|
ChangeAustin.org
Bringing Austin voters and local business to City Hall |
Some people are speaking out for Austin. How 'bout you? |
at the Carver Library, 1161 Angelina. We will do the first 40 minutes on a property tax protest Q&A with appraisal attorney Lorri Michel, then have a discussion about the cost of growth with Brian Rodgers and strategize on activities with you to — we hope — volunteer some time. Y’all come! Call Linda at 535-0989 or email her at Contact@ChangeAustin.org for more info or just show up.
Reminder!
If you feel your home has been over-valued by your county Appraisal District, make sure you get your protest forms in the mail, preferably today or tomorrow by certified mail return receipt requested. If not, walk it in on Tuesday, and get a stamped copy. If not, mail it registered on Tuesday. If not, just mail it on Tuesday and take your chances!
You can include with that the “Request for Information” form here for Travis County (for Bastrop scroll to the bottom of this message), which will help you in preparation for your informal and formal hearings.
Then, please consider reviewing our slides shows on the left hand menu of our front page at ChangeAustin.org.
We now have two mock hearings scheduled below: (Note: if you want to do your own, we will help you!)
Property Tax Appraisal Protest Mock Hearing
Bastrop – location to be announced
Thursday, June 3rd, 6:30 pm
.
Property Tax Appraisal Protest Mock Hearing
Carver Library, 1161 Angelina, Austin
Thursday, June 17th, 6:30 pm
The future of Austin – 40% roadway congestion after spending $27 billion.
Monday night, in a stunning acceptance of a wholesale drop in Austin’s quality of life and economic vitality, the CAMPO transportation board, comprised of local elected officials, voted 17-2 to prolong a pretend transportation solution which strangles the region’s mobility.
CAMPO accomplished its perverted NO GROWTH plan in the same grotesque way a tumor kills its host – by choking off the organs and causing them to fail. Planning to fail. Planning for a future that is worse than today and striving to get there. Driving the region into a brick wall of congestion.
This multi-modal wet dream of homebuilders, road builders, land speculators and meddlers has no reliable funding. The citizens in the region have no clue what their elected leaders settled for and what’s in store for them.
For comic relief, we give you this ridiculously funny plan by TxDOT to sue 150,000 individuals for non-payment of tolls. Thanks to attorney Bill Gammon who has been fighting the idiot tollers for years now, you will enjoy this: 3 minute KXAN report.
And, here’s what ChangeAustin’s Brian Rodgers told the board:
“People are no longer angry, they’re scared because their property taxes are climbing beyond their capacity to pay them, cutting into the bone of their daily finances. We cannot ask them to carry the burden of building more roads without shared sacrifice…” Read the rest below.
ANNOUNCEMENT!
Those transportation planners at CAMPO have stepped in it again!
Now they want to bring 40,000 more cars on to MoPAC with another toll road (SH45 in southwest Austin) over the Edwards Aquifer! Why? Because big boy developers and land speculators want their roads paid for by…guess who…you and me. We can pay the tolls and still sit in traffic!
You can stop this madness. Just do this please before 6 pm next Monday when CAMPO will vote on the 2035 plan.
Email or call (or do both!):
Dear Mayors Leffingwell, Garver and Coleman, Judge Biscoe, and Commissioner Beckett:
I am counting on you to put some common sense into transportation planning in our region. That means voting yes to eliminate SH45 (the southwest toll road) from the CAMPO 2035 plan.
Then say whatever else you want to but keep it clean!
If you want to know what community activist wonks have to say about these complex issues, go here:
Roger Baker in Ken Martin’s new local publication The Austin Bulldog.
Brian Rodgers’ presentation to the Real Estate Council of Austin.
Join us at the CAMPO Meeting on Monday 6 pm.
View the slides from this workshop.
Last year, we told you about the big developers who are getting huge property tax under-valuations for buildings like the Austonian. Did ya hear about the one where Austin millionaires are getting huge property tax exemptions on their “historic” homes by the City of Austin?!
This workshop is for the many middle and low-income Austinites who will receive OVER valuations from the Travis County Appraisal District this year. Reserve your seat now! And send us some dough to advertise it!
Download the printable flyer and spread the word: FlierMay1TaxWorkshop-1
Saturday, May 1st, 10:00 – 12:00 pm* (map here)
Huston-Tillotson University
Dickey Lawless Auditorium
7th & Chicon
Note: The date of this event has changed because your won’t see your appraisal notice until about April 25. If you think you have been appraised for more than your home is worth, this workshop is for YOU!
If you missed this workshop and wish to attend another, see the dates of more workshops (below), or send a message to us at Contact@ChangeAustin.org or call us!
View the slides from this workshop.
Listen to the report from KUT FM about how the community is coming together in workshops offered by Change Austin to help people learn how to protest their Travis County tax appraisals.
Organized by Change Austin
Oak Springs Library
3101 Oak Springs Dr.
Tues. May 11
6:30-8:00 PM
Capacity: 25
Sponsored by: Govalle Neighborhood Association
Yarborough Library
2200 Hancock
Sat. May 15
1:30-3:30 PM
Capacity: 50
Pflugerville Justice Center
1611 Pfennig Lane
Wed. May 19
6:30-9:30 PM
Capacity: 75
Sponsored by: Highland Park North HOA
Carver Library
1161 Angelina
Thurs. May 20
6:30-8:30 PM
Capacity: 80
Sponsored by: ChangeAustin.org
Terrazas Library
1105 East César Chávez St.
Sat. May 22
10:00 AM-12:30
Capacity: 35
Sponsored by: East Cesar Chavez Neighborhood Planning Team
If you belong to an organization that would like to host a Tax Appraisal Protest Workshop, Change Austin will arrange for a workshop especially for your group, please contact us.
See the slide presentation presented at the Change Austin free workshops about how to protest your residential property appraisal.
Thanks to those who were able to attend our meeting on the Comprehensive Plan-Imagine Austin. Report below.
1. An affordable city – the City should put on a summit and listen.
2. Growth Pays for Itself – developers pay their fair share, imagine that!
3. A bus rapid transit system! (rather than paid for by regressive taxation)
4. Accountable government – like the on-year November election date the Mayor touted during this campaign.
5. Energy and water conservation – duh, this is Austin, remember?
Come ye Austinites to fill out a survey by the City on YOUR vision for Austin!
Comprehensive Plan – Imagine Austin
Saturday, March 27th, 3:00 – 4:00 pm*
Opal Divine’s on South Congress
3601 S. Congress, just north of Ben White
Yes, it’s called the Comprehensive Plan (Imagine Austin). It will serve as a guide to area officials for the next 40 years!
Here are the City’s questions and our translation:
City Speak:
What are the best things about Austin that need to be protected and carried forward?
ChangeAustin translation:
What cherished Austin values can be threatened to extort more tax money from us to subsidize more public infrastructure on behalf of the growth lobby? (Remember they want to double our area population in 16 years!)
 |
 |
 |
|
||
 |
|
 |
|
||
