CITY & COUNTY
News from Austin & Travis County
Austin City Council Meets Oct. 11 and 25 and Nov. 25 at 9 a.m. and Oct. 13 and 27 at 10 a.m. 301 W. Second St., Austin www.austintexas.gov/austin-city- council Travis County Commissioners Court Meets Oct. 4, 11, 18 and 25 at 9 a.m. 700 Lavaca St., Austin www.traviscountytx.gov Dripping Springs City Council Meets Oct. 11 and 25 at 5:30 p.m. and Oct. 18 at 6 p.m. 511 Mercer St., Dripping Springs www.cityofdrippingsprings.com MEETINGS WE COVER LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS TRAVIS COUNTY The Central Health board of managers approved its scal year 2022-23 budget at $300.75 million on Sept. 7. Central Health lowered its property tax rate to $0.09868 per $100 valuation— down from $0.11181 in FY 2021-22. AUSTIN City Council voted against passing the Austin Police Oversight Act on Sept. 15. Instead, council opted to place the police oversight proposal developed by the political group Equity Action on next May’s election ballot.
Parkland fees get smaller increase
Travis County adopts $20 minimum wage
City to review short- term rental policy
SHORT TERM RENTAL ENFORCEMENT The city is considering revamping practices around homes on rental sites, such as Airbnb and Vrbo.
AUSTIN PARKLAND DEDICATION FEES City Council did not increase the parkland dedication fee—which developers pay to increase city’s parkland—as dramatically as city sta asked for, and they voted to add commercial developments to those fee collections.
BY BEN THOMPSON
seeking thousands more dollars per unit from developers would likely hurt both new construction and housing a ordability. Others viewed higher fees as nec- essary for Austin to keep pace with local land costs and secure enough new park space, although council ended up approving a 10% hike for scal year 2022-23 fees proposed by District 8 Council Member Paige Ellis. That gure landed between Mayor Pro Tem Alison Alter’s desired 25% increase and a total freeze requested by District 1 Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison. O cials also voted to continue the practice of exempting a ordable housing from parkland dedication. “I think this strikes an appropriate balance,” Ellis said. Additionally, council’s dive into parkland dedication ended with the addition of commercial develop- ments to the system. Commercial projects will also have the option to either cede land to the city or pay
Several aspects of Austin’s parkland dedication process were updated Sept. 15 following a debate over the city’s need for more public land and the policy’s e ects on area developers. Austin’s parkland dedication process has been in place for decades to collect either fees or land from residential builders to be used on park expansions, such as neighbor- hood trails, pocket parks and other recreational improvements. City Council’s review of annual parkland fee adjustments ended in September with a lower increase than was originally proposed by the city parks department. Alongside that change, council also established parkland dedication requirements for commercial developments. Residential dedication gures presented to city o cials earlier this year would have doubled Austin’s scal year 2021-22 fees. A majority of council ended up agreeing that
BY BEN THOMPSON
Low density (<6 units per acre)
Medium density (6-12 units per acre)
High density (>12 units per acre)
AUSTIN City Council’s recent dis- cussion of how Austin handles its short-term rental market could point to further review of local regulations in the near future. A Sept. 6 brie ng on short-term rent- als, or STRs, covered issues including the widespread presence of unlicensed units in Austin and the challenges with related enforcement. Around 1,975 STRs including Airbnbs and Vrbos operating in the city as of early September were licensed out of an estimated 9,000- 11,000 total, according to city sta . Austin Code Department Director José Roig said resident complaints related to STRs are most often tied to unlicensed spaces, and that nailing down any penalties for those homes is often di cult due to “savvy” property owners and a lack of data from the larger companies. “At this point, all the actions that I’m taking are against the property owner,
BY KATY MCAFEE
9,000 and 11,000 Between STRs advertised*
TRAVIS COUNTY On Aug. 30, commissioners unanimously voted to raise the minimum wage for Travis County employees from $15 to $20 an hour and implement a 5% salary increase across the board. The wage increases will take e ect Oct. 1. The FY 2022-23 compen- sation package, which also includes a cost-of-living adjustment for retirees, is expected to cost the county $48,152,777. Commissioners said they favored raising wages to match the rising cost of living and to be competitive with the city of Austin’s $20 an hour minimum wage.
$12,000
$10,000
Fees proposed by sta but not adopted by council
STRs licensed with the city* 1,975
$8,000
$6,000
*AS OF SEPTEMBER
$4,000
SOURCE: CITY OF AUSTIN COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
$2,000
not the hosting platforms, and we don’t have any cooperation from them,” he said. Council signaled in September that it hopes to review policy options to ensure compliance—and collect all required tax revenue—from rental owners. Austin is also anticipating potential state legislative action next year that could limit cities’ STR enforcement powers.
0
FY 2019-20 FY 2020-21
FY 2021-22 FY 2022-23
SOURCE: CITY OF AUSTIN COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
into the dedication system based on the size and number of employees at new facilities. “These changes require com- mercial developers to pay their fair share and help us to secure critical trail connections,” Alter said in a
statement. “Our parks attract new industries and entrepreneurs, and commercial developers bene t. Residential taxpayers should not be the only ones burdened with provid- ing parkland to match Austin’s rapid growth.”
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