🟪 Austin mayor calls for budget forecast with no property tax rate increase (KXAN)

🟪 Austin’s slowest city Department tries to pick up the pace (Austin Chronicle)

🟪 Small city north of Austin shows signs of growth as Samsung's Taylor operations ramp up (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 City Leaders take step back in plan to consolidate IT workers (Austin Chronicle)

🟪 State Rep. Erin Zwiener: Silence enables county judge’s ‘bad behavior’ (Wimberly Review)

🟪 Artemis II astronauts bound for moon after rocketing away on NASA’s first lunar voyage in decades (Associated Press)

READ ON!

✅ Austin mayor calls for budget forecast with no property tax rate increase (KXAN)

Next month, the city of Austin will officially kick off its budget process, starting with the release of its 5-year financial forecast. City leaders appear to be taking a much more conservative approach to its budget this year.

As part of that 5-year forecast process, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson is asking the city manager to lay out what would happen if the portion of your property tax bill tied to Austin’s budget didn’t go up.

That’s a departure from the norm, which is to base forecasts and budget documents on the maximum amount the city can raise your property taxes year-over-year under state law.

“There are a number of reasons for doing this, including the basic recognition that people all over Austin are struggling in the current economy and we should fully consider the impact on the cost of living caused by taxes,” Watson wrote in a Watson Wire earlier this month… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin’s slowest city Department tries to pick up the pace (Austin Chronicle)

here’s a story Kirk Watson likes to tell to illustrate how he felt about the Austin Development Services Department as he ran for mayor in 2022. 

“When I was running, I emphasized that I wanted to do a performance review of Development Services, the site-planning process in particular,” Watson told the Chronicle. “And the joke – but it was only partly a joke – that I used to say was that not a single person came up to me during that race and said, ‘Watson, don’t touch that development review process. That stuff’s really working good.’ Nobody said that.”

In fact, as Watson was quite aware, few people had said anything complimentary about the Development Services Department (formerly known as Planning and Development Review) for many years, or maybe ever. As the entity responsible for issuing permits and inspecting construction in Austin, DSD is one of the most important departments in the city, but it has a reputation for having the slowest permit review process of the state’s large cities. Developers, affordable housing advocates, and even the city itself say the slow reviews raise the cost of housing. 

A series of audits stretching back to the 1980s have detailed DSD’s shortcomings. The 2015 Zucker Report described its permit review process as labyrinthine and fraught with miscommunication. It stated that the complaints researchers received from Austinites about the department were “the worst we have seen in our national studies.” City employees told the researchers that the rules governing permit approval were “so complex that it takes a year to understand or get proficient in the process.”  

The Zucker Report recommended 464 ways to improve DSD. Some were big-picture, like transforming the department’s culture to prioritize customer service. Some were specific, like requiring employees to return phone calls promptly… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Small city north of Austin shows signs of growth as Samsung's Taylor operations ramp up (Austin Business Journal)

About 100 years after its population peak, a new wave of growth seems imminent for the city of Granger. The city north of Austin appears primed to benefit from Samsung’s neighboring operations, and initial signs of growth are starting to emerge.

Landowner Hyo Sop Kim is planning a multifamily project at 401 East Oak St., according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The owner plans to turn the site into 32 townhomes or apartments. Pending city approval, the project could get started in May 2027.

Kim is working with Development Associates of Texas on the approvals process for the project, TDLR filings show.

It’s not a large proposal by most standards, but the project is part of a turning point for Granger.

The town saw its highest traffic in the mid-1920s, when over 2,000 people called Granger home. Its population has gradually decreased since, according to the town’s website. The 2024 American Community Survey estimated there were 1,046 residents in Granger at that time… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ City Leaders take step back in plan to consolidate IT workers (Austin Chronicle)

City leaders are responding to the outcry from AFSCME Local 1624, the city workers’ union, and IT employees throughout the city. On Wednesday, as the Chronicle went to press, the city announced a modification of its plans for the IT consolidation known as One ATS, which was expected to concentrate all of the city’s 1,000 IT workers into one central department – Austin Technology Services. A city spokesperson told the Chronicle that it now plans to allow some workers who are crucial to day-to-day IT operations to remain in their respective departments. 

The spokesperson explained that one-third of the city’s workers are already headquartered at ATS, with the remaining two-thirds working in different departments like Austin Energy, Austin Water, and Austin Transportation and Public Works. The One ATS plan had sought to move most, if not all of them, into ATS. 

“Many employees across City departments will transition into ATS while remaining embedded within their current department performing their current responsibilities, but with more technology-focused guidance from ATS,” the spokesperson said.

They added that the employees who are part of their departments’ specialized operations, which the spokesperson referred to as “operational technology,” will not be moved. They also said it is possible that some employees who are not part of their departments’ operational technology may also be allowed to stay where they are… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Council clears way for scores of digital ad kiosks across Austin (Community Impact)

A plan to install dozens of digital advertising kiosks in public places around Austin advanced this spring.

As framed by the city, the new kiosk are meant to help residents and visitors get around and access local businesses, as well as to promote civic messaging and transit information.

“This program represents an important step in Austin’s continued evolution as a connected and innovative city,” Anthony Segura, Austin Economic Development deputy director, said in a statement. “Interactive kiosks will make it easier for residents and visitors to navigate downtown, discover local businesses, and stay informed about City services, all at no cost to taxpayers.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ State Rep. Erin Zwiener: Silence enables county judge’s ‘bad behavior’ (Wimberly Review)

Recently, an odd game that Judge Ruben Becerra has been playing came to a head. He, in his eighth year in public office, decided to engage on water issues. He brought a proposal to the Commissioners Court on water and data centers that had not been posted publicly or had legal review. Unfortunately, his proposal came with unintended consequences–it would have allowed industrial water users to sidestep the county development process entirely. When the legal team, other commissioners, and I (through a letter to the Court) pointed this out, the judge tabled his own proposal.

Then the judge announced a water summit and pointedly said he expected attendance from every Hays County state legislator…except me. The omission stood out to many Hays County residents, because I have been working on water issues consistently and fighting to bring more resources to our groundwater districts. When constituents asked why I was left off, he lied and said I declined to attend. I corrected the record and said I was not invited. Then he publicly invited me, and I said my office would try to participate. My staff RSVPed via an email to both the judge and one of his staffers.

But when my staff and I showed up, we were told we weren’t on the list and that the venue was at capacity despite folks inside saying there were several empty seats. The judge’s story for why has continued to change... 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ South Congress Hotel to be converted into luxury Hyatt property (Austin Business Journal)

The globalization of South Congress Avenue continues, this time with a massive overhaul of the 11-year-old South Congress Hotel into an outpost of Hyatt's The Standard brand.

A few months after its acquisition by Hyatt and Austin-based Timberline Real Estate Partners, South Congress Hotel is set for renovations. The work will transform the hotel, which takes up a block on Austin's most expensive retail strip, into The Standard, Austin. The hotel will shutter in the summer and reopen in spring 2027. The changes come on the back of 126 layoffs as the hotel gears up to close for nearly one year, reopening as The Standard. The last time a Standard hotel — a chain of luxury Hyatt hotels spread internationally — opened in the U.S. was more than a decade ago.

Hyatt partnered with Timberline Real Estate Partners as the developer on the project. The parties bought the property from Austin-based New Waterloo. Together, the two will bring an experience beyond room and lodge. The Standard will feature wellness experiences, a rooftop pool, world class restaurants and bars. The Standard will bring another luxury stay to South Congress Avenue, putting it about half a mile away from Soho House Austin… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ ERCOT: Data centers cause Texas' large load queue to balloon (Dallas Morning News)

The size of ERCOT’s large load interconnection requests – majority of which are data centers wanting to connect to the grid – soared by nearly 150 gigawatts to 410 gigawatts in just two weeks, a symptom of Texas becoming a hub for data centers and other high-tech industries.

On Tuesday, ERCOT officials discussed the massive uptick in requests, the agency’s recently published “state of the grid” report and more at its third annual Innovation Summit at Kalahari Resorts’ convention center in Round Rock. Large loads are customers requesting a new or expanded interconnection, where its total peak demand at a single site would be at least 75 megawatts. Hundreds of people in various roles tied to the energy industry were in attendance for panels, attended by industry executives and experts from across the globe.

The first session included a discussion between ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas and National Energy System Operator CEO Fintan Slye on “powering progress.” Vegas, who has led ERCOT since 2022, reflected on the evolving grid and energy market in Texas. “The ERCOT grid today is vastly different from the ERCOT grid of even 5 years ago and certainly more than 20 years ago,” he said.

“I think that’s one of the characteristics of the conversation today about the grid itself is just how rapidly evolving and changing it has become.” Vegas called ERCOT an “energy island,” which can afford both benefits like the ability to change and move quickly in response to needs. The needs are noticeably increasing — and fast, according to the last data from ERCOT. The agency said peak demand could reach 145 GW by 2030, and it currently has about 453 GW of requests to connect to the grid. ERCOT’s all-time peak demand was 85 GW in August 2023. Notably, ERCOT reported its large load interconnection queue now sits at 410 GW, about 87% of which are data centers. That’s a spike from closer to 300 GW just two weeks ago… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Dan Patrick adds data centers, prediction markets and THC to Senate priorities (Texas Tribune)

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Friday instructed state senators to study a broad range of policy issues ahead of next year’s legislative session, including prediction markets, data centers, THC and more, expanding on an initial list of priorities that included “preventing Sharia law” and investigating Medicaid fraud.

Patrick’s latest list of interim charges corresponded with many of the priorities House Speaker Dustin Burrows laid out Thursday.

Data centers appeared three times on Patrick’s priorities, with the lieutenant governor — who leads the state Senate — instructing various committees to assess the water demands of “energy-intensive technologies,” including data centers; to consider how to meet electricity demands of data centers but also “balance economic development benefits of this growth against the impacts on landowners, private property rights, water infrastructure, and community integrity;” and evaluate the costs of the sales tax exemption granted to data centers… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Speaker Dustin Burrows lists data centers, property taxes and annexing slice of New Mexico among 2027 priorities (Texas Tribune)

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows directed lawmakers to study the secession of New Mexico counties to Texas, the development of data centers in the state, property tax relief and more in a list of his priorities for next year’s legislative session released Thursday.

The Lubbock Republican’s interim charges overlap with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s initial to-do list in their shared focuses on reducing property taxes, securing Texas from potential foreign threats and homing in on potential fraud and abuse in government spending.

But Burrows’ priorities cover a broader range of policy issues for House committees to tackle in preparation for the 2027 legislative session. Burrows also created three new committees on governmental oversight, health care affordability and general aviation.

He instructed the governmental oversight committee to study the implications of adding to Texas “one or more contiguous counties of New Mexico” and the process to do so, after welcoming a proposal out of New Mexico to allow its counties to band together and secede. While the Texas-New Mexico boundary is unlikely to shift next year, the proposal will likely appeal to pro-secessionists in Texas, some of whom are among Burrows’ conservative skeptics… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Artemis II astronauts bound for moon after rocketing away on NASA’s first lunar voyage in decades (Associated Press)

Four astronauts embarked on a high-stakes flight around the moon Wednesday, humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century and the thrilling leadoff in NASA’s push toward a landing in two years.

Carrying three Americans and one Canadian, the 32-story rocket rose from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center where tens of thousands gathered to witness the dawn of this new era. Crowds also jammed the surrounding roads and beaches, reminiscent of the Apollo moonshots in the 1960s and ’70s. It is NASA’s biggest step yet toward establishing a permanent lunar presence.

“On this historic mission, you take with you the heart of this Artemis team, the daring spirit of the American people and our partners across the globe, and the hopes and dreams of a new generation,” launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson told the crew right before liftoff. “Good luck, Godspeed Artemis II. Let’s go.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump's VA killed a home loan program. Vets are now losing their homes because of it (NPR)

More than 10,000 veterans lost their homes to foreclosure since May of last year, when the Trump administration shut down a key safety-net in the VA home loan program, according to the latest industry data. That is the highest pace of foreclosures for VA loans in a decade.

Another 90,000 vets are heading towards foreclosure. This comes after a years-long debacle inside the VA has whiplashed thousands of vets between various enacted and cancelled programs and left many of them on the brink of losing their homes — often through no fault of their own.

A loan backed by the VA is considered one of the most valuable benefits for military service members and has helped millions achieve homeownership. But for nearly a year now, vets have had worse protections and options than most other homeowners if they fall behind… 🟪 (READ MORE)