Austin Budget Hearings: August 6, 20 & 27: voice your opinion (city hall, to buy)

[mimimomx3]

For those interested in getting involved in the Austin city budget:

This coming Thursday night, August 6, starting at 6 pm is the first of three City Budget hearings held at City Hall (Lavaca & 1st). The remainder are on Thursdays, Aug. 20 & 27, same time and place.

ChangeAustin.org will join a growing chorus of people THIS Thursday who want to save city taxpayers the burden of a massive $849 million unnecessary public works project -- Water Treatment Plant #4.

[CptnRn]

I'm glad to see that Council voted to move forward with the new water plant.

statesman.com | Water plant moves forward ... and battle lines are drawn | City Beat

I swear the arguments against building it sound far too much like the same anti-growth rhetoric that we have heard in the past about why we shouldn't spend more money building roads. This approach as gotten us a road system that is way behind the communities needs and some of the worst traffic in the nation. Failing to provide adequate water utilities in hopes it will discourage growth could lead to disastrous consequences for this community.

By all means we need to continue improving our conservation efforts, repair our leaking water mains, improve the water capacity of our reservoirs and find other ways to use less water. But meanwhile Austin is going to keep on growing and the growth of our utility infrastructure absolutely must stay ahead of it.

[mimimomx3]

I wish those millions had gone to water conservation, but it seems like the mood in the country these days is spend, spend, spend. So.....I'm not surprised.

[HappyTexan]

I'm not in Austin proper but IMHO they should table it for a year and see how this recession plays out.
Remember Texas came to the party late but we are here now and it could get worse before it gets better.

[CptnRn]

Austin already spends more on conservation efforts than any other Texas city. But there is no way the savings from conservation is going to keep up with Austin's growth.

Austin's Conservation Spending (http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/08/06/WEB0806austinwaterutility.html - broken link)

[mimimomx3]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Austin already spends more on conservation efforts than any other Texas city. But there is no way the savings from conservation is going to keep up with Austin's growth.

Austin's Conservation Spending (http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/08/06/WEB0806austinwaterutility.html - broken link)

At a time of city service cutbacks (including worker furloughs) and increases in property taxes, this should be a time of wait and see rather than a time to start new projects. If it's a question of 'keeping of with growth', perhaps a 'new water treatment plant surcharge' on developers might be a good idea.

[CptnRn]

Any charges the developers have to pay just get passed on to the consumers, usually with a mark up.

Construction prices are really good right now because companies need work. Putting off building it will just make it more expensive later.

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/water/dow...p4briefing.pdf

Current bid environment could save between $23M and $45M, assuming 5%-10% reduction in bids

This will be a boost to the local economy creating jobs here when they are badly needed and at little cost to the average residential customer.

Estimated impact to average residential customer is between $3.20 and 4.00 per
month or $38.40 to $48.00 per year

[mimimomx3]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Any charges the developers have to pay just get passed on to the consumers, usually with a mark up.

I've posted it before, I don't think that's a bad thing. It's a business decision.

Construction prices are really good right now because companies need work. Putting off building it will just make it more expensive later.

Prices might be good, but we don't have the money. That's like telling most Americans that it's a great time to buy a BMW.

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/water/dow...p4briefing.pdf


This will be a boost to the local economy creating jobs here when they are badly needed and at little cost to the average residential customer.
Again, if we had the money, it would be great to provide jobs. Sadly, we don't.

It's certainly a drag to be a fiscally conservative Austinite.