Settlement payments have always come from the General Fund. The city self-insures by requiring departments pay into a shared liability fund. Payments into the fund are based on each dept's liability in the prior fiscal year. The $14m in a single FY dwarfs prior totals, though.
The complicating factors are a) $14 million in one year is way more than the city has ever paid in a single year (2011-2019 was $8m) and b) state law prohibits the city from reducing the police budget, unless the Gov. gives them permission.
I'm not totally sure how the accounting will work here. Presumably APD's Liability Reserve Fund premium transfers would have been much higher in FY22 (the year following the 8th Street protests), but perhaps not enough to cover the full $14m. I've asked for the numbers.
Either way, this would be a pretty good topic for a Council Member to ask staff about at the public budget work session happening right now! #atxcouncil
For context on how badly $14 million in police violence settlements hampers the city budget, see the table below. If the city didn't have to pay these survivors, city employees could have their base pay boosted to $20/hour.
to preempt any bad faith readings of this tweet — I'm not saying the settlement payments are unjustified. They are. It's the budgetary decisions, policies, and training that form the foundation of policing that need scrutiny, not the recompense paid to victims of police violence.
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MORE: The city’s Liability Reserve Fund is currently at a $2.8 million deficit following $14 million in settlement payments paid to victims of police violence. Most of the payouts were to people demonstrating during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.
Staff are proposing to close that deficit with a $14.65 million transfer to the LRF (the fund that allows the city to self-insure) from increased revenue projects discovered in between the time City Manager Spencer Cronk proposed his version of the budget July and now.
The accounting will look like: $14.65 million in increased revenues -> transferred to General Fund Emergency Reserve -> transferred to Liability Reserve Fund.
The $14.65m was not yet allocated to any other use, but Council Members could have used it to fund other prioerities.
With renewed attention on Elon Musk's hyperloop grift, let me share excerpts from a public information request I received following the trip Austin Development Services staff took to Las Vegas in April where they met with Boring Company. Clark Couty, and the LV Convention Center.
I didn't write a follow up with these records (emails, notes, expense reports), because there wasn't anything too surprising.
But worth sharing because they show how TBC moves aggressively and kind of bullies municipal employees once they're working together on projects.
First, here's the background. Development Services sent 10 staffers to Vegas in April for a site visit of The Boring Company's Vegas tunnel. DSD met with county and convention center officials to learn what it was like to work with TBC. austinchronicle.com/news/2022-04-2…
There is no temperature threshold; free rides to cooling centers activate when the National Weather Service issues an excessive heat warning, which is typically at 103, but not always.
Like today. It's hot, but the service hasn't activated.
But when the free rides to cooling centers are activated, they will be available on ALL CapMetro services — local and rapid buses, rail, access and even the on-demand pickup service (drop offs to cooling centers within pickup zones, only).
CapMetro dispatch will communicate with drivers in real time to notify them when an excessive heat warning has been issued and will help guide drivers to the a cooling center along their route. If there isn't one, passengers will be dropped off on a route that connects to one.
Incredible sequence of events here. Shooting in West Campus last night, which the Austin Police Association falsely claimed took 50 minutes for officers to respond to, so the Austin Police Department issues a statement today, through UT Police, correcting the record.
Tensions between APA and APD leadership have been simmering since the Justin Newsom racism scandal, primarily in how brass responded. Relationships seem to have worsened since, especially with Joseph Chacon beating out APA's preferred candidate for the Chief job.
It's reasonable to question why the 911 dispatcher reclassified the call. Maybe it was coincidence that a shots fired call came in from the same area after that reclassification, maybe it wasn't. But that issue is separate from APA saying, 6 hours later, it took 50min to respond.
I tweeted that Mackey hasn't contributed to other local races, but that's incorrect, he's also contributed to other conservative candidates and causes, but the $10,000 SAN contribution is his largest to date.
nice try, Kent Lance of HPI Real Estate Services & Investments, but I found you. Funny that he tried to conceal his identity in this way, because as one of the PAC's top five donors, his name has to be listed on their campaign signs lol
Chief Joseph Chacon responds to video of an APD officer fist bumping a neo-nazi. It’s fine that the officer fist-bumped a guy wearing swastikas on his clothing who helped unfurl a banner reading “vax the jews,” because the officer first declined a hand shake from the neo-nazi.
Last night I asked APD PIO if they were aware of the incident and if so, what actions had been taken to investigate what happened. Based on Chacon’s statement, it’s fair to say that APD leadership found nothing wrong with an officer fist-bumping a neo-nazi.
I’m no Chief executive or anything, but if I were, I would have a clear-cut policy against fist-bumping guys wearing swastikas on their clothing. Seems pretty straightforward.