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October 28, 2025

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Navigating Central Texas Land Use: A New Practice at Bingham Group

🟪 Proposition Q fuels strong early voting turnout in Austin for an off-year election (KUT)

🟪 Ground delay lifted at Austin airport after staffing issues (KVUE)

🟪 City of Austin Appoints Stuart Reilly as General Manager of Austin Energy (City of Austin)

🟪 For reasons in and out of its control, AISD enrollment falls to 30-year low (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 Jason Hadavi to serve as Austin's next city auditor (Community Impact)

🟪 State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt announces run for Michael McCaul’s seat in Congress (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Trump administration posts notice that no federal food aid will go out Nov. 1 (Associated Press)

READ ON!

[FIRM NEWS]

Bingham Group is proud to announce the launch of our Land Use & Entitlements Practice, expanding our ability to support clients navigating policy, development and permitting challenges across Central Texas.

The practice is anchored by Senior Consultant Anaiah Johnson, who brings two decades of land development and urban planning experience, including senior leadership at the City of Austin’s Development Services Department and private-sector entitlement management for one of the nation’s largest homebuilders.

For nearly nine years, Bingham Group has represented clients ranging from Central Texas–based firms to national and international companies before municipal governments in the region.

With this new practice, we now provide integrated support across both the political and technical aspects of moving land use policy and development projects forward.

Learn more about Bingham Group’s new practice — and review all of our services here: binghamgp.com/services

[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]

✅ Proposition Q fuels strong early voting turnout in Austin for an off-year election (KUT)

More than 45,000 Austin voters have cast a ballot in early voting ahead of Election Day.

The biggest draw for Austin voters is Proposition Q, a proposed tax rate increase that aims to raise $110 million for public safety and social services.

As of Monday morning, 45,157 people cast a ballot during early voting, with nearly all of those residents voting in person. That surpassed all early votes in 2023, when Austin voters decided the fate of two dueling propositions on police oversight. Just over 39,000 voters cast a ballot before Election Day that year.

Much of this year's early voting has taken place at polling sites west of I-35, with four locations accounting for nearly a third of all votes. More than 4,200 people voted at Ben Hur Shrine Center in Northwest Austin, which led polling locations in the first week of early voting. The Balcones Woods Shopping Center, the Randall's at Brodie Lane and the Austin Oaks Church rounded out the top four locations, respectively.

Proposition Q has been a lightning rod in what would typically be a sleepy off-year election cycle. Voters seldom come out in droves for city ballot measures, but the potential for a property tax increase — and the increased scrutiny over the city of Austin's spending — have seemingly pushed voters to the polls… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Ground delay lifted at Austin airport after staffing issues (KVUE)

A ground delay at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) that was issued due to staffing issues has now been lifted.

It comes after flights into the airport were completely grounded earlier in the day.

At 2:43 p.m., the FAA issued a ground stop affecting departures to the airport. Just before 4 p.m., the agency lifted the ground stop and issued a ground delay for most domestic flights into AUS. That ground delay was lifted before 7 p.m… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ City of Austin Appoints Stuart Reilly as General Manager of Austin Energy (City of Austin)

The City of Austin announced [on Monday] that Stuart Reilly will be the new General Manager of Austin Energy.

Reilly, who was selected after a national search, officially assumes the title on November 2, 2025.

Reilly currently serves as Austin Energy’s Interim General Manager and brings more than 18 years of experience in public power, including six years in executive leadership roles at Austin Energy. His expertise spans utility operations, grid resilience, clean energy and financial strategy. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a strong ability to align operations and financial planning to support long-term utility performance.

Reilly has twice served as Interim General Manager of Austin Energy. He has also held two Deputy General Manager positions with the utility, most recently overseeing Business Services, which includes Finance, Technology and Data, Employee Development and Support Services. Previously, he served as Chief Operating Officer, leading Electric System Engineering, Field Operations, Energy Market Operations and Power Production.

“Stuart’s leadership experience, operational knowledge, and commitment to this community make him exceptionally qualified to lead Austin Energy,” said Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax. “He understands the challenges and opportunities ahead and has a proven record of guiding the utility with integrity and focus.”… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ For reasons in and out of its control, AISD enrollment falls to 30-year low (Austin American-Statesman)

Although Austin’s child population has grown, school district enrollment has declined for the better part of 15 years as families —  priced out of the city — moved to suburbs.

In the past five years, voters in the Hays, Dripping Springs, Del Valle and Bastrop school districts approved bonds to build new campuses as enrollment surged. 

Families with Black and Hispanic children left Austin at higher rates, while the number of Asian and white children grew. 

Between fall 2019 to fall 2020, the district lost 6,000 students, part of a nationwide post-pandemic decline. 

Across the country, enrollment could drop another half a percent annually for the next decade as birthrates fall, according to Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab. In Texas, overall student growth since 2019 was concentrated in charter and suburban districts, according to a Texas A&M University study. Nearly 60% of Texas’ traditional school districts are shrinking, the June study found. 

The district could face another shock next summer as administrators implement a sweeping proposal to close 13 campuses and redraw attendance boundaries for 75% of students. 

Some parents have already threatened to look outside the district for the 2026-27 school year… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ Millennium seating setback spotlights uncertain future for East Austin hub (Austin Monitor)

Nearly three years after the city approved funding to upgrade the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex, the project remains incomplete. The wait for new theater seating to complete the upgrade has been pushed back to at least summer 2026 amid departmental transitions and procurement delays.

The delay extends a yearslong effort to modernize the sizable East Austin cultural facility, which first opened in 1999 as a safe gathering place for neighborhood youth. The complex’s 100-seat theater has already received new lighting, curtains, paint and a replacement cinema screen. But until the seating is replaced, the renovation funded through a $400,000 grant from the city’s economic development entity Rally Austin will remain unfinished.

During the recent Arts Commission meeting, several commissioners expressed disbelief that a relatively modest purchase could take years to complete. Chair Gina Houston said she first learned of the delay during that meeting and has since been in contact with Rally Austin… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ City to evaluate use of East Austin property after $41.1M purchase (Austin Business Journal)

Following its purchase of a roughly 143-acre tract in East Austin last month, the city of Austin will soon begin a study to determine the best way to use the three-lot property.

The City Council approved the purchase of the tract at 6500 Tracor Lane for a fee not to exceed $41.1 million at its Aug. 28 meeting. A city spokesperson confirmed that the sale closed on Sept. 11, though property records with the Travis County Clerk Office and Travis Central Appraisal District don't reflect it yet.

The purchase marks the city’s ninth major real estate acquisition since December 2023, part of a strategy to reduce real estate costs through property ownership rather than leasing space. The city purchased the Tracor Lane property from Karlin Real Estate, which itself purchased it from BAE Systems in 2020.

The city has said that Austin Water and other municipal services will use the site, which currently is developed with 2.4 million square feet of office and industrial space… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Jason Hadavi to serve as Austin's next city auditor (Community Impact)

Deputy City Auditor Jason Hadavi was tapped to take over as Austin's next city auditor starting in January.

Austin's city auditor is appointed by City Council to oversee internal reporting on a variety of government operations and financial issues.

This year, city auditors analyzed topics like the Austin Police Department's recruitment efforts and use of automated license plate readers, city spending on nonprofit partnerships, water infrastructure maintenance, and local responses to pedestrian crashes. Auditors also regularly investigate ethics issues like misuse of city resources and conflicts of interest.

After longtime City Auditor Corrie Stokes announced she'd be departing the role earlier this year, city officials began the search for her successor. That process led to Hadavi's selection this fall when members of council's audit committee recommended him for the role following interviews with three finalists… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt announces run for Michael McCaul’s seat in Congress (Texas Tribune)

State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt launched her campaign for Texas’ 10th Congressional District on Monday, saying voters in the district, long held by Republicans, deserve choices.

The Austin Democrat’s announcement comes a month and a half after Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, said he is vacating the Republican-leaning district after more than 20 years in office.

In her launch video, Eckhardt compared the spirit of her campaign to the efforts to build large-scale infrastructure projects in the district, like Lake Livingston and the Mansfield Dam, and the level of cooperation it took the Founding Fathers to create the country.

“We’re not going to agree on everything, but just like those original 13 colonies, we can work together to build things that last as long as Mansfield Dam — not just until the next election cycle,” Eckhardt said.

Eckhardt was elected to the Texas Senate in 2020. She is now serving her second term, which ends in early 2029. This means she won’t have to give up her seat to run for Congress… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Wall Street Journal Editorial: The Y’all Street tax plan for Texas (Wall Street Journal)

Texas is vying to attract finance companies and their employees, and its recruitment campaign involves more than marketing. Financiers fleeing the coasts want to know that the state’s business climate will remain friendly in the future. Voters can give them some assurance by approving a trio of tax measures on the Election Day ballot. One proposal is a ban on capital-gains taxes in the state. The Texas constitution already prohibits taxes on income of any kind, including wages and investment income. This year’s ballot measure would explicitly bar future legislatures from devising sneaky ways to get at capital gains.

The measure is meant to spare Texas from going the way of Washington state, where Democrats enacted a 7% capital-gains tax in 2022 despite a constitutional ban on income taxes. Then-Gov. Jay Inslee framed it as a tax on the transaction when an asset is sold instead of on the income the sale generates, and the state Supreme Court upheld that twisted logic. Texas voters could head off a similar tax grab.

Another measure would ban taxes on certain financial transactions as well as fees on finance employees. That would block the enactment of nickel-and-dime fees on the Texas Stock Exchange—a Dallas-based market where trading is set to start next year—and companies such as Charles Schwab and Goldman Sachs that are expanding in the region. Some localities in California, Virginia and other states collect occupational taxes from financial firms, which then pass the costs on to clients in higher fees. Taxes on stock purchases have a similar effect, such as the federal levy on stock buybacks that costs companies about $8 billion a year. If the ban passes, Texas companies can strike these pesky taxes from their risk calculations. A third measure would bar Texas from imposing an estate tax.

The Lone Star State doesn’t currently tax estates or inheritance, but 17 others do, including Washington with a top rate of 35%. Taxes at death appeal to some lawmakers in states that limit revenue from other sources, but they scare off residents nearing or in retirement. Passing these amendments would show popular support for “Y’all Street”—a moniker for Dallas-area finance—and business growth across the state. The number of Texans employed in investment banking or securities rose 27% from 2019 to 2024, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The boom has made Dallas the nation’s second-biggest finance hub after New York… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ For beleaguered Southwest, ‘everything is on the table’ — even long-haul international (Dallas Morning News)

Southwest Airlines could be on the cusp of making the most monumental change of its 54-year history. The Dallas-based carrier has rolled back some of its most popular policies as it positions itself to take on other major U.S. carriers. Now it may be eyeing an expansion to long-haul flights to Europe for the first time. Southwest officials said in August that the airline was talking to the unions representing its pilots and flight attendants about expanding its international route network beyond Mexico and the Caribbean. Southwest’s longest route is currently Phoenix to Honolulu, about 2,900 miles.

This year, Southwest has also launched international airline agreements with Iceland Air, China Airlines and EVA Air in Taiwan, further signaling its intention to explore international opportunities.

Yet that may be changing, with Southwest flirting with expanding its global reach at a time when rival carriers are beefing up their international schedules. Fort Worth-based American Airlines is set to add flights from DFW International Airport to Athens, Greece, and Zurich next summer, in addition to extending service to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines is expanding service to destinations in Portugal, Italy, Spain and France, as well as the islands Sardinia and Malta next summer.

And United Airlines added routes from its Newark hub to Italy, Croatia, Scotland and Spain. Bob Jordan, Southwest’s chief executive, has not been shy in talking about the chances of his carrier embarking on an international expansion, saying at a summit last month that “everything is on the table.” “I wouldn’t be talking about things like lounges, premium and long-haul international if it wasn’t a real subject under evaluation at Southwest Airlines,” Jordan said at the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce’s annual aviation breakfast last week.

”If we were to decide that we want to fly long-haul international, it would require a different aircraft. The 737 cannot do that. It would require negotiations with our pilots and flight attendants. It would require learning how to do catering. It would require getting slots in the airport’s we want to fly to in Europe, as an example."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ How a young tech startup was chosen to manage Texas' $1B school voucher program (Houston Chronicle)

When Texas chose a company to roll out the state’s $1 billion private school voucher program, it passed over more established vendors in favor of a four-year-old tech startup that said it could do it for almost half the cost. Now, Odyssey must execute on its promises to meet an aggressive timeline while avoiding missteps that have dogged other program launches.

The New York-based company has rapidly expanded in recent years, launching programs in eight states that subsidize students’ private education costs with taxpayer dollars. In Texas, the startup is tasked with advertising the program, running the lottery to choose the students who participate and setting up the online marketplace where families can spend their state funds on private school tuition, tutors, computers and other approved items.

The state is the firm’s biggest contract by far, and will test its ability to stand up a particularly complex school voucher program set to launch next school year with roughly 100,000 students. In the first year here, the company will process more dollars than it handles in all of its other state-funded voucher programs combined. Odyssey’s executives say the company’s more recent launch gives it an edge. “Being a newer company has actually really been an advantage, because we were able to learn from mistakes that others had made in the industry, and very intentionally build a platform,” said Lauren Bender, the company’s head of strategy and growth.

Odyssey was found to have allowed some improper purchases in Idaho, and families in Missouri reported delays and limited inventory when trying to purchase supplies through the company’s platform. But the startup has so far avoided the lawsuits, data breaches and major clashes with state officials that other companies handling voucher programs have faced. Advocates say the program’s success is important not only in Texas, but for the school voucher movement nationwide… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump administration posts notice that no federal food aid will go out Nov. 1 (Associated Press)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has posted a notice on its website saying federal food aid will not go out Nov. 1, raising the stakes for families nationwide as the government shutdown drags on. The new notice comes after the Trump administration said it would not tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds to keep benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as SNAP, flowing into November.

That program helps about 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries. “Bottom line, the well has run dry,” the USDA notice says. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”

The shutdown, which began Oct. 1, is now the second-longest on record. While the Republican administration took steps leading up to the shutdown to ensure SNAP benefits were paid this month, the cutoff would expand the impact of the impasse to a wider swath of Americans — and some of those most in need — unless a political resolution is found in just a few days. The administration blames Democrats, who say they will not agree to reopen the government until Republicans negotiate with them on extending expiring subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Republicans say Democrats must first agree to reopen the government before negotiation.

Democratic lawmakers have written to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins requesting to use contingency funds to cover the bulk of next month's benefits. But a USDA memo that surfaced Friday says “contingency funds are not legally available to cover regular benefits.” The document says the money is reserved for such things such as helping people in disaster areas. It cited a storm named Melissa, which has strengthened into a major hurricane, as an example of why it’s important to have the money available to mobilize quickly in the event of a disaster… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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