Good Friday morning --
Too few Austinites have the time to follow the decisions City Hall makes and how it affects average families. That's where we come in.
Save Austin Now will always hold City Hall accountable.
Here are a few key updates:
1) COST OF PROJECT CONNECT DOUBLES IN 15 MONTHS: City leaders campaigned to pass Project Connect, a mass transit rail and subway system for Austin, which voters agreed to fund on the November 2020 ballot. At the time, City Hall pledged the total cost would be $5 billion, and included a 20% property tax increase to help fund it (tax increase would be retroactive to the 2020 tax year and continue in perpetuity, even after the project is complete).
KXAN broke the story, which included this:
Originally, the two lines and a tunnel were expected to cost $5.8 billion ($2.5 billion for the Orange Line, expected to stretch from north to south Austin; $1.3 billion for the Blue Line, expected to connect downtown to the airport; and $2 billion for a tunnel).
The new estimate adds $4.5 billion to the initial amount. That includes an additional $600 million for the Blue Line, $1.8 billion for the Orange Line and another $2.1 billion for the tunnel.
Where will the money come from?
From the KXAN story:
Project Connect leaders reiterate in the memo at this time, they aren’t planning for any additional tax increases to help pay for extra costs, and “the parties will need to meet its commitment to voters to deliver this program with the allocated revenue sources.”
“As the cost estimates for the program change, there is not a requirement to change the tax rate that funds the program,” CapMetro emphasized in a statement to KXAN Friday. “Instead, changes in program costs could result in adjustments to project phasing to balance funding of construction and operations of the system. The Project Connect team remains fully committed to fulfilling the promise to build the program voters approved in November 2020.”
In the memo to city leaders, Couch said they’re also “cautiously optimistic” the infrastructure bill signed by the President will bring more federal funds here than they initially thought — offsetting some of those costs. He added they won’t know their final federal share of money for the light rail projects until 2024.
By now, we know we cannot trust City Hall when they make promises.
It is time for Mayor Adler and the City Council to PUBLICLY state that they will not increase taxes beyond what was in the proposition that passed Project Connect.
Local lawyer and former Democratic Travis County Judge Bill Aleshire interestingly suggested that another election may be needed since the cost changed so drastically so quickly:
Yes, price increases like that should trigger an election do-over. Council can order such an election, but won’t. Make CapMetro fully explain their claim that the price increase won’t require a tax increase. It’s an increase if the PJ Tax goes on longer. R Fed$ assured?
Save Austin Now will continue to follow all developments on Project Connect. Taxpayers must be protected and the proposed mass transit system will not reduce traffic in Austin, saddling our city with a debt bomb. All options are on the table.
2) AUSTIN TRAFFIC DEATHS SKYROCKET AFTER POLICE STAFFING CRISIS SHUTS DOWN TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT: KUT recently reported that 2021 was the deadliest year on Austin roads in city history:
This year has been the deadliest ever on Austin's roads with at least 106 people killed in traffic crashes. The new death toll exceeds the previous record of 105 fatalities in 2015, according to a Texas Department of Transportation database of crash reports filed by police officers.
Austin police reported the 106th death today, although it happened on Nov. 10. The driver of an SUV struck and killed a 42-year-old woman who was walking on East U.S. 290 near Berkman Drive. The driver stayed at the scene and cooperated with police. Detectives are still trying to figure out exactly what happened.
The public is mostly shielded from the graphic details of these violent deaths. But each fatality inflicts a unique trauma on the victim’s family and friends: the shock of suddenly losing a loved one in a public space where vehicles continue to flow as soon as the scene is cleared.
As far as 2022, we know that at least 15 people have died on Austin roads through February.
Recall the APD's Traffic Enforcement division was shut down as a consequence of Mayor Steve Adler and Council Member Greg Casar's 'defund the police' effort, which cut $150M from the police budget and has caused APD to be at least 300 officers down from before defund.
Austin needs an adequately staffed police department and a fully operational traffic enforcement division. People are dying in our city on our roads and these tragedies are preventable.
3) BURGLARIES ARE UP ACROSS OUR CITY: A recent KXAN story mapped where burglaries are up in our city and it's a scary picture.
From the story:
The two areas that have seen the biggest jumps are downtown and east Austin. In downtown, cases are up by 50%. East Austin is seeing the highest spike — 74%.
Citywide, burglaries are up 13%, when comparing the latest monthly data from February of this year to last.
There are two explanations for this rise in burglaries: Visible police presence has decreased significantly (due to the staffing shortage) and the 911 call center has been significantly reduced, with most property crimes being sent to 311 which is overwhelmed and has major delays to answering calls and sending officers for investigation.
Criminals are able to steal in our city with almost no immediate response and they can continue to steal with almost no consequences.
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4) TEXAS SENATE TO PROBE OUT OF CONTROL DAs, AUSTIN's HOMELESS POLICY: While Austin leaders continue to fail residents, state leaders continue to show they will prioritize public safety and fight for taxpayers.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick recently released interim charges for the Texas Senate, which are issues that committees can study before the legislative session begins in January 2023.
Here's part of what is on the list:
Local Government committee:
> Property Tax Reform: Review the effect of Senate Bill 2 (86th Legislature), the Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019, and related legislation passed by the 87th Legislature. Make recommendations for further property tax reform and relief.
> Appraisal Reform: Review the implementation of Senate Bill 63, House Bill 988, and other related legislation passed by 87th Legislature. Make recommendations to ensure appraisal guidelines are effective and taxpayers have enforcement mechanisms.
> Special Purpose Districts: Perform a comprehensive study on the powers and purposes of various special purpose districts and their associated legislative templates. Make recommendations to improve public transparency in operations of special purpose districts and associated legislative templates.
> Affordable Housing: Study issues related to affordable housing, homelessness, and methods of providing and financing affordable housing. Make recommendations to improve transparency and accountability, as well as to better utilize existing federal, state, and local programs.
> Bond Elections: Review and report on voter participation and bond election result differences between November and May elections. Make recommendations for improved voter turnout, increased election efficiencies, and better accountability of local debt.
> Efficiency Audits: Study the concept of efficiency audits for cities, counties and special purpose districts and under what circumstances they should be performed. Evaluate whether efficiency audits provide Texans tools to combat wasteful government spending and report whether they are needed before local government tax ratification elections.
> Extraterritorial Jurisdictions: Study issues related to municipal extraterritorial jurisdictions and annexation powers, including examining possible disannexation authority. Determine whether extraterritorial jurisdictions continue to provide value to their residents and make recommendations on equitable methods for disannexation.
State Affairs committee:
Public Safety: Study the impact of how the internal policies of some district and county attorneys' offices to not prosecute certain crimes impact the further occurrence of those crimes and public safety. Examine the methods by which the Texas Legislature may prohibit policies of disregarding duly passed laws and not prosecuting certain crimes. Examine the authority and limits of the Office of the Attorney General to take action in place of a district or county attorney's office that has a policy to disregard the prosecution of certain crimes. Make recommendations to prevent policies of not prosecuting certain crimes to ensure that public safety is maintained. Examine case loads of judges in Texas' largest three counties with a focus on courts who do not hear or seldom hear cases to ensure a fair and equitable division of workload amongst Texas judges. Review pretrial service and bonding practices in Harris and Travis counties. Examine the practice of judges releasing violent and/or habitual offenders pre-trial and the correlating negative impacts on community safety. Monitor the impact of Senate Bill 23 (87the Legislature), the Stop Local Police Defunding bill, to ensure that counties are not reducing the budgets of law enforcement divisions and that effective and efficient enforcement mechanisms are in place. Make recommendations to further close any loopholes in the law.
We appreciate the Texas Senate focusing on these important issues that affect every Austin family.
5) ILLEGAL HOMELESS CAMPING CONTINUES: As we shared recently, news reports prove that illegal, unregulated camping has returned to Austin as city officials continue to ignore the will of the voters, current city ordinance, and existing state law. On August 25, 2021, after waiting patiently for three months to give the city time to show they were serious about enforcement, we filed a serious and substantive lawsuit against the City of Austin.
That lawsuit was filed by Save Austin Now PAC's two co-founders, Cleo Petricek and Matt Mackowiak, and we were joined by four small business owners in Austin who could prove direct injury due to the lack of the camping ban being enforced.
If you have specific examples of illegal public camping inside the City of Austin, you can email us photos, video and explanations here. Please provide as full an explanation as possible, including when/where and what happened. Please also include your contact information. If you are interested in becoming a plaintiff to our lawsuit, please email Matt.
Our lawsuit will take some time and while we have excellent, committed lawyers, this battle will require resources. You can donate to our legal effort here. If you wish to send a check to ("Save Austin Now PAC" and mail to 807 Brazos Street Suite 202, Austin, TX 78701).
** DONATE TO OUR LEGAL FUND HERE **
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As I have said before, we have only begun to fight!
Thank you!
-Matt Mackowiak
Co-founder, Save Austin Now PAC
> Questions? Email Matt.
> Learn more: http://www.SaveAustinNowPAC.com
Will you please support our efforts now?
You may donate to our legal effort here: https://secure.anedot.com/save-austin-now-pac/save-austin-now-pac-legal-fund-c4cfa533f8ab98c9da232.