{"id":30014,"date":"2015-02-10T04:41:47","date_gmt":"2015-02-10T10:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=30014"},"modified":"2015-02-12T15:21:26","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T21:21:26","slug":"state-budget-writers-talk-about-selling-school-for-deaf-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/02\/10\/state-budget-writers-talk-about-selling-school-for-deaf-property\/","title":{"rendered":"State budget writers talk about selling School for Deaf property"},"content":{"rendered":"

State budget writers talk about selling School for Deaf property<\/strong><\/p>\n

February 9, 2015<\/p>\n

By Kiah Collier \/ American-Statesman Staff<\/p>\n

Texas Senate budget writers on Monday discussed the possibility of downsizing or selling the 67-acre property south of downtown Austin where the School for the Deaf has operated for more than 150 years in an effort to raise revenue and cut costs.<\/p>\n

State Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, launched the discussion by asking school officials whether they could run the operation on a smaller property.<\/p>\n

State Sens. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, and Kirk Watson, D-Austin serve on the Senate Finance Committee \u201cYou\u2019re sitting on some of the most expensive land in Austin,\u201d he said, calling for a study \u201cof the most efficient use of such acreage\u201d in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 159 years,\u201d responded School for the Deaf Superintendent Claire Bugen.<\/p>\n

Whitmire went on to suggest the state could pay for the campus\u2019 significant deferred maintenance needs if the property was sold or downsized; Bugen said the school probably could operate on less than 46 acres.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, said selling even a few acres of the property could net \u201cdouble-digit millions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, did not object to the discussion but said his colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee should proceed cautiously and expressed concern that any money from the sale of the property stay with the school.<\/p>\n

The former Austin mayor, joking that he\u2019s already received calls from 150 developers about the property, said the state could inadvertently create huge traffic and other development problems by selling such a large chunk of land in the heart of the city. However, he also said that any money generated could be used to mitigate it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very important that the money stay with the School for the Deaf, but it also may be very important that the money may be utilized to mitigate things like traffic problems that the state would turn right around and create for the city of Austin,\u201d Watson said.<\/p>\n

The discussion comes as lawmakers consider whether to close the Austin State Supported Living Center, located on high-value property in Tarrytown. In 2013, the Texas General Land Office recommended selling the 93-acre tract, but has since changed its mind.<\/p>\n

Talk quickly turned to the deaf school\u2019s deferred maintenance needs Monday, which the committee discussed last week \u2014 aghast at reports of \u201crodents, bats, bed bugs\u201d and other health and safety concerns.<\/p>\n

Committee Chairwoman Jane Nelson, however, was less sympathetic this go-around saying she had asked her staff to pull the school\u2019s budget requests from the last decade and questioned officials about why they had not yet fixed things like flooding manholes, even though they received money for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow does that happen?\u201d the Flower Mound Republican asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to prioritize what we fixed,\u201d said Gary Bego, director of financial and support operations, explaining that the school didn\u2019t have enough money to do it all. Later, he said it was \u201cbecause things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t go over well with some committee members like Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, who said \u201cStuff happens \u2014 I get it\u201d but asked the Legislative Budget Board how lawmakers could be assured that money is being spent on things for which it was appropriated.<\/p>\n

SOURCE:
\nhttp:\/\/m.statesman.com\/news\/news\/state-regional-govt-politics\/state-budget-writers-talk-about-selling-school-for\/nj7SN\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State budget writers talk about selling School for Deaf property February 9, 2015 By Kiah Collier \/ American-Statesman Staff Texas Senate budget writers on Monday discussed the possibility of downsizing or selling the 67-acre property south of downtown Austin where…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[23219,4621,21,23227,1164,23221,23222,23218,23226,23225,23223,23228,23224,604,80],"class_list":["post-30014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news","tag-american-statesman","tag-article","tag-austin","tag-austin-state-supported-living-center","tag-claire-bugen","tag-jane-nelson","tag-joan-huffman","tag-john-whitmire","tag-kel-seliger","tag-kirk-watson","tag-legislative-budget-board","tag-tarrytown","tag-texas-general-land-office","tag-texas-school-for-the-deaf","tag-tsd"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-7O6","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":30033,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/02\/11\/john-whitmire-school-for-deaf-suggestion-was-harmless\/","url_meta":{"origin":30014,"position":0},"title":"John Whitmire: School for Deaf suggestion was harmless","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"February 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"John Whitmire: School for Deaf suggestion was harmless February 10, 2015 State Sen. John Whitmire said his inquiry Monday into whether the Texas School for the Deaf campus south of downtown Austin could downsize was meant to be a harmless one inspired by his desire to help the school pay\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30106,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/02\/19\/asl-interview-with-senator-whitmire-and-senator-watson\/","url_meta":{"origin":30014,"position":1},"title":"ASL Interview with Senator Whitmire and Senator Watson","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"February 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"ASL Interview with Senator Whitmire and Senator Watson by DeafNation - Joel Barish Texas Senator Watson on TSD Rumors With rumors of Texas School for the Deaf (TSD) being possibly sold, Joel Barish gets a talk with Senator Watson, who says TSD is a valued part of Austin and will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Deaf Nation watson interview","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Deaf-Nation-watson-interview.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":30164,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/02\/26\/talk-of-move-raises-alarm-at-tsd\/","url_meta":{"origin":30014,"position":2},"title":"Talk of move raises alarm at TSD","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"February 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Talk of move raises alarm at Texas School for the Deaf February 21, 2015 By Julie Chang - American-Statesman Staff \u201cA good number of deaf people, including myself, have moved to Austin specifically to attend our children at TSD, and many of us changed jobs, sold our homes, and left\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30077,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/02\/14\/baldwin-dont-sell-texas-school-for-the-deaf-property\/","url_meta":{"origin":30014,"position":3},"title":"Baldwin: Don\u2019t sell Texas School for the Deaf property","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"February 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Baldwin: Don\u2019t sell Texas School for the Deaf property February 13, 2015 By Steve C. Baldwin - Special to the American-Statesman In regards to the American-Statesman front-page story on February 9,2015 \u201cSenators weigh moving Texas School for Deaf,\u201d history was repeating itself. My friends, who live in Taft and are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32470,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/12\/10\/finding-historical-value-in-the-texas-school-for-the-deaf-property\/","url_meta":{"origin":30014,"position":4},"title":"Finding historical value in the Texas School for the Deaf property","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"December 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Finding historical value in the Texas School for the Deaf property December 2, 2015 By Michael Barnes - American-Statesman Staff Was Texas Revolutionary War hero Deaf Smith really deaf? Inquiring minds from around the country have been asking that of Steve Baldwin, former president of the Texas Association of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"1890 picture of TSD","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/1890-picture-of-TSD.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":30103,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/02\/19\/school-for-the-deaf-staff-students-react-to-potential-downsizing\/","url_meta":{"origin":30014,"position":5},"title":"School for the Deaf Staff, Students React to Potential Downsizing","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"February 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"School for the Deaf Staff, Students React to Potential Downsizing By BEN PHILPOTT February 10, 2015 The Texas School for the Deaf sits on 67 acres in between South 1st and South Congress. 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