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Austin City Government - Circus of the Insane

skittlebrau

By skittlebrau
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Deej
Deej

Are we sure the City didn't pay an artist $50k for that?

Deej
Deej

There would be nothing worse than getting pulled over and then having to listen to a cop talk about cross fit for 20 minutes. 

Gardner Barnes
Gardner Barnes

I’ll be quite honest here. A homeless man killed my best friend here in town 8 years ago. Fuck them. Get them the fuck out of here. I don’t care how or where.

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Bevo

Bevo 13570

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Posted
7 minutes ago, Orange&White said:

If she lived in the area in question, she would definitely be able to vote in all city elections.

Kind of irrelevant to the post. People sell their land in the city, of course, partly to make lots of money. However, they also sell because they are forced to sell due to taxes. If you had 20 acres with 20 head of cattle on a property in Tarrytown, there is no way you could afford the taxes.

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Orange&White

Orange&White 5522

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1 minute ago, Bevo said:

Kind of irrelevant to the post. People sell their land in the city, of course, partly to make lots of money. However, they also sell because they are forced to sell due to taxes. If you had 20 acres with 20 head of cattle on a property in Tarrytown, there is no way you could afford the taxes.

I was responding to this portion of the post:

Quote

She cannot vote in city elections. So why should she pay city property taxes?

 

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Armybrat

Armybrat 40826

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7 hours ago, Bevo said:

Kind of irrelevant to the post. People sell their land in the city, of course, partly to make lots of money. However, they also sell because they are forced to sell due to taxes. If you had 20 acres with 20 head of cattle on a property in Tarrytown, there is no way you could afford the taxes.

Ag exemption would come into play there.

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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It’s vaguely adjacent but despite its name, West Lake Hills doesn’t border any lake nor is it all that hilly.   Their tJ status was their best play   

 

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Not that Bob

Not that Bob 735

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Dear Mayor and Council Members:

I own the property at xxxxxxx on Lake Austin, next to the xxxxx, in the xxxxx subdivision, which I purchased in 1978. For planning and control purposes in about 2000, the City did a special purpose annexation of lakefront land and since then has subjected us to full City of Austin development and environmental controls. My property is 100% in the County and I receive no city services -- water, sewer, fire, police, EMS, trash, etc.. I am not taxed by the City currently, nor should I be taxed, unless and until the City commits to providing our location with full city services, which I understand is required under Texas law. Currently there is no plan for the City to ever provide us with such services. I saw in the paper over the weekend an article on a proposed taxation of properties along Lake Austin, which I assume would impact my property, but not my neighbors' property on the bluff side of xxxxx (about 20 houses in the subdivision). If not against the law, it would at least be inappropriate and unfair to tax my property until you can provide me the city services which property taxes are intended to pay for. Also, before any action is taken, you should inform all property owners who are affected by this proposed taxation, and hold a public hearing to give the many homeowners along Lake Austin a voice in this decision.

Thank you for your consideration of these arguments against the proposed taxation of properties on Lake Austin that have not been fully annexed into the city and do not receive any city services, yet must bear the cost and burdens of City planning regulations that place serious constraints on the use of our homes and land.

Thank you. Sincerely, xxxx

Street address: xxxxx, Austin, TX 78733

Council District: 10

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blacklab

blacklab 11926

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What all these dumbasses clamoring for these houses to be taxed doesn't realize is that under state law the city has to provide sewer and wastewater for all of these houses and they currently do not. I would guess it would take about 20 years in taxes to pay for that initial installation.

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phdhorn

phdhorn 6224

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7 minutes ago, blacklab said:

What all these dumbasses clamoring for these houses to be taxed doesn't realize is that under state law the city has to provide sewer and wastewater for all of these houses and they currently do not. I would guess it would take about 20 years in taxes to pay for that initial installation.

...and I hope they sue the living shit out of the City for it.  Funny that I haven't seen one plan for the proposed infrastructure installation of these things, but boy, we sure can sweep a law into being quicker than 2 flies fucking that ensures we get mo' money (which of course we will royally misspend).

Plus an article in yesterday's paper says that cops/ambulances take 2X longer on average  than the rest of Austin to get to (not hard to understand, with winding around all those hill roads).

I guess I should be more laughing or at least relieved since I'm not within the grimy, sleazy tentacles of these fuckers (for the most part, they grabbed the electric out here and Pedernales isn't a choice for me), and cannot be (since Bee Cave became its own incorporated area in 2003 and can't be annexed by Austin), but man you see this shit and you just think what a bunch of royal dickheads on that ship of fools.

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blacklab

blacklab 11926

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haha,

yeah, I'm out here towards bee cave as well, less than a mile from lake austin and in "unincorporated Travis County". I too have city of Austin electric. I am not worried about getting annexed as it would cost them millions to run sewers out to my neighborhood, as they would need pump stations all over the place because of the hills.

 

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justhookit

justhookit 4191

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Just wait till y’all see the downtown neighborhood association’s recent survey results. They aren’t public yet, but there is some hilarious stuff in there especially wrt scooters and the homeless issue, which basically tied for biggest problem. Downtown residents are not using the stupid things.

 

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89630

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2 minutes ago, sidis said:

homeless people?

Oh, they are using them, but they are pissed off about the surge pricing, and they are pissed that a bunch of them end up broken down because two people try to ride them, or people think they are Tony Hawk and can jump them off big curbs and over pot holes.  

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sidis

sidis 9825

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3 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Oh, they are using them, but they are pissed off about the surge pricing, and they are pissed that a bunch of them end up broken down because two people try to ride them, or people think they are Tony Hawk and can jump them off big curbs and over pot holes.  

i was going more for the theater of the absurd satire on that one...yuppies using homeless people to satiate their desires (bumfights, harvesting organs, most dangerous game, other pleasant thoughts...)

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54209

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, blacklab said:

What all these dumbasses clamoring for these houses to be taxed doesn't realize is that under state law the city has to provide sewer and wastewater for all of these houses and they currently do not. 

???  

My old house in Woodcreek/Wimberley does not have city sewage and wastewater, yet we paid property tax to the city.  Do I need a lawyer to get me 20 years' of refunds?

Edited by Beau Vine
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Pasken

Pasken 1309

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, blacklab said:

What all these dumbasses clamoring for these houses to be taxed doesn't realize is that under state law the city has to provide sewer and wastewater for all of these houses and they currently do not. I would guess it would take about 20 years in taxes to pay for that initial installation.

Even if that's true, that is still net positive after 20 years and I think everyone is operating under the assumption Austin isn't going to cease to exist in 20 years. 

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54209

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18 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

???  

My old house in Woodcreek/Wimberley does not have city sewage and wastewater, yet we paid property tax to the city.  Do I need a lawyer to get me 20 years' of refunds?

Never mind, just got the distinction.  They provided it, but we opted out because they provided it through AquaTexas, one of the worst companies on the planet.  

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blacklab

blacklab 11926

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1 hour ago, Pasken said:

Even if that's true, that is still net positive after 20 years and I think everyone is operating under the assumption Austin isn't going to cease to exist in 20 years. 

Yes at the 20 year point then it will be free to provide those services and free to run the fire, police and ambulance sub stations they will need to build. I mean let’s annex everything from San Antonio to Dallas to Houston and El Paso, eventually we’ll turn a profit. 

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Pasken

Pasken 1309

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Vote No on the two awful propositions this November. Both were funded by rich dudes to make more money.

 

There is a prop to stop the convention center renovation and gut their existing budget. They lied to people and said more money would go to the arts which it won't due to state law. More money will go to the arts by raising the hotel tax because the city allocates the max allowed %30 of total hotel taxes to the arts.

 

Of the total of $161,041 of donations, pledges and loans, $157,343 of that came from only 18 different people. That’s almost %98 percent of their donations. This is a story about rich people putting their own interests over the city and using the struggles of artists as a cover. 20k is from condo owners at the 4 seasons alone. Here are the donations of 1K and above:

67196133-2289288044459342-53081976264143

 

 

There is also the prop against sports and entertainment facilities which could make trouble for Austin FC and most definitely will be trouble for future deals with organizations like the YMCA, Zach Scott theater and various festivals. 

 

Vote NO on Props A and B.

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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The way the political elites turn on each other in this city and then go back to being orgy bed-fellows on the next issue is getting comical.  Wait until they make nice on the next homeless shelter then turn back to blades to the neck after the next zoning revision.  

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freyguy

freyguy 4265

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What's the wording on the props?  No offense, but I feel we could do without any more library, arts or trail improvements over the next couple of years.  Our physical infrastructures (water, roads and utilities) are being neglected and need TLC.

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Bozo_Casanova

Bozo_Casanova 26437

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Yeah, what does sos want with this? Just anti growth?

Pretty much, yes. That faction- The Bunch circle, CNC, ANC etc (which really works out to the same 100-200 or so very involved older white people people, the meetingocracy)- various leaders have told me that they don’t think Austin has a shortage of anything and that we should be working to manage growth “on the demand side.”
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skittlebrau

skittlebrau 474

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On 8/17/2019 at 2:28 PM, freyguy said:

What's the wording on the props?  No offense, but I feel we could do without any more library, arts or trail improvements over the next couple of years.  Our physical infrastructures (water, roads and utilities) are being neglected and need TLC.

HOT revenue can’t be used for any of that. There’s a specific list of things you can do with it.

After losing twice last year, I’m really hoping that losing twice again this year will convince people to stop giving money to Bunch/Lewis/Linder/ANC/etc. 

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Texas Jeff

Texas Jeff 1945

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On 8/17/2019 at 2:28 PM, freyguy said:

What's the wording on the props?  No offense, but I feel we could do without any more library, arts or trail improvements over the next couple of years.  Our physical infrastructures (water, roads and utilities) are being neglected and need TLC.

This will be Proposition B on the November ballot.  Here are some articles and news reports talking about the petition and the convention center:

  https://www.kut.org/post/pac-files-petition-put-austin-convention-center-expansion-public-vote

  https://communityimpact.com/austin/central-austin/city-county/2019/07/26/petition-proposing-austin-convention-center-expansion-be-put-to-public-vote-heads-to-city-council/

  https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2019-07-19/to-expand-the-convention-center-or-not/

The petition states what city code would change if passed:

  https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6191474/Convention-Center-Petition.pdf

Ultimately, the text in the petition is what you are voting for or against.

The city council wishes to raise the Hotel Occupancy Tax and use the money to improve the convention center.  They want to tear down the current convention center and replace it with a new $1.2 billion convention center.  The city believes that money spent on the convention center will attract additional convention business, thus generating more economic activity for the city.  This is part of a package called the "Downtown Puzzle" that includes changes to the Palm School and Rainey Street districts.

The petitioners want to limit the percentage of the tax that can be spent on the convention center and require voter approval for any change to the convention center that costs more than $20 million.  They want to reserve part of the tax for other cultural activities.  They want voter approval for major convention center changes.

The city council could have passed it once the petition was valid, but they did not.  Petitions don't get to the voters unless the city council fails to adopt them, so the city council is likely to always oppose any petition that comes to a vote.

Here is an article showing what the new convention center might be.  The city council selected "Scenario 5", which is a complete rebuild:

  https://communityimpact.com/austin/central-austin/city-county/2019/03/29/new-austin-convention-center-expansion-report-envisions-the-venues-place-in-a-modernizing-downtown/

Here is the design document from UT describing "Scenario 5" (start at page 162):

  https://issuu.com/utsoa/docs/frameworks_for_placemaking_utsoacsd?e=2095123/68762342

The city council is responsible for drafting the ballot language for the petition.  Here is the ballot language they created for this issue:

"Shall an ordinance be adopted that limits, beyond existing limits in state statute and city ordinance, the use of Austin’s Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue, including the amount of Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue that may be used to construct, operate, maintain, or promote the Austin Convention Center requires any private third-party entity managing such funds to comply with open meetings and public information laws applicable to the city; and requires voter approval for Convention Center improvements or expansions of more than $20,000,000 at an election for which the city must pay."

If you vote for Proposition B, you are voting to limit the percentage of the HOT tax that can go to the convention center and you are requiring the city to get voter approval before they spend more than $20 million on the convention center.  You want a check on city council's power to allocate the HOT tax and you want to vote on major convention center expansions.  You are voting to change city code as specified in the petition.

If you vote against Proposition B, you are voting to allow the city council to determine the best hotel tax percentage to be spent on the convention center and you are giving them the power to replace the current convention center without a vote, at a cost of $1.2 billion.  You believe they are doing the best thing for the city based on the data available.  You are voting for no change to city code.

You are not voting for or against a new convention center.  You will not pay the hotel tax unless you stay at an Austin hotel.

There is another wrinkle not related to this petition.  Travis County is preparing to call for an election to also raise the HOT tax to improve the Travis County Expo Center.  The city council and Travis County are racing to increase the hotel tax, so that each could claim the revenue for their desired projects.  City council's action to raise the hotel tax will deny Travis County the ability to also raise the tax, for hotels that are located in Austin.

I think I got all that right, but I encourage everyone to read about it on their own before voting for or against...

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Pasken

Pasken 1309

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Travis County is going forward with its election to claim 2 percent of hotel tax to revamp the expo center at Decker and Loyola. I was initially for this proposal until UT announced they found a private developer to build a new big arena that would attract A list concerts. When they were considering going with a small arena, a new arena at the Expo grounds made sense.

They would have to wait to collect until the city pays off the 2002 Convention center bond money which could be as early as 2021.

Travis County commissioners drew battle lines with Austin Monday over potentially hundreds of millions dollars in revenue after county commissioners ordered an election that could wrestle lucrative hotel taxes from the city.

The Travis County Commissioners Court voted to call for a November hotel tax election in a move that now creates competing interests between dueling proposals to expand the Austin Convention Center and the Travis County Exposition Center.

Commissioners voted unanimously to ask Travis County voters whether the county should charge a 2-cent tax for every dollar spent on hotel rooms in Travis County.

That money would then be dedicated to expanding the Travis County Exposition Center in northeast Austin. Austin already charges an identical 2-cent on hotel rooms in the city, which generates roughly $20 million a year for the Austin Convention Center.

Only one entity can charge the tax in a jurisdiction, and Austin got there first with a 1998 election that authorized the hotel tax. The county can still charge hotel taxes on bookings outside the city of Austin, but would be cut off from the area’s largest and most expensive hotels.

But voter approval of a county hotel tax could allow the county to call dibs on future hotel taxes as soon as Austin pays off bonds issued for a 2001 expansion of the Convention Center that are funded by the 2-cent tax.

City officials have shown projections that the city could pay off bonds related to a 2001 expansion of the Convention Center by 2021. Other projections showed the city paying off those bonds by 2029.

County Judge Sarah Eckhardt said the commissioners had to make a decision now “if we are ever going to use the hotel tax that is available to us.”

“Assuming that the city does pay down the (Convention Center) debt in 2021, we are going to have an election in 2019 so we can have it after they are done using it and use it to redevelop and east side special events center,” she said.


The move by commissioners also adds a new level of intrigue to another ballot item related to the recently approved $1.2 billion expansion to the Austin Convention Center. The petition initiated ordinance Proposition B also will be on the ballot. If approved, Prop B could greatly limit the city’s ability to further expand or renovate the Convention Center without voter approval.

Voters could take Prop B and the county hotel tax ballot item in tandem. Supporters of expanding the Expo Center through a county tax might look at Prop B as a way to put a stranglehold on expanding the Convention Center while simultaneously paving the way for the county to expand the Expo Center.

“I think they just sort of reinforce each other,” local political consultant David Butts said last week. “Maybe not intentionally, but nevertheless, there is that threat.”

In recent weeks, the hotel tax has emerged as one of several bargaining chips over the future of the county-owned Palm School in downtown Austin. In approving a large expansion of the Convention Center, the City Council also expressed a desire to obtain the Palm School.

In response, Eckhardt proposed a property swap. The city would give the former HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital near Red River and East 12th streets, as well as the city-owned tract where the Expo Center is located, in exchange for the Palm School.

Eckhardt also proposed the city throw in access to the hotel tax as part of the deal. However, the City Council shut the door on that possibility Aug. 9, when it voted to max out the city’s available hotel tax.

The addition of a hotel tax election could create a level of confusion for Austin voters. Earlier this month, the Austin City Council ordered an election on a petition initiative related to the Major League Soccer stadium that will be styled as Proposition A on the ballot. The Travis County hotel tax item will also be called Proposition A.


This is what the county would be looking to build:
Expo-Center.jpg

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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Yes, but you anti-government lunatics are failing to see what once the convention center is expanded downtown, once Palmer Events Center receives its next CapEx upgrade, once the soccer stadium is built at the Domain and is used for myriad concerts and events when MLS is not in town, and once 360/COTA finished building out its large event calendar, and once the new southshore project events space comes online in a few years......Travis County Expo Center way out in bumblefuck who gives a shit...it's gonna be the place to be.  It's gonna book motorcycle rallies and rodeos.  And rodeos.  And other things of that nature.  They need tens of millions more to keep booking the same fucking shit again and again and again.  Look at the venues popping up around town and tell me you fucktard Travis County Commissioners are making a grift out of this.  Honestly...convince me.  Tell me a compelling argument for this sack of shit and I will literally bring it up as open discussion item #1 at my next bond commission hearing.  

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89630

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Posted
On 8/18/2019 at 9:08 PM, Updawg said:

Can we scrap the improved expo center and have the rodeo and rot rally at the new convention center

Other than those two things why do we need the expo center, besides cota could take it on or the new soccer stadium?

And bring back the Ice Bats while we are at it.

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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Posted

Well, we're dealing with some tough customers here.  Commissioners from Travis County are busy stacking up the calendar with all kinds of events to justify the money-grab.  I'm not exaggerating when I say about 1/4 of the events in the next 6 months are charitable 5k's.  Nothing wrong with those, they raise lots of money and awareness. 

But one of you engineer or architect types remind me why you need an expanded County Expo Center for people to run around OUTSIDE of?  

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