BG Reads // July 14, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
July 14, 2025

Presented By

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 City manager's proposed Austin budget excludes a tax-rate election. The mayor won't rule one out. (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 UT Austin’s planned downtown medical campus freed from Capitol view restrictions (Community Impact)

🟪 Trump praises disaster response in Texas while FEMA's future is murky (NPR)

🟪 Judge agrees to shield Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton’s divorce records from public view (Dallas Morning News)

🟪 Economists see lower recession risk and stronger job growth: WSJ survey (Wall Street Journal)

🟪 ‘Who’s got next?’ Democrats already lining up for 2028 presidential race in early voting states (Associated Press)

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

  • Late Friday evening, the City of Austin posted the FY2025-26 Proposed Budget Document. City Manager T.C. Broadnax will present the proposed budget to the Mayor and City Council tomorrow at 9AM.

  • Bingham Group will be following the budget process, including the City Manager and department presentations to City Council, through its approval in August.

  • » Click Here for our high-level summary of the FY2025-26 Proposed Budget. «

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ City manager's proposed Austin budget excludes a tax-rate election. The mayor won't rule one out. (Austin American-Statesman)

After months of anticipation amid a historic financial crunch, Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax late Friday released his proposed budget for the coming fiscal year. The $6.3 billion spending plan is balanced, but relies on a modest tax increase and notable cuts to things like overtime pay for police and firefighters though it also includes raises for most city employees.

Questions still loom over whether city leaders will call a special tax election so they may avoid some cuts or fund major community priorities. “Balancing the budget with a shortfall in revenue while investing in key areas was made possible by a close and critical look at all spending, making reductions to realize savings where appropriate and in a way that does not impact important services,” the city manager wrote in a cover letter for his proposed budget.

Austin officials have for months expected to face a deficit of about $33 million, prompting conversations about spending cuts and debates over whether to ask voters for help in an election this fall. A convergence of political and economic factors have forced leaders to rethink how they might fund city services moving forward. Despite the crunch, the price tag of Broadnax's proposed budget would make it the largest in Austin's history.

In the document, Broadnax stops short of recommending a tax-rate election, instead suggesting the City Council adopt a more modest property tax increase and reallocate millions of dollars to keep costs down. The spending plan proposes raising 3.5% more tax revenue over the previous year. That would translate to a property tax increase of about $155 for the median Austin homeowner whose property is valued at about $503,000. Mayor Kirk Watson in a Saturday morning memo suggested the City Council may instead choose to “keep (their) options open” as they advance through the budgeting process and that he would ask Broadnax to provide alternative proposals… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ UT Austin’s planned downtown medical campus freed from Capitol view restrictions (Community Impact)

The University of Texas at Austin's future downtown medical campus will no longer be constrained by state development regulations designed to protect sightlines to the Capitol.

The UT Medical Center will be located on the site of the former Frank Erwin Center arena in Austin's Innovation District, already home to several medical and institutional facilities. The complex will break ground next year and include a pair of medical towers: a UT Austin hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center expected to include hundreds of beds in total.

Plans to redevelop UT's nearly 20-acre property were first announced two years ago ahead of the Erwin Center's demolition, and the complex is slated to open in 2030. This spring at the Capitol, lawmakers approved a bill to ease state restrictions on the site that could've limited the scope of the medical complex… 🟪 (READ MORE)

🟪 Texas city's senior renter population doubles amid mortgage price spikes (MSN)

While it's no secret Texas has attracted an influx of new residents in recent years, the Lone Star State is especially appealing toward retirees and older Americans looking to settle down, sans housing debt.

A June report from rental homes platform Point2Homes revealed the South has become a haven for older residents looking to tap into the rental market game, trading up mortgage and maintenance-related expenses for rental properties. Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Jacksonville, Florida had the highest percentage jump of renters ages 65 and older in the nation - but three Texas cities didn't trail far behind in rounding out the Top 10.

Austin ranked No. 3 in the country for its surge in senior renters, with the 65+ renter population growing by 81.1% across a 10-year timespan between 2013 and 2023. What, exactly, is propelling the sunbelt surge? Point2Homes' analysis detailed a variety of factors, including living expenses and cheaper trade offs when downsizing from their homes. Among those southern communities, larger metros have been especially attractive given their scale and the volume of rental options available to prospective residents. 

"This southward surge is part of a broader migration trend, with older Americans relocating for more than just sunny weather and golf-friendly communities," the report read in part. "Much of this senior renter boom consists of downsizing retirees and so-called 'baby chasers' - grandparents moving closer to their grandchildren, enjoying proximity to family, shared expenses, and job opportunities."… ✅ (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ Trump praises disaster response in Texas while FEMA's future is murky (NPR)

President Trump visited a storm-torn Texas on Friday as the fate of the nation's top federal disaster agency remains uncertain. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other local leaders praised the president for a swift response and for signing an expanded emergency declaration for the affected area after flooding killed more than 100 people, with many still missing. Trump and first lady Melania Trump met with state and local officials, first responders, as well as families of the victims in Kerrville. "As a nation, we mourn for every single life that was swept away in the flood, and we pray for the families that are left behind. It's amazing, the incredible spirit from those families. I don't know, I don't even know how they do it," Trump said at a roundtable after meeting with families.

The first lady said the nation is grieving with them. She said they prayed, hugged and held hands, as they shared stories. She said she was given a bracelet, which she wore at the roundtable, "in honor of all the little girls that ... lost their lives" at Camp Mystic. Melania Trump said she promised to come back. In the background of the emotional scene were questions about how prepared Texas communities are for flooding, whether warning systems could have been better — and how the federal government plans to approach disasters going forward. During the roundtable event, Trump brushed off a question from a Texas reporter concerning whether locals were properly notified in advance of the floods. When asked if he had a message for families who were upset about the alert system, Trump said, he thought "everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances." He later added, "Only a very evil person would ask a question like that." While he praised the response in Texas, Trump did not directly address his broader vision for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Shortly after starting his second term, Trump said he wanted to overhaul the FEMA and put more onus for emergency response on states… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Judge agrees to shield Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton’s divorce records from public view (Dallas Morning News)

A Collin County district court agreed on Friday to make records from Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton’s divorce proceedings with state Attorney General Ken Paxton inaccessible to the public. Charla Bradshaw, of North Texas law firm KoonsFuller, filed the motion Thursday on Angela Paxton’s behalf to seal court records, according to court documents obtained by The Dallas Morning News on Friday. “The records do not involve matters that should be available to the general public,” Bradshaw wrote in a motion requesting such records be sealed. With the motion approved, Ken Paxton can now be spared from having allegations of infidelity aired in public as he challenges incumbent Republican John Cornyn for his U.S. Senate seat.

Reports of an affair came to light during the impeachment proceedings against Ken Paxton in 2023, when he was impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate after a two-week trial. Among the allegations against Ken Paxton were claims he used his state agency to benefit a real estate investor and campaign contributor who in turn renovated his Austin home and employed a woman with whom Paxton was reportedly involved. Cornyn’s campaign has used the allegations to call into question Ken Paxton’s character, posting on X in April that Ken Paxton “claims to be a man of faith but uses fake Uber accounts to meet his girlfriend and deceive his family.” Asked about the looming divorce on Thursday, however, Cornyn declined to attack his rival. “I feel badly for her and their family,” Cornyn said. “This is a private matter.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ ‘Who’s got next?’ Democrats already lining up for 2028 presidential race in early voting states (Associated Press)

The first presidential primary votes won’t be cast for another two and a half years. And yet, over the span of 10 days in July, three Democratic presidential prospects are scheduled to campaign in South Carolina.

Nearly a half dozen others have made recent pilgrimages to South Carolina, New Hampshire and Iowa — states that traditionally host the nation’s opening presidential nomination contests. Still other ambitious Democrats are having private conversations with officials on the ground there.

The voters in these states are used to seeing presidential contenders months or even years before most of the country, but the political jockeying in 2025 for the 2028 presidential contest appears to be playing out earlier, with more frequency and with less pretense than ever before… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Economists see lower recession risk and stronger job growth: WSJ survey (Wall Street Journal)

The economic fallout from President Trump’s policies may prove less dire than feared. Economists expect stronger growth and job creation, lower risk of recession and cooler inflation than they did three months ago, according to The Wall Street Journal’s quarterly survey of professional forecasters.

The reason: The Journal’s previous survey was conducted at the height of the president’s threats to impose eye-watering tariffs on America’s biggest trading partners. He paused some of the tariffs shortly thereafter. Whether the improved mood lasts remains to be seen. This past week, Trump told numerous trading partners—including Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the European Union—that they would face much higher tariffs starting Aug. 1. Although economists’ outlook improved slightly from the last survey, they still are relatively downbeat—most likely because of the persistence of trade uncertainty and muted growth to date.

On average, they expect gross domestic product adjusted for inflation to grow 1% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier. That is up from an April forecast of 0.8%, but just half of what they expected in January. They see growth rebounding to 1.9% in 2026, little changed from prior surveys. On average they put the probability of recession in the next 12 months at 33%, down from 45% in April, but higher than January’s 22%. “Despite numerous headwinds, the U.S. economy is proving stubbornly resilient,” said Chad Moutray, chief economist at the National Restaurant Association.

“Consumers are continuing to spend, but the mood has clearly shifted from bold to careful.” The survey gathered responses from 69 economists at outfits ranging from Wall Street banks to universities to small consulting firms from July 3-8. Not every forecaster answered every question. The improved outlook follows three months of generally encouraging economic data. Job growth averaged 150,000 in the past three months, better than projected in April, and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.1% in June from 4.2% in May, staying within its range of the past year… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ AI chatbot Grok issues apology for antisemitic posts (NBC News)

AI chatbot Grok, which is produced by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, issued an apology Saturday after it made numerous antisemitic posts on X this week following an update. The posts ranged from alleging “patterns” in the roles of Jewish people in Hollywood to praising Hitler. In a statement posted on Grok’s X account, the company apologized “for the horrific behavior that many experienced.”

“Our intent for @grok is to provide helpful and truthful responses to users,” the statement read. “After careful investigation, we discovered the root cause was an update to a code path upstream of the @grok bot. This is independent of the underlying language model that powers @grok.”

The update was active for 16 hours, and made the chatbot “susceptible to existing X user posts; including when such posts contained extremist views,” according to the statement. “We have removed that deprecated code and refactored the entire system to prevent further abuse. The new system prompt for the @grok bot will be published to our public github repo,” the statement said. On Monday, NBC News reported that Grok had begun issuing some answers that seemed to take a more rightward tilt, using a more definitive voice in questions about diversity and removing some nuance it previously included in certain answers around topics that involved Jewish people and a slur used to describe people with intellectual disabilities. In some posts, Grok appeared to respond in the voice of Musk.

After the incident, Grok said in an X post that it was “actively working to remove the inappropriate posts.” On Wednesday, Musk said the issues were “being addressed.” “We thank all of the X users who provided feedback to identify the abuse of @grok functionality, helping us advance our mission of developing helpful and truth-seeking artificial intelligence,” Grok said in Saturday’s apology… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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