� No City Council meeting today, but council on Monday passed the city’s 2011-2012 budget in one long session, largely using the time to debate which priorities should be funded out of a $1.6 million surplus from Austin Energy, with police and parks emerging as winners. See “City Hall Hustle,” and “Budget in Plain Sight.”
� City Council also used Monday to advance three time-sensitive contracts for massive wind purchases: 25-year agreements with Houston’s Duke Energy Generation Services and Palo Alto, Calif.’s MAP Royalty Inc. for wind-power purchases totaling up to $675 million (for 200 megawatts) and $375 million (for 91 megawatts), respectively. Council also authorized preliminary approval of a third contract, a 25-year, 200-megawatt deal with Iberdrola Renewables, an offshoot of a Spanish energy company, for $725 million. Combined, the contracts put the city in spitting distance – if not past – of its renewable energy goals.
� On the water front, council’s Audit and Finance Committee has canceled its special-called meeting today (Thursday, Sept. 15), when it was scheduled to hear the city auditor’s analysis of initial cost estimates for delaying the completion of Water Treatment Plant No. 4. The committee will meet instead Sept. 21, allowing more time for the auditor to complete his findings.
� City of Austin voters could be deciding the 2012 city council races in a November election – a first for the city – should council members opt to shift from a May to November date, a decision expected at their Sept. 22 meeting.
� Also still under consideration: upcoming Austin Energy electric rate increases. There’s a public hearing Monday night; see Civics 101.
� The Central Texas wildfires have continued for a second week, with two confirmed fatalities and more than 1,500 houses and 34,000 acres consumed by fire. The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department warns that Bastrop State Park is damaged and will be closed through October.
� Has your yard gone to seed? The city’s Lawn Remodel Option is accepting applications through Oct. 14 from homeowners looking to upgrade with drought-tolerant turf like buffalo or Bermuda grasses. Details at www.waterwiseaustin.org.
� New census data shows that Texans are getting poorer and have less access to health care. According to the Center for Public Policy Priorities, newly released 2010 figures show that 4.6 million Texans – 18% of the population – are living in poverty, with 24.6% of Texans lacking health care coverage, compared to 16.3% nationally.
� Gov. Rick Perry took some hits in the Sept. 12 CNN/Tea Party Express debate when an old scandal erupted. Two of his presidential nomination rivals – Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and former Sen. Rick Santorum – savaged Perry’s 2007 attempt to hand a lucrative state contract for human papillomavirus vaccinations to pharmaceutical giant and campaign donor Merck.
This article appears in September 16 • 2011.