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BG Reads 8.15.2024

BG Reads 8.15.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - August 15, 2024

August 15, 2024

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Bingham Group Reads

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www.binghamgp.com

August 15, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

🟣 Austin adopts nearly $6 billion budget, the largest in city history (KUT)

🟣 Austin officials approve FY 2024-25 budget with estimated 7% increase to taxes, fees (Community Impact)

🟣 Council OKs raising property tax, adding funds for homeless services in new $5.9 billion budget (Austin Monitor)

Read On!

[BINGHAM GROUP]

🟣 [NEW] BG Podcast Ep. 264: Austin Politics Weekly Recap And What's Ahead

🟣 Updated City of Austin Org Chart (as of 7.2.2024)

LINK TO THIS WEEK’s CITY OF AUSTIN HEARINGS + AGENDA

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Austin adopts nearly $6 billion budget, the largest in city history (KUT)

Austin will send about $4 million less to its savings account next fiscal year. That money will instead fund several one-time initiatives that address child care, public safety and homelessness.

The change is reflected in the $5.9 billion budget the Austin City Council passed Wednesday for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The budget includes funding for several other items, including additional staff for the animal center and parks departments, city staff pay raises and about $50 million for land acquisition.

It's the largest budget in the city’s history.

It comes at a price to Austin residents. The city adopted a property tax rate of 0.4776 cents per $100 of taxable value, which would mean a roughly $200 annual increase for the average homeowner. That does not include an increase to several fees for water, trash and electricity; throw in another $160 for those.

Council Member Ryan Alter helped lead several of the changes this year.

“This budget includes historic investments in much-needed community services, including for families experiencing homelessness, those undergoing mental health crises, and our public safety professionals,” he said. “In this budget, we are making our communities safer, cleaner, healthier, and simply more livable.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin officials approve FY 2024-25 budget with estimated 7% increase to taxes, fees (Community Impact)

Austin officials passed a $5.91 billion budget and increased property tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year, with added funding for initiatives aimed at homelessness, public safety, parks maintenance and climate planning.City Council's Aug. 14 vote on the fiscal year 2024-25 budget came after weeks of review this summer and with some final adjustments. Austin's next fiscal year starts in October and runs through September 2025."Austin’s 2024-2025 budget is a strategic blueprint that balances the city’s immediate needs with long-term vision, prioritizing investments that reflect the values and aspirations of our community,” Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax said. “By focusing on sustainability, equity and resilience, we are committed to ensuring that Austin remains a livable and welcoming city for all."City leaders voted 10-1 in favor of the next budget and tax rate, with council member Mackenzie Kelly against… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Council OKs raising property tax, adding funds for homeless services in new $5.9 billion budget (Austin Monitor)

Austin taxpayers will see an increase in their property tax bills next year, but not so much that it will require their approval.

Taxpayers will be charged $0.4776 per $100 taxable value, with a homestead exemption of $154,000 for homeowners 65 years of age and older. Child care facilities will also be exempt from city property taxes. According to a city news release, “The typical Austin homeowner will see an increase of $15.67 per month, or $188.02 per year, in the City’s portion of their annual property tax bill. 

The City’s rates and fees, including for electricity, trash service, water, drainage, and the transportation user fee, will rise in response to escalating operations costs, as well as increasing service demands from a growing population. The increase for the typical Austin tax- and ratepayer is $30.16 per month, or $361.92 per year.”

Under state law, the city may not raise property taxes by more than 3.5 percent per year. This budget hit that mark. Both the Travis County Commissioners Court and the Austin ISD Board of Trustees have scheduled tax rate elections in order to fund their needs.

Some, but not many, of those addressing City Council on Wednesday said they wished that they could vote to raise taxes. Most simply offered their advice on how to spend the city’s tax dollars. A few asked that Council not raise taxes at all… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Beryl cost Houston billions, but was a fraction of Ike or Harvey’s impact (Houston Public Media)

More than a month now after Hurricane Beryl swept through Greater Houston, we're getting a better picture of how the storm affected the area's economy. Firms CoreLogic and Moody’s have published their estimated costs of damage incurred.

CoreLogic places wind damage costs somewhere between $2.5 billion and $3.5 billion nationwide. Moody’s places the overall costs from Beryl between $2.5 billion and $4.5 billion.

As Patrick Jankowski, senior vice president of research for the Greater Houston Partnership, tells Houston Matters, that pales in comparison to the costs (adjusted for inflation) of past storms like Ike ($39 billion) and Harvey ($160 billion)… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Texas AG threatens to sue Dallas over gun ban at State Fair (The Hill)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) on Tuesday threatened to take legal action against the City of Dallas if the State Fair of Texas — a nonprofit that holds the annual event — does not reverse its new policy prohibiting open and concealed carry of firearms at the State Fair next month.

Paxton argued that because the State Fair is held at Fair Park — owned by the City of Dallas but leased to the nonprofit organization — the event is still subject to laws prohibiting state governments in Texas from blocking licensed gun holders from accessing government property.

“As you may know, the State Fair of Texas has announced that persons with a license to carry (LTC) cannot bring their firearm to the fair,” Paxton wrote in a letter Tuesday to Dallas’s interim city manager, Kimberly Tolbert… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

San Antonio City Council Member Adriana Rocha Garcia to run for mayor (San Antonio Express-News)

City Council Member Adriana Rocha Garcia said Tuesday that she will run for mayor in the May 2025 election, ending months of speculation over whether she would forgo a fourth term representing the Southwest Side for a chance to lead the entire city. Rocha Garcia had been noncommittal for months.

The council’s decision last week to place a city charter amendment on the November ballot that would extend City Council terms from two to four-years was a deciding factor. That’s because the council kept the eight-year cap on council service, meaning that — if voters approve the change in November — Rocha Garcia would still only be eligible to serve two more years on council.

“There’s a lot of difficult times ahead, and I have the ability to bring groups of people together and move forward with a vision,” she said. “You’re going to really need that in the next few years because we’re all going to make some really difficult decisions, but we still need to get San Antonio ahead.” The city is staring down a budget deficit for at least the next two fiscal years. Future mayors won’t be able to sustain the same level of spending as Mayor Ron Nirenberg has, she said, pointing to the drying up of federal pandemic relief dollars and the decline in city sales tax revenue.

The mayor’s seat will be open, with no incumbent on the ballot, for the first time since 2009. Nirenberg can’t seek reelection next year because he's term-limited. Rocha Garcia, 44, is the first woman to officially announce her bid for mayor. San Antonio has elected just two women to the mayor’s office: Lila Cockrell in 1975 and again in 1989, and Ivy Taylor in 2015… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

Why false claims that a picture of a Kamala Harris rally was AI-generated matter (NPR)

One of the things being litigated in this presidential campaign is whether the crowds at rallies are even real.

At a Detroit aircraft hangar last week, the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Harris, and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, stepped off Air Force Two and were greeted by thousands of supporters. NPR's Tamara Keith was there to see it.

There were 15,000 people at the rally, according to the Harris campaign. Photos and videos by attendees and media organizations captured the crowd from many angles… (LINK TO FULL STORY)