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August 13, 2025

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Today @10AM: Austin City Council Budget Reading - Livestream Link

🟪 Austin budget vote, likely triggering tax rate election, to happen this week (KXAN)

🟪 Escalating APD budget deepens financial squeeze for Austin leaders (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 Southwest Airlines hopes to dominate Austin's new, bigger airport (Austin Business Journal)

🟪  Texas lawmakers prepare to end session early as Gov. Abbott vows to 'immediately' call another (KUT)

🟪  Texas House Speaker says state troopers are staking out the homes of missing Democrats (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 What to know as California moves forward with redistricting (The Hill)

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ City Manager Executives and Advisors Staff Visual Chart

🏛️ City of Austin Org Chart (as of July 2025)

💰 2026 City of Austin Bond - Public Input

ℹ️ 2025 Essential Resources for Navigating the City of Austin

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Austin budget vote, likely triggering tax rate election, to happen this week (KXAN)

As soon as [today], Austin city council could approve its budget for next fiscal year, and set a tax rate high enough to trigger an election.

Because of a 2019 state law, taxing entities cannot raise the property tax rate more than 3.5% from the year prior without triggering a tax rate election, or TRE.

That’s where the city manager’s base budget sits — at the 3.5% rate allowed without triggering a TRE — which would still mean a total increase of $218.16 annually for the “average” ratepayer and taxpayer.

City council and the mayor are considering asking voters to go higher than that, triggering a tax rate election in November, the month after the budget goes into effect… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ Escalating APD budget deepens financial squeeze for Austin leaders (Austin American-Statesman)

Austin’s elected leaders often point to federal spending cuts and state-imposed limits on property tax revenue as key reasons for the city’s worsening budget crunch. But they rarely mention that sharp increases in public safety spending, approved by the Austin City Council, have made the problem harder to solve.

City financial data show that nearly all of Austin’s property and sales tax revenue — the two primary revenue streams available to city governments in Texas — are spent on public safety services. As the share of local taxes going to police, fire and emergency medical services increases, the city has fewer resources left for quality-of-life programs such as pools, music venue preservation and sidewalk repairs, as well as for essential services like housing assistance, public health and food access for lower-income residents.

This tension between public safety spending and other services has challenged generations of city officials across Texas, said James Thurmond, a professor of practice at the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs.

Thurmond, who spent three decades as a city manager in smaller Texas cities, said three major factors have combined to create a “very troubling” situation for Austin officials: a 2019 state law limiting how much revenue cities can raise from property taxes, a 2021 law prohibiting police budget cuts, and labor contracts that have guaranteed sizable raises for first responders… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Southwest Airlines hopes to dominate Austin's new, bigger airport (Austin Business Journal)

Austin airport officials are considering comprehensive multiyear deals with passenger and cargo airlines at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport that will shape the airport's future and its ongoing multibillion-dollar expansion.

The new set of use and lease agreements — which could run from Jan. 1, 2026, to Sept. 30, 2035, with a two-year extension option — will be considered by the Austin Airport Advisory Commission at its Aug. 13 meeting.

“These agreements will govern how commercial passenger and cargo airlines operate at (ABIA) for the next decade,” an ABIA spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “These agreements also commit the airlines to fund key Journey With AUS expansion program projects needed to align with the airlines’ long-term growth goals and our shared desire to improve and modernize" ABIA.

Contract details aren't yet public, so it's largely unclear which airlines are jockeying for gates and how many they seek.

The four biggest passenger airlines at ABIA are Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV), Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL), United Airlines Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: UAL) and American Airlines Group Inc. (Nasdaq: AAL).

Officials from Delta, United and American declined to comment on the potential new agreements.

But Southwest, the longtime busiest carrier at ABIA that accounted for 41% of ABIA passengers in June, said it plans to be an "anchor tenant" in the new concourse that is being planned as part of the airport's multibillion-dollar expansion.

"Southwest is invested in the success of the airport and its efforts to offer world-class travel options for a world-class city," said a Southwest spokesperson. "Southwest is eager to be the anchor tenant of the new Concourse B, with up to 18 leased gates upon execution of the new agreement. We look forward to closely collaborating with City of Austin staff as the terminal project moves forward."… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ Cedar Park authorizes establishment of Central Texas Spaceport Development Corporation (Community Impact)

Cedar Park City Council voted Aug. 7 at a special meeting to authorize the establishment of the Central Texas Spaceport Development Corporation in partnership with Williamson County.

The corporation will be a nonprofit focused on infrastructure and development in specialized launching and landing facilities for spacecraft, rockets and satellites, according to agenda documents.

There are currently five other SDCs, which are eligible to apply for state and federal grants to support the spaceport industry, in Texas.

Cedar Park is home to Firefly Aerospace, which operated the first commercial mission to successfully land on the moon earlier in 2025. Since then, the company has secured hundreds of millions of dollars toward a future lunar landing and other projects… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ Texas lawmakers prepare to end session early as Gov. Abbott vows to 'immediately' call another (KUT)

The Texas Legislature is preparing to adjourn early this week amid a continued quorum break by House Democrats. But Gov. Greg Abbott says he'll "immediately" call lawmakers back to the state Capitol for another special session.

In a statement on Tuesday, Abbott vowed "to call special session after special session" until his legislative priorities are passed.

"The Special Session #2 agenda will have the exact same agenda, with the potential to add more items critical to Texans," Abbott said. "There will be no reprieve for the derelict Democrats who fled the state and abandoned their duty to the people who elected them."

It has been more than a week since dozens of House Democrats left the state to prevent a vote on a Republican-backed redistricting map that would add up to five GOP-held congressional seats in Texas. Leaders in the Texas Senate and House have signaled they will end the special session Friday if enough House members don't return… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ Texas House Speaker says state troopers are staking out the homes of missing Democrats (Austin American-Statesman)

With the Democratic quorum break entering its second week, House Speaker Dustin Burrows said Monday that troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety have been dispatched statewide to stake out the homes of the absent members in the effort to return them to the Capitol. And the state law enforcement agency has also established a toll-free tip for the members of the public to report sightings of any Democrats who are refusing to show up in Austin but who have not joined the dozens of others who have left the state. The speaker warned the financial cost to absent Democrats is rising by the day. In addition the $500 daily fines owed by the quorum breakers, House rules require absent members to repay the costs of bringing them back to Austin.

"Understand that we are keeping receipts for every gallon of gas, every mile traveled, and every hour of overtime associated with the pursuit of these missing members," said Burrows, a Lubbock Republican who is in his first term as the chamber's presiding officer. "Those breaking quorum will be held financially responsible for the cost they have created, not the taxpayers," he added.

"To those absent members, you can go to another city, another state, even another time zone, but you cannot escape responsibility for people of Texas, eventually you will be here." Enough Democrats are missing to stall progress on the Republican-backed congressional redistricting plan that is part of the 30-day special legislative session called by Gov. Greg Abbott. The maps would give Republicans five additional winnable U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterms. Nine of the 62 House Democrats were in the chamber Monday, but the House was still short of the 100 members needed to conduct business. In all, 96 of the 150 members registered present. A 97th, Cypress Republican Tom Oliverson, was in the Capitol Monday but was not in the House for the electronic roll call… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Jones demands 'independent' economic analysis on Spurs arena (San Antonio Report)

Weeks after the San Antonio Spurs’ owners removed one of the biggest roadblocks to their plans for a new downtown arena, another potentially major delay has emerged. San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones told reporters Monday that the city will solicit bids and select a firm to conduct an “independent economic analysis” of the proposed sports and entertainment district known as Project Marvel. The results will inform whether the city puts up money for a roughly $4 billion project, which currently leans on a combination of city and county money, reinvested state taxes and private investment. The arena alone is expected to cost between $1.3 billion and $1.5 billion.

The city of San Antonio already paid CSL Consulting for an economic analysis of Project Marvel, but the company did little to evaluate the arena in that assessment, instead leaning on data provided by the Spurs. Jones and four of the city’s 10 council members were just elected this year, and the mayor said Monday that there was no reason for them to rush into a project that previous city leaders had not fully interrogated. “This is a different City Council, and we have, I think, different expectations about the due diligence that is necessary for this generational investment,” the mayor said at a press conference Monday. The City Council was expected to discuss the terms of San Antonio’s projected $500 million investment in the arena portion of the project later this month, with City Manager Erik Walsh targeting an Aug. 21 deadline for a potential deal. But Jones indicated Monday that San Antonio may actually take several more months to make a decision on whether to commit money to the project, noting that leaders could use that time to see whether it still works with the city’s evolving finances. The city could wind up absorbing the costs of programs previously funded by the federal government, she said, as well as paying for a number of pending flood control efforts, if state lawmakers don’t approve money for them during the special session… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ What to know as California moves forward with redistricting (The Hill)

California Democrats are moving forward with plans to potentially redraw the state’s congressional maps as a response to GOP-led redistricting efforts in Texas. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has said the Golden State is planning to put redistricting before voters during a special election this November, with the aim of adding several Democratic House seats to the blue stronghold. California’s move is a direct response to redistricting efforts in Republican-led Texas, where Democratic state legislators have fled the state in a last-ditch bid to block a redraw backed by President Trump. Here’s what to know as California moves forward: Newsom announced Friday that his state will move forward with plans to get a measure on the ballot that would, if approved by voters during a special election, let Democrats pass a new House map.

California state lawmakers are out for summer recess, with plans to return on Aug. 18. They’re expected to take up the matter as soon as they return, as they’re up against a deadline to make a November special election official. “We have ’til Aug. 22nd. With the leadership behind me, they will get this on the ballot,” the governor said. Newsom needs to call a special election to move forward because California, unlike Texas, has a bipartisan commission that is responsible for redistricting every decade. In order to circumvent the commission and redraw mid-cycle, he must put the redistricting question directly in front of voters to seek their approval before a new map can be put in place.

The push to draw new congressional lines in the Golden State comes as Democrats across the country are looking to blunt potential gains in Texas ahead of the midterms. The Lone Star State is expected to pick up as many as five additional seats with their new lines, making it potentially easier for the GOP to hold onto its slim House majority next year despite electoral headwinds. Newsom has repeatedly said that he will only move forward with redistricting if Texas does so, but since the Lone Star State has signaled it has no intention of backing down, it seems likely the California governor will go forward with the special election… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Inside Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard in D.C. (Washington Post)

Even before he took office, President Donald Trump had an informal playbook for how he would use the powers of the presidency to take control of the District of Columbia, with options prepared for him such as deploying more federal law enforcement officers or taking over the entire municipal government. The only questions, according to two people briefed on White House deliberations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail private conversations, were which option he would choose and when he would opt to implement it.

Those questions were answered Monday morning, when Trump federalized the D.C. police department and authorized some 800 National Guard troops to patrol city streets alongside its officers. Speaking to a packed White House briefing room, he gave them a far-reaching mandate to clear homeless encampments, make arrests and “to do whatever the hell they want” in curbing crime — an exertion of executive power never before attempted by any U.S. president in modern history.

In many ways, Trump’s directive, backed by several signed executive actions, was the culmination of years of complaints about the nation’s capital and a stated desire to rescue D.C. “from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor, and worse,” despite a dramatic drop in incidents of violence year-over-year. But in a more narrow sense, it appeared to be a response to one specific crime, an attempted carjacking that took place in the early hours of Aug. 3. The victim in that incident was Edward Coristine, a protégé of Elon Musk and former U.S. DOGE Service staffer known by the nickname “Big Balls.”

Coristine had become well known among top White House officials, including Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, and the attack on him quickly resonated throughout the West Wing. A frustrated Trump posted a bloodied picture of Coristine to social media in the aftermath, raising what might happen to D.C. if it didn’t “get its act together, and quickly.” In the eight days that followed the attack, Trump refocused his attention on D.C. He enlisted Attorney General Pam Bondi to oversee the D.C. police and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to call up the troops. Jeanine Pirro, who was recently approved as the District’s U.S. attorney, was prepared to increase prosecutions… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ The era of big raises for low-paid workers is over (Wall Street Journal)

Something remarkable happened in the years immediately preceding and, especially, following the pandemic: Wages for poor workers began rising much faster than they did for the rich. That era may have now come to at least a temporary halt. And with worries about the health of the job market heightened following the disappointing July jobs report, it may have ended altogether. Wage growth for low-income workers looks to have significantly deteriorated in recent months, while wage growth for their higher-income counterparts has held up much better. It is a shift that could matter not just for low-paid workers, but the overall economy. The jobs report released at the start of this month was revealing. It showed that average earnings for leisure and hospitality workers, at $22.83 an hour, were up 3.5% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, average hourly earnings for workers in the information sector were up 5.4%, to $52.61.

It is a far cry from, for example, December 2021. Back then, earnings for workers in leisure and hospitality—the lowest paying of the broad sectors tracked by the Labor Department—were up 14%. Earnings in the high-paying information sector were up less than 2%. The years from the early 1980s through much of the 2000s were characterized by widening wage inequality. But around 2015, the gap between low- and high-income workers’ pay began to narrow. It was a change that economists believe was driven, in part, by a sharp drop in the unemployment rate that made it harder to fill low-paying jobs. In February 2020 the unemployment rate was at 3.5%, its lowest level since the late 1960s. The dynamic was amplified by the pandemic.

Businesses swiftly laid off a number of workers, including low-wage employees at retail stores, hotels and restaurants. But then those same businesses reopened and were desperate for workers—allowing many people in low-wage jobs to level up to better pay. A dishwasher at one restaurant, for instance, could easily switch to a dishwashing job at another restaurant that was paying an additional $1 an hour. The effects were large. A wage tracker developed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, using data that underlies the Labor Department’s employment report, showed that annual wage growth for the median worker in the bottom quarter by income had shot up to 7.5% in November 2022. That compared with 4.8% for the median worker in the top quarter… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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