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For the past month or so, City Council has been working through the details of this year’s proposed budget. At their most recent meeting, Council members heard from Austinites in a 2 1/2-hour public hearing that focused on the shape…
A parking pittance… Members of City Council listening to a lengthy presentation on the Development Services Department budget Wednesday didn’t suggest any major changes to the way the department is running or spending its money. But a number of Council…
This week, Laura Huffman, the chair of the City Manager Search Advisory Task Force, sits down with Austin Monitor editor Liz Pagano to talk about that search, how it’s going and why it’s so darn important anyway. Audio of the…
City Council overwhelmingly approved a plan Thursday that sets big goals for Austin Energy, the municipally owned electric utility, to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels over the next decade. The update to the Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate…
Millions of dollars in tax revenue from unregistered short-term rental properties sits unused because the city cannot collect it, according to Visitor Impact Task Force Chair James Russell. In 2016, City Council passed an ordinance to phase out Type 2…
After months of the Texas Legislature seemingly taking shot after shot at the city of Austin, City Council is swinging back. On Thursday, Council gave the go-ahead to Interim City Manager Elaine Hart to sue the state over a 2015…
Just as it does every year, the Watershed Protection Department came to present a summary of its Youth Education outreach program to the Environmental Commission. Susan Wall, who is the department’s conservation program coordinator, on Wednesday updated the commissioners on…
While Mayor Steve Adler is touting a new task force on gentrification as a fresh opportunity to come up with ideas to address economic displacement, some of his City Council colleagues stress that it will only be a worthwhile effort…
The invasive zebra mussel has been moving south for years, leaving destruction in its wake. Now, it’s in Lake Travis, and it will soon make its way downstream, changing the look, feel and maybe even the taste of Austin’s lakes…
Good news for city employees: City staff wants to give them a raise, and some members of City Council are interested in pushing for an even bigger pay hike. On Wednesday, the city’s human resources director told Council members that…
For the first time in 15 years, Austin Water Utility will not be increasing its rates. On Aug. 9, Austin Water presented its $614.8 million Fiscal Year 2017-18 budget proposal to the Water and Wastewater Commission for approval. Joseph Gonzales,…
Becca Dobberfuhl has a name for her Bouldin Creek home. “It’s all this rusty, rusty, rusty color,” she said. “And the house is a modern house and it has a box-like look to it so we call it the ‘Rusty…
