A larger than expected surplus from fiscal year 2012, plus higher sales tax revenues has Austin City Council members discussing which projects should be funded. That was the talk yesterday at a special mid-year budget session, and with more than $14 million on the table, the possibilities are near endless. There’s talk about funding the Zilker Hillside Theater and a wildfire fuel mitigation program to clear brush and dead trees, among other things. But the difficulty Tuesday was distinguishing between the “would like” and “must-have” categories. The problem is that those categorizations are often subjective. And on the Austin City Council, there are seven individuals with very distinct priorities. ...
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Texas Governor Rick Perry delivered his seventh state of the state address to the Texas Legislature Tuesday. Looking back at Governor Perry’s past speeches, the state of our state has varied from strong, to vibrant, to good, back to strong…and now, "...It is my pleasure to report that the state of our state is stronger than ever," Perry said. That strength, and a sunny revenue forecast, seemed to put the governor in a generous mood. Once Perry had gotten past the usual platitudes of a strong business climate and the success of conservative principles, he started talking about the need to spend billions of dollars. Perry wants to spend $3.7 billion from the state’s Rainy Day fund on water and transportation infrastructure.  But he also said it’s time for a constitutional...
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