Council meets this morning for the latest iteration of their pre-budget financial forecast, this round focusing on the state of the city’s utilities.
But separate financial news emerged yesterday, at council’s Audit and Finance Committee, news bearing implications for this November’s transportation bond vote …
… As Lee Leffingwell’s chief of staff Mark Nathan wrote us yesterday (emphasis ours):
The presentation being made at the City Council Audit and Finance Subcommittee will show that the City’s bonding capacity within our current tax rate is approximately $170 million, rather than the earlier estimate of $200 million. This change reflects the anticipated decrease in assessed valuations. Given that Council approved the mayor’s March proposal to utilize no more than half of our bonding capacity within our current tax rate for the proposed upcoming November transportation bond election, that bond package would likely be in the $85 million range rather than the $100 million range as earlier estimated, if in fact Council ultimately approves moving forward with the election.
With urban rail already scrubbed from the transportation bond, it’s tough to see how the 15% reduction to the package could mean too much, aside from making the package a little tighter – which might even help it with voters. However the reduced bonding capacity caught the committee off guard, with In Fact Daily saying the members – Sheryl Cole, Laura Morrison, and Bill Spelman – “expressed doubts Tuesday about whether the city should be moving at full steam toward a November 2010 bond election.”
Cold feet or no, conversation continues on prioritizing the projects to go in the transpo bond, both on the 2010 Transportation Bond Citizen Task Force, and via a“Project Prioritization Process” presentation, slated for council presentation this Thursday. The print edition of the Chron will have more on project selection criteria this week.
… How long has it been since we last checked in with the comprehensive plan? Two weeks? A few hours ago? A bat of the eyelash? Fear not, because a new round of community workshops kicked off yesterday regarding that divine document destined to drive our growth for the next two decades or so.
Based off previous public input, “the City has created the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan draft vision statement, ‘Components of a Vision,’ for public review and comment. Refining the draft vision statement will be one of the primary goals of the Imagine Austin Community Forum Series #2.”
The remaining meetings are as follows:
Wednesday, April 28:
St. David’s Episcopal Church, 304 E. Seventh
Two sessions: 8:30-10:30am (Doors open at 7:45am; Breakfast will be served)
11:30am-1:30pm (lunch will be served)Wednesday, April 28:
Anderson High School, 8403 Mesa Drive
6:30-8:30pm (Doors open at 6pm; pizza will be served)Saturday, May 1:
Fulmore Middle School, 201 E. Mary
9:30-11:30am (Doors open at 9am; breakfast will be served)
For more info (but no free food), visit ImagineAustin.net.
What the hell else is happening?
On the city calendar: As mentioned earlier, City Council takes up their second Economic Outlook and 5 Year Forecast, this time from the city’s enterprise departments (money makers like energy, water and solid waste). The action kicks off in the Board and Commission room at City Hall, 310 W. Second, 9:30am.
The Buildings and Standards Committee meets in the B&C room at 6:30pm. They have six public hearings on properties they may vote to have vacated, repaired, demolished, or secured.
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This article appears in April 23 • 2010.