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To be fair, City of Austin has raised it's property tax rate about 12% since 2008 and is proposing another increase for this year.
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Apparently this is not the result of the moronic anti-government/tax knee-jerk reaction to anything resembling a tax increase, no matter how obviously and desperately needed, and if I had spent a few seconds on google searching, my dumb ass would have known that. Luckily I have coyote geek to cover for my occasional lapses, for which I am rather grateful. Thanks, CG.
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Austin to spend less on trimming trees, despite danger
http://www.statesman.com/news/wildfi...e-1881258.htmlAustin Energy will spend less money on tree trimming in the coming year, even though the drought has weakened trees and state fire officials said last week that trees falling on power lines probably sparked the Bastrop wildfires.
The utility recently cut $500,000 from the roughly $9 million it sets aside each year for tree pruning and removal. It was one of several cuts the City Council approved for the 2011-12 budget, which will take effect Saturday .
Austin Energy spokesman Ed Clark said that three fewer crews out of 50 will be out trimming trees but that the change won't increase the risk of limbs hitting lines.
However, the utility already trims less often and less aggressively than it would prefer and than officials say industry guidelines suggest. That is partly because of changes made in 2006 after residents complained of Austin Energy crews threatening to fell or trim larger trees in neighborhoods near the University of Texas.
Fire officials said last week that a dead tree that snapped and fell on power lines and another tree top that broke and got tangled in power lines created sparks that probably caused the Bastrop wildfires, which burned more than 34,000 acres and 1,600 homes.
The lines belong to Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative , which on Sunday restored power to the last of more than 4,000 metered properties in the fire area. Bluebonnet officials have said the two snapped trees were outside of rights of way that it oversees.
Fire investigators say the Steiner Ranch fire west of Austin might have been caused by damaged power lines.
Before 1997 , Austin Energy generally trimmed trees only in response to power outages, cutting limbs that had fallen on lines.
A new policy enacted that year sought to systematically trim trees along the city's 2,300 miles of power lines, with the goal of completing the cycle every four to five years. Keeping pace with that schedule requires that limbs be cut back six to 15 feet, depending on the species, Clark said. Live oaks and cedars grow slowly; pecans, hackberries and red oaks tend to grow faster.
Neighbors' complaints
In 2006 , after utility crews began tagging trees in the Hyde Park, Eastwoods and Han areas for removal or pruning, residents in those politically active neighborhoods complained to the City Council, which halted the work and convened a task force to review Austin Energy's tree maintenance policies.
The task force's work coincided with a windstorm that knocked out power to 52,000 Austin customers, partly because of power lines downed by tree limbs.
"It seems like whenever we have a situation like a wildfire, utilities' scapegoat is trees," said John Paul Moore , a Hyde Park resident who served on the 2006 task force. He said he supports Austin Energy keeping trees "well out of the way" of transmission lines, which carry more voltage than distribution lines, "but back in 2006, (Austin Energy) had gotten too aggressive about trimming and removing trees near distribution lines. And if you cut back a tree too much, you can lose the tree."
Among a long list of recommendations, the task force urged Austin Energy to trim less aggressively. Then-City Manager Toby Futrell agreed to restrict pruning to cutting limbs by four to eight feet, Clark said. Utilities typically trim as much as double that, which allows them to trim less often, he said.
Carolyn Palaima , a Han neighborhood resident who led the 2006 task force, said the outcome struck a balance between safety and preserving larger, older trees, which she noted offer shade, absorb pollutants in the air and increase property values, among other benefits.
"One thing that has hit home with this drought is that mature trees are not an infinite resource," Palaima said. "It can take 100 years or more to get them back. So care needs to be taken."
"In any sort of extreme conditions, you need to think long term as well as short term and not be knee-jerk," Palaima said.
Fewer crews
Austin Energy crews currently trim trees citywide over six years rather than the original four- to five-year goal, Clark said. That is partly the result of the tree pruning budget staying the same, plus the shorter trim lengths, which can necessitate crews going back to retrim areas that have grown quickly, Clark said. Utilities generally strive to trim more length, less often, he said.
Austin Energy's budget for tree work has also remained almost constant since 2006 — about $9 million — even though it has added 30,000 customers since then.
To be fair, the "save the trees and my property value" crowd seems to have contributed to the policy as well, but the primary drive seems to be having to avoid raising property taxes, even though the need is clear.
Last edited by RandomGuy; 09-30-2011 at 09:01 AM.
To be fair, City of Austin has raised it's property tax rate about 12% since 2008 and is proposing another increase for this year.
The fire dangers in Austin are less related to trimming trees off of power lines and more due to the insane protection of lizards and birds.
Except fires started from trees hitting power lines.
yoni thinks lizards and birds started the fires.
Look on the bright side, folks: we could live in California with a state legislature that's divided between boutons and WC clones in which base-pleasing giant social programs and tax cuts are both passed. We get to go bankrupt much more slowly here in TX.
...so we got that going for us.
Dinosaurs are not extinct, they've only stunted their growth.
Young Earth evangelicals rejoice.
You can't make this up...
How was the decision anti-tax based? The article doesn't even use the words "tax," "taxes," or "property tax."
Lol!!!!!
It did use the words "City Council cut spending on tree trimming".
One would presume if they had thought things like this important enough, they would have raised taxes to cover them, yes?
One would presume, from the article, that the spending cut was based on people's desire to have trees around and not something tax-based given that the article didn't even use the word "tax."
You might presume that, counselor, but I would presume that if someone cites an action as "partly due" to a reason, that there is something else at play.
Given that this is just one of the cuts mentioned in the article put in place by the City Council, a reasonable assumption is that they were unwilling to raise taxes, or at the very least incur an operating deficit to cover the cuts in services.
"we (lower 95%) are broke"
As someone who follows the bond market, I can tell you that I have begun to have my doubts about municipalities credit ratings for the simple reason that they are based on the testable assumption that they can always raise taxes to meet bond obligations, so they are relatively less risky than other forms of debt.
There are a few instances of cities that have attempted to raise taxes to cover debt covenants and had what amounts to a revolt by their inhabitants, who would prefer default over raising taxes, or just plain bankruptcy.
That is what inclines me to think that most local governments are loathe to raise taxes when they can quietly cut services if possible.
In this case that impulse to do the politically easy thing seems like a very bad idea to me.
"it's always that other guy who has the bad luck, not me"
people freak about about getting killed by a Muslim terrorist, but they're at much more risk driving to work or as hospital in-patient, about which they don't fret at all. actual vs perceived risk. perceptions suck mostly, esp in a magical, irrational, faith-based society like USA.
Google is your friend.
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 8:35 PM
Updated Tuesday, Sep 13 at 7:46 AM
Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole says she is proud that the City of Austin is solvent and she and other council members are looking forward to next year with a positive cash flow. To make that happen, aside from cuts the city has made in its own budget, residents will have to pay more when it comes to property taxes and utilities. Council approved a property tax rate increase of about 3.6 percent.
http://www.kvue.com/news/Property-ta...129695693.html
lol
You can't make this up...
Apparently, you can.
(see edit in OP)
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