing up to add at least 20 new gates, expanding capacity at the overcrowded airport as it struggles to serve millions more passengers each year than it was designed to handle.

The planned gates will be located inside a newly constructed building — temporarily dubbed Concourse B — linked to the main Barbara Jordan Terminal by an underground pedestrian tunnel equipped with moving walkways.

The new concourse isn't expected to welcome the public until 2030 at the earliest. Over the longer term, the concourse could be further extended to accommodate up to 40 gates, more than doubling ABIA's current capacity of 34 gates… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin airport to receive runway safety technology (Community Impact)

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is one of four airports nationwide receiving new technology to reduce the risk of runway incursions, or when an aircraft crosses incorrectly on the runway.

Federal Aviation Administration officials announced April 15 that ABIA, Indianapolis International Airport, Nashville International Airport and Dallas Love Field Airport will be the first to receive the Surface Awareness Initiative system.Air traffic controllers can use the system to see aircraft and other vehicles in all areas of the airport. This will detail where vehicles and aircraft are located on a map, according to a news release.The goal of the surveillance system is to “reduce the risk of runway incursions by improving air traffic controllers’ situational awareness,” according to the release… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin HOME Initiative: Realtors analyze potential impact (KVUE)

The Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR) has released a report showing how a proposed zoning change could impact the housing market.

The Austin City Council is considering whether to approve Phase 2 of the HOME Initiative, which would reduce the minimum size of single-family lots from 5,750 to 2,000 square feet or less.

The ABoR found that the change could lower home sale prices. For example, a home that sold for Austin's median sales price in 2023, $540,000, could have an estimated $477,313 sales price if the home is allowed to be built on a 2,000-square-foot lot instead of a 5,750-square-foot lot… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

UT confirms nearly 60 workers laid off, most in former DEI jobs; students not accounted (Austin American-Statesman)

At least 57 University of Texas employees have been laid off recently, most due to the school's shuttering of the Division of Campus and Community Engagement, according to a tally by President Jay Hartzell and a university spokesperson.

The layoffs have come as UT eliminates some programs and reorganizes its services after a state law banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices at public universities went into effect.

In addressing the employee layoffs for the first time since announcing April 2 that the Campus and Community Engagement Division was closing, Hartzell on Monday took prewritten questions at a Faculty Council meeting, which was livestreamed on Zoom. He said 49 employees who had previously worked in DEI-related positions had been terminated and eight associate or assistant deans whose work previously included related duties were returning to their faculty positions full time.

On Tuesday afternoon, UT spokesperson Mike Rosen told the American-Statesman that in addition to the 49 layoffs Hartzell mentioned and the eight associate or assistant deans who fully returned to their faculty positions, there were eight terminations in the Student Affairs Division unrelated to the April 2 announcement. He also said that one employee whose position was being eliminated decided instead to retire... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

A recent magnet for foreign investment, the Austin metro has hit a 20-year high for international in-migration (Austin Business Journal)

From household names like Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. to lesser-known outfits like Krannich Solar, companies headquartered outside the United States are increasingly locating big pieces of their operations in the Austin metro — and helping to boost the number of foreign-born residents of the region.

International migration to the five-county Austin area topped 11,000 people during the 12-month period that ended in July last year — the highest figure in more than two decades, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

A number of factors are thought to be driving the trend. Lila Valencia, demographer for the city of Austin, said international migration has been on the upswing overall, a byproduct of pent-up demand in the wake of pandemic-era lockdowns, and she also said it likely has increased amid the influx of migrants to the southern border.

Still, there's little doubt that the success of the Austin metro in attracting investment from foreign-based companies is playing a role as well… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson: State lawmakers should ban payouts for exiting city employees (Dallas Morning News)

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson says he believes state lawmakers should prevent contract payout clauses for municipal government employees like the lump sum payment due to outgoing City Manager T.C. Broadnax.

Johnson in his weekly email newsletter to residents on Sunday called a severance clause in Broadnax’s contract that mandates he be paid a year’s worth of his $423,246 annual salary if he resigns at the suggestion of the majority of the City Council a “golden parachute” and said it leaves taxpayers footing the bill. The mayor referred to the exit as “backroom maneuvering” between other council members and Broadnax, whose resignation was announced Feb. 21.

He was selected as Austin’s next city manager six weeks later on Apr. 4. Other cities have paid large severances to city managers, Johnson said, “although not in this way — and not to someone who was already lining up a job somewhere else.”

“The Texas Legislature ought to take the step to protect taxpayers by forbidding these golden parachutes for city employees in any locality in the state,” Johnson said in the newsletter. “Until then, as the search for a new city manager continues, it’s time for the Dallas City Council to take a stand by definitively stating that there won’t be a golden parachute clause in the next city manager’s contract.” Broadnax’s city contract was approved by the City Council in Dec. 2016. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn King Arnold is the only current council member who was elected at the time. Johnson is among a few of the 15-member City Council who has said publicly that they weren’t aware Broadnax was going to resign until it was announced.

A city news release announced Broadnax’s resignation, as well as a joint news release from council members Adam Bazaldua, Zarin Gracey, Omar Narvaez, Jaime Resendez, Jaynie Schultz and Gay Donnell Willis saying the city manager was stepping down “at the suggestion of the majority of the Dallas City Council.”

A key reason for the suggestion was that the working relationship between Johnson and Broadnax “has not been conducive to effective governance and the advancement of Dallas’ interests,” the February news release from the council members said.

According to terms of Broadnax’s contract, the city must pay him a lump sum equal to 12 months of his base salary if there is an “involuntary separation” from his duties as city manager. He could also be in line to receive even more money in payouts tied to health care benefits and unused vacation days… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Texas leaders, advocates build momentum on pre-K, child care ahead of Legislature (Dallas Morning News)

Statewide leaders and advocates want to build momentum on child care and early education conversations ahead of next year’s legislative session. Alfreda Norman, former senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said one of the most pressing challenges for families across the state continues to be finding affordable, high quality child care.

The annual cost of infant care is comparable to that of a public university. Waitlists for child care scholarships are at an all-time high with more than 70,000 families currently hoping to receive such support, she said. Receive our in-depth coverage of education issues and stories that affect North Texans.

“Too many children are missing out on an opportunity to receive a high-quality early education,” Norman said. The economy also takes a hit when parents can’t find options.

Texas loses about $9.4 billion annually because of child care issues, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Bryan Daniel in a panel spoke about the current landscape of early education in Texas. Kara Waddell, president and CEO of Child Care Associates, an advocacy nonprofit based in Fort Worth, moderated the discussion.

The group noted how, in 2019, lawmakers attempted to expand pre-K options for Texas families by encouraging partnerships between school districts or charter networks and child care programs. However, only about 12 out of the state’s nearly 1,200 districts and charters figured out how to team up, Morath said.

“From a school district perspective, it is actually quite logistically difficult to make these partnerships work,” Morath said. With districts already overburdened with other challenges, the Texas Education Agency recommends bringing in nonprofit organizations to act as intermediaries and simplify the process for school leaders, he suggested. Waddell noted how states can experience a greater return on investment by bolstering programs in the first three years of childrens’ lives. However, most of the country instead pours more funds into students in kindergarten through high school… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick asks state to halt new concrete plant permits until 2025 (Texas Tribune)

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has asked the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state’s environmental agency, to halt approving permits for concrete production plants in Texas until the 2025 legislative session.

Patrick’s letter to TCEQ Chair Jon Niermann on Tuesday comes after his visit to Sherman Monday night to listen to residents’ concerns over a proposed 600-acre cement plant and limestone quarry by Black Mountain Cement. The plant would be located behind a church in Dorchester, about 60 miles north of Dallas.

“I appreciate that TCEQ has a difficult job. You have a formula, and you follow it. However, as Lt. Governor, I must look at the bigger picture of what is best for our communities,” Patrick said in the letter to Niermann.

Patrick cited concerns from business leaders, elected officials, and residents about the plant’s potential impact on air and water quality. He said approving the plant’s permit could have detrimental impacts on the community and its economy… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

See, 2024 Senate Interim Legislative Charges

Hidalgo says commissioners who stand in way of changing contract process are 'part of the problem' (Houston Chronicle)

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo on Monday called out the county's methods of awarding millions of dollars in contracts to companies building infrastructure like roads and parks, arguing that the county spends local tax dollars with far less transparency than when it is working with federal money. Hidalgo cited a recent report prepared by Harris County Auditor Michael Post's office that found the county doesn't produce a rigorous paper trail when choosing the winners of contracts.

The engineering department, which oversees major infrastructure projects along with commissioners' offices, did not have consistent records available until as recently as July 2023. Now, Hidalgo is calling on her four colleagues on Harris County Commissioners Court to give up their control of these decisions and hand over the reins to the county's independent purchasing department.

"I'm not trying to point the finger with what I'm going to present," Hidalgo said at a news conference Monday. "But I am trying to say if you don't change this, and change it promptly, then you are part of the problem." Hidalgo said she will present her proposal at the upcoming April 23 meeting of Commissioners Court. Currently, companies are chosen by engineering department staff, as well as staff from the four commissioner's offices.

There were no conflict of interest certifications on file for those employees and no written policies requiring staff to document their conflicts, according to the audit. The auditor report also surveyed that Harris County was the only county that procures professional services — such as engineering — independent of the purchasing office. Hidalgo has made repeated attempts to broach the topics of improving public trust and streamlining county services, even if that has sometimes meant going it alone.

She has consistently refused contributions from county vendors since she ran for her first term in office in 2018, unlike her colleagues on court. At the March 26 meeting of Commissioners Court, Hidalgo argued the county's efforts to improve efficiency have a tendency to get left on the shelf when studies are completed but the results aren't released… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[NATION/WORLD NEWS]

Israel says it will retaliate against Iran. These are the risks that could pose to Israel (Associated Press)

Israel is vowing to retaliate against Iran, risking further expanding the shadow war between the two foes into a direct conflict after an Iranian attack over the weekend sent hundreds of drones and missiles toward Israel.

Israeli officials have not said how or when they might strike. But as countries around the world urge Israel to show restraint and the threat of a multi-front war mounts, it’s clear that a direct Israeli attack on Iranian soil would lead to major fallout.

Iran says it carried out the strike to avenge an Israeli airstrike that killed two Iranian generals in Syria on April 1. It has pledged a much tougher response to any Israeli counterattack attack on its soil.

With Israel focused on its war against Hamas in Gaza, and already battling Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon every day, the U.S. has urged Israel to show restraint.

U.S. officials say President Joe Biden has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. will not participate in any offensive action against Iran, and the president made “very clear” to Netanyahu “that we do have to think carefully and strategically” about the risks of escalation… (LINK TO FULL STORY)