City of Austin Council Message Board

Thank you Council Members Velásquez and Alter for this message.

Austin has social service contracts for many vital programs that our communities rely on, and I fully support the approach you have outlined.

Mike

Thank you, Mayor, for all your work on this, and for figuring out a path to provide strong community benefits through a streamlined cap proposal while minimizing the project's impact on City capacity to address high priority capital investment needs. I support this proposal and look forward to the d...

Dear colleagues, We placed Item 41 on the agenda to allow for public discussion of the One ATS initiative, including whether there are policy-level risks Council should consider before departments are reorganized and employees are transferred. Resolution: https://services.austintexas.gov/edims/docum...

Dear colleagues,

Thank you for sharing this important message and for proposing such a thoughtful approach to the renaming process. I support this request.

Mike

Dear Mayor Pro Tem Vela and Councilmembers Fuentes, Velasquez, Alter, and Qadri, Thank you for laying out this direction to protect the fundamental rights of Austin community members. It is critical that the City show up in every way possible, to provide protection from violent and unlawful conduct ...

Thank you, Mayor, for sharing these thoughts and for incorporating my suggestions. I support this item as amended and look forward to the continued discussion. Mike

Dear colleagues, I’d like to express my appreciation to the Audit & Finance Committee members for bringing this policy forward, and for your work to encapsulate the multifaceted considerations regarding a potential bond program into a one-page framework like this. I generally believe these are i...

Dear colleagues, I’m happy to be joined by CMs Vela, Fuentes, Alter & Velasquez in bringing a resolution to develop a “Green Social Housing” policy. In this effort, Austin would follow municipalities including Atlanta, Chicago, and Chattanooga, as well as Montgomery County, Maryland, in using pu...

Thank you, Mayor, and to the subquorum, for putting this together. I agree this is timely and important. Please add me as a co-sponsor.

Mike

Dear colleagues, As a subquorum, we support starting from the staff base motion and amending from there. As a group, we are proposing roughly $5.46M in additional amendments that would still maintain room under a 5 penny tax rate increase and maintain a healthy reserve fund for the next four years. ...

Dear colleagues, Posted with tomorrow’s agenda is a revised version of our resolution regarding implementation of the fiscal year 25-26 budget. This version incorporates changes proposed by staff and colleagues. https://services.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=456546 At its core, this resoluti...

Good evening colleagues, I'm writing to join Council Member Ellis is asking that the base motion be a staff proposal that reflects the best compromise of our various proposals. I also support a sustainable proposal that doesn't just balance out in year one, but that can maintain the quality of progr...

Dear colleagues, I have one additional revenue-neutral budget amendment to share for your consideration. I did not get the chance to lay this out last week because I was still working out the details with Budget Officer Lang and Chief Financial Officer Van Eenoo. This item would transfer funding for...

Colleagues, We are appreciative of the various proposals put forward by other members on the dais. The Budget & Organizational Excellence Department’s proposed process has many merits as well. After consideration of all the ideas before us, we would like to take a slightly different approach whi...

Hi all, we write to agree with the proposal to forego a staff presentation tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for keeping us on track in this process.

CMs Siegel, Laine, Ellis & Qadri

Dear colleagues, Writing briefly to clarify the number of positions threatened by federal cuts at Austin Public Health. As the Statesman reported yesterday, federal grants supported 51% of the health department's 650 positions in FY25, which informed our post. That said, per City staff, the current ...

Dear colleagues,  We write to express our support for a tax rate increase that ensures our City can maintain the quality of our programs and services, and that meets the needs of our community.  We believe that means a tax rate increase of 7 pennies per $100 of property valuation.  We knew this time...

CM Qadri and all: please add me as a co-sponsor. Thank you for your important work on this item!

Mike

Dear colleagues, As we heard at the Audit & Finance Committee on May 19, the City’s contract with Flock does not protect Austin residents from mass surveillance. The City-Flock contract allows Flock to use our ALPR data, feed the data into its AI systems, and share the data with outside agencies...

Dear colleagues, Thank you to the Audit & Finance Committee for developing a careful process for how Council should consider and develop any TRE proposal. Our decision on a potential TRE this year will have enormous ramifications for the quality of City services for years to come. To that end, I...

I appreciate all the work that my colleagues and City staff have put into this proposal. That said, my main concern is that every dollar we commit next Thursday will take a dollar away from the 2026 bond package capacity. Staff says we have about $750 million in “room” for additional debt, and that ...

Thank you, Councilmember Vela. This amendment encompasses my proposal and adds additional important context. I will support it.

Mike

Dear colleagues, I wanted to share a few thoughts on the “Site Plan Lite” drainage reforms on the agenda for Thursday, and how the proposed ordinance intersects with specific concerns in District 7 as well as city-wide needs related to “missing middle” housing and drainage infrastructure investments...

Good morning colleagues, I’ve posted a proposed amendment to Item #40 on Thursday’s agenda: https://services.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=446271 This amendment would cap the percentage of units that can be used for short-term rentals at multifamily residential properties at one STR, or 3% o...

Mayor,

Thank you very much for including my proposals in the updated resolution. I look forward to supporting this item at our meeting tomorrow.

Mike