Neighborhood News Olmos Park Battling CPS Energy Over Outages BY RON AARON EISENBERG
Sporadic electric outages have been plaguing Olmos Park for several months. CPS Energy had failed to explain why the outages are occurring, until recently. The company says outages were due to vegetation – trees impacting power lines. The wet weather contributed to tree growth, CPS spokesperson told me. The company has been cutting back vegetation throughout the city. City Manager Celia Deleon told 78209 Magazine they had scheduled a public meeting with CPS to let citizens question company executives on the matter at the October 20 city council meeting. But electric company officials backed out of that session. Now, Deleon says, “They are returning to a council meeting next week to continue the conversation and, hopefully, to answer some of the residents and council members’ questions.”
AHISD Voters Overwhelmingly Approve Tax Rate Change On November 2, AHISD’s voters approved the tax rate change with a 72% approval rate. The vote was 2,194 – yes, and 867 – no. The measure will provide an additional $1.4 million to allow the district to offer competitive salaries for its employees and educational programming for students. “Our community is overwhelmingly united in supporting our incredible AHISD teachers and staff as well as the extraordinary educational programs that support all of our students. This new tax rate will ultimately result in district efforts to maintain competitive staff salaries and those programs that support the individual needs of 26 DECEMBER 2021 | 78209magazine.com
our AHISD students. As always, I’m proud to serve this supportive community,” Dr. Dana Bashara, Superintendent of Schools, said. The measure will boost Alamo Heights’ local revenue through a slight increase in the district’s tax rate for operating schools, without increasing the overall tax rate, thanks to a decrease in the tax rate that pays back bonds. The tax rate change will allow AHISD to make chunks of its property tax revenue, nicknamed “golden pennies,” unrecapturable – exempt from Robin Hood. In total, the district has sent $622 million back to the state through Robin Hood.
