*****Council Special Meeting*****
Here we go again. There will be another Special Meeting (supposed to be Budget Meeting) on Monday, August 26th starting at 2:00 p.m. Here is the agenda.
Item 3 is to make a decision on the LTISD SUP (granted once but had notification error) that was tabled at last weeks' regular meeting. Council seems to want to micromanage this particular item and no one was willing to make a motion to get it voted on last week. There are staff employees that will verify drainage issues are corrected according to existing ordinances. Let them do their job.
4) Council is required to set a proposed Ad Valorem tax rate. This is a "not exceed" rate and can be lowered. I expect them to set this rate at the "rollback" rate.
*****This Citizen's Opinion*****
The tax rate has been lowered to the effective rate for the last 10 years - that keeps your tax payment nearly level. This year is being called an unusual year - a lot has been said about the expense of opening the new Police Facility.
That's curious, the unused part of the contingency fund is being refunded plus bond interest for a total of about $600,000. By my crude math, that is more than the cost of opening the station plus at least a couple of years of the maintenance expense (I may be off by a few dollars). This facility will last for MANY years and won't have to be expanded. The bond was procured at an amazingly low rate and in case you didn't notice, your tax rate didn't go up. Go figure.
Nothing is being said about the $150,000+ "Internal Traffic Study" that was just started. A significant part of this study is on roads that are partially or totally in Travis County. CAMPO is also doing a study along with Travis County on connector roads. Why are Lakeway citizens being asked to pay for this study - and why would we want to pay for roads not in the city?
The City has also hired a "Communications Director" to replace Mr. Monk. This was a significant increase in salary plus they hired a Finance Director to replace Julie Oakley (and Darren Hensen). My guess (just a guess) these two positions cost at least an added $100,000 - remember, salaries are expensive and generally never end.
The City is also receiving an increase of $245,000 in Ad Valorem tax plus about $1,350,286 increase in sales tax (if I'm reading it right). Looks like a spending problem not an income problem.
*****End of Comment*****
5) Second reading of the Lakeway Code, Animals.
6) Moving the ordinance about City Building Commission to a different section of the code.
7) Second reading of the Building Regulations Ordinance - this Ordinance is being mostly deleted because of a change in State law.
*****This is a disaster. One example - as long as the building material is approved in the national building code it can be used without restriction - in other words, if you have a vacant lot next to you as long as size requirements in the zoning rule is met, they can put up a home with no rock or brick and use just about any siding. Corrugated tin roof? Now this only pertains to areas without an active HOA or POA - the original section of Lakeway is the only section in this situation. Maybe we need to form a HOA with just architectural oversight?******
8) And then the infamous Executive Sessions. No action is taken...
*****End of Council Special Meeting*****
Deer? No Problem! I counted 27 between Zephyr St and New Lido on Vanguard two nights ago, I don't feed. That didn't include the 8-10 behind my house. They are getting brave too - here is a short video of a buck that stood his ground 10 feet from my porch when I took the dog out - not normal.
The deer committee met for over a year, came up with a good recommendation and Council Members that never went to a meeting to learn decided they new best. No one likes to harm the deer. The issue is once there are too many, there are few ways to reduce the population - we have gone from about 23 trapping location to about 4 now. They aren't in the best locations either. The deer don't stop reproducing, they start starving and will eat whatever is available.
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The Lakeway Church is starting construction on their new sanctuary. I'll be taking progression photo's - here's one from Friday - thought the sky was the star in this one - God is amazing! Click on any of the pictures to see full size renditions.
Here are a couple of pictures from a new area in Rough Hollow that will be developed soon - just look at the views.
That's all for today - I heard that some folks say I never answered their emails - if that is the case there must be an email issue. I try to answer every email if there is a question involved.
Thanks for the continued support. Please forward the email to your friends if you think they may be interested in what's going on in the city! If you want to be added (or removed) from my email list, send a note to lakeway@bain.us and I'll get it done.
Joe Bain
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