BG Reads // May 7, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
May 07, 2025

Presented By

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

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[EVENT SPOTLIGHT]

✅ Austin Chamber ATX Policy Forum 2025 // Wednesday May 14th // 8AM to 10AM

Mayor Kirk Watson will take the stage alongside these influential policymakers from across Central Texas including County Judges for Bastrop, Caldwell, and Williamson Counties.

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

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[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Tax rate election seems likely this November (Austin Monitor)

During the City Council Audit & Finance Committee meeting Tuesday, Kerri Lang, director of the city’s budget office, laid out the steps the city would take in deciding whether to submit a request to voters for a property tax increase on the November ballot. At least seven members of Council must vote in favor of the election for it to be placed on the ballot. On Tuesday, the discussion appeared to lean in favor of the prospect.

Last month, Council learned that staff was projecting a $33.4 million deficit for the upcoming fiscal year.  If Council does not vote to have the election — or if voters reject a proposed tax increase — the city would have to cut programs.

Because the Texas Legislature has imposed a 3.5 percent cap on yearly property tax increases without voter approval, a tax rate election is necessary in order to raise taxes beyond that point. The Legislature imposed that limit in 2019. But this is the first year that the city has faced a deficit—although city financial planners have predicted it for some time.

Lang told Council that staff would present a balanced base budget, asking Council and the public what to add to that base. She specifically referenced enhanced services from the Homeless Strategy Office, but that is not the only department looking for more funding, especially in light of cuts to federal funds… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin staff recommend reduced number of ‘caps’ over I-35 expansion project (KXAN)

City of Austin staff released an updated recommendation for which ‘caps and stitches’ the city may want to commit funding to. Those highway covers will go over the Texas Department of Transportation’s I-35 expansion project near downtown.

While a vision plan placed highway covers with parks and community spaces over the highway in a handful of locations, the city is now recommending only funding the roadway elements for a cap spanning from Cesar Chavez to Fourth Street and another project from 11th to 12th.

The city of Austin only has so much money it can borrow if it doesn’t want to hurt its credit rating. City staff said Tuesday that, assuming there is no change in state law, the city should not exceed $750 million in additional bond debt between caps and stitches and anything the city opts to put into its 2026 comprehensive bond package… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ 2025 ACL Fest headliners: Sabrina Carpenter, Hozier, Doja Cat, Luke Combs, Doechii and more (KUT)

Sabrina Carpenter, Hozier, Doja Cat and Doechii are among the acts headlining this year's Austin City Limits music festival.

Local acts in the lineup include Geto Gala, Huston-Tillotson Jazz Collective, The Point, S.L. Houser, Asleep at the Wheel, Next of Kin and LP Giobbi.

The annual festival at Zilker Park takes place the weekends of Oct. 3 and 10. Tickets are now on sale… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ SMART housing to see changes in “phase two” of City Council-initiated review (Austin Monitor)

A city incentive program intended to produce “Safe, Mixed-use, Accessible, Reasonably-priced and Transit-oriented” housing may be getting a little smarter with changes working their way towards City Council.

The Housing Department is proposing four amendments to improve the “operation and functionality” of the program, per a presentation on the amendments given to the Planning Commission during a special called meeting on April 29.

The SMART program was introduced in 2000 by a city that even then was wrestling with significant growth and attendant housing supply issues. The Austin Monitor has reported on the city’s efforts at getting for-profit developers to actually use the program, which go back about as far as the debut of the program itself.

The latest round of review was kicked off in 2023 by a Council resolution directing the city manager to find ways to improve the program. The new amendments represent the second “phase” of that process, according to Housing’s Brendan Kennedy, who gave the presentation to the planning commission… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Delta Air Lines to launch new Austin-Palm Springs nonstop in November (KXAN)

Delta Air Lines will launch a new nonstop route between Austin and Palm Springs, California, in November.

The seasonal route will launch Nov. 8. Flights will operate on Saturdays only, by Delta Connection, through April 26, 2026.

Flights are set to leave Austin at 11 a.m. and arrive in Palm Springs at 1 p.m. local time. Returning flights leave Palm Springs at 12:07 p.m. and arrive at AUS at 5:07 p.m.

Rival American Airlines previously flew the AUS-PSP route but canceled it in October 2024 as part of wider cuts at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. 

“We’re so grateful to our partners at Delta for supporting our community’s air service needs through another new nonstop route,” Ghizlane Badawi, CEO of AUS, said. “This new destination expands travel opportunities for both business and leisure travelers and we are excited to offer more convenient options for our passengers.”

Palm Springs is the 11th new route announced by Delta this year. Flights to Indianapolis, Jacksonville and Memphis will launch this Wednesday… 🟪 (READ MORE)

Note: Delta Air Lines is a Bingham Group client.

[TEXAS NEWS]

✅ Amid housing affordability crisis, Texas House votes to take some power from NIMBYs (Texas Tribune)

As Texas faces a housing affordability crunch, state lawmakers sent a signal Monday to residents who try to stop new homes from being built near them: It may get a lot harder to do so.

The Texas House voted Tuesday to advance a bill that defangs an obscure state law that property owners use to stop new homes from going up near them. House members gave final approval to House Bill 24, a key priority of House Speaker Dustin Burrows. The bill cleared the chamber by an 83-56 vote, with a majority of the chamber's Republicans and Democrats voting in favor.

The bill is part of a Republican slate of bills aimed at tackling the state’s high housing costs — chiefly by making it easier to build homes. Texas needs about 320,000 more homes than it has, according to one estimate.

"This is a good bill that will improve housing availability and affordability," said state Rep. Angelia Orr, R-Angelina, the bill's author... 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texas homeowners could see lower property tax bills if deal from Republican lawmakers passes (Texas Tribune)

Lawmakers in the Texas House and Senate have brokered a deal on how to lower Texans’ property taxes, tax-cut proponents from each chamber said Monday.

A group of legislators has agreed to a tax-cut package that would increase tax breaks for homeowners, provide bigger cuts for older and disabled Texans who own their homes, and increase an inventory tax exemption for businesses.

The deal still has to be approved by both chambers. Still, the tentative agreement is a marked difference from the blowup between House and Senate lawmakers over tax cuts two years ago.

On Monday, the mood was more laudatory with each chamber’s chief tax-cut proponents — state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican, and state Rep. Morgan Meyer, a University Park Republican — praising each other’s proposals and signaling their intent to pass them... 🟪 (READ MORE)

[US and World News]

✅ U.S. and Chinese officials will meet in Geneva in first sign of thaw in trade war (NPR)

U.S. and Chinese officials have announced they will meet in Switzerland later this week, signaling a possible détente in the escalating trade war between the global superpowers.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet Beijing's lead economic representative, He Lifeng, potentially paving the way for broader trade talks. In an appearance on Fox News, Bessent said the current tariffs aren't sustainable and are "the equivalent of an embargo. "We don't want to decouple. What we want is fair trade," he said. The U.S. and China have been locked in a tit-for-tat trade war, with both sides imposing hefty, triple-digit tariffs on each other's goods, making trade between the world's two largest economies near impossible… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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