ACC Candidate Forum Thursday evening

The Austin League of Women Voters will host a forum for Austin Community College Board of Trustees candidates on Thursday, September 29, beginning at 7PM at the ACC Highland Business Center, Room 201.  The forum is free and open to the public.  The address of the ACC Highland Business Center is 5930 Middle Fiskville Road in Austin.

Four board positions are up for election in November.  The board positions are ‘at large’, meaning that all voters in the ACC taxing district may vote for each board position.

The mission of the Board of Trustees stated on the ACC website follows:

“The Board of Trustees represents residents of the ACC taxing district and is responsible for establishing policies that govern the educational programs and providing high-level guidance and leadership to ensure the College meets the needs of the communities served.”

More information about the forum is at http://lwvaustin.org/candidate-forum-acc/.

Construction of the ACC Leander campus broke ground in April of this year following bond approval by voters in 2014.  The Leander campus is located at Hwy 183A and Hero Way.

Tax rate down, taxes up in Leander

The Leander City Council approved a new lower tax rate at Monday night’s council meeting.  The new rate of $0.599 per $100 of property value is down $0.03392 from last year’s rate.  Due to rising home values taxpayers will still see a slight increase in their tax bill next year.  The average home value in Leander has increased about 10% over the last year.  (Sources range from 9.5% to almost 12%.)  The effective tax rate is a 1.2% increase over last year.

The Council is also expected to pass its budget for fiscal 2016-2017 this month.  The proposed budget is posted on the city’s website at https://www.leandertx.gov/finance/page/proposed-fy-2016-17-annual-budget.  The city’s fiscal year begins October 1.

Travis GOP elects new chairman

The Travis County Republican Party Executive Committee met last night and re-elected previous Chairman James Dickey to complete the 2016-2018 term recently vacated by Robert Morrow.  Acting Chairman and Executive Vice Chairman David Duncan began the business meeting by announcing that he would not seek the position of Chairman.  Duncan, who previously announced his intentions to run, stated that he would instead focus on his family, work, and studies.   Besides Dickey, local Republican strategist Brendan Steinhauser and concerned voter Matt Lawrence were nominated for the position.  In accordance with the law nominations came from Executive Committee members, who are the precinct chairmen elected in the party primary or appointed by the Executive Committee when vacancies exist.  Steinhauser appealed for support based on his long track record of running campaigns and non-profits including work for Senator Cornyn, Freedom Works, and Representative McCall.  When asked, Steinhauser stated that he would not support the party’s presidential nominee.  Nominee Matt Lawrence emphasized his work as a Linux Systems Administrator to demonstrate his experience with process, procedures, and compliance issues as well as being part of the disassociated rank-and-file Republicans.  Dickey defended his last term and emphasized that the election was too close for someone to learn on the job.  Dickey unequivocally said he would support the party’s nominees at all levels, and corrected those who had labeled him part of the Never Trump movement due to his support for rules changes during the Texas GOP State Convention.  Additionally Dickey delivered checks totaling $20,000 to show that he could raise funds quickly.  Dickey won about 70% of the votes with Steinhauser receiving most of the remaining votes.