Council to weigh how the city will fund climate projects

Over the last decade, City Council has put forth several ambitious climate-related plans, building on the work of previous councils. But without a clear road map for financing and prioritizing projects to reduce carbon emissions and safeguard the city against natural disasters, Austin lags behind other cities that have funding mechanisms in place.

Council Member Ryan Alter hopes his resolution on Thursday’s agenda will reverse the city’s course on that front. No one said it would be easy. Because the proposal initially included direction to explore a general obligation bond election this year, the item was catapulted to the top of the work session agenda for a vigorous discussion.

Mayor Pro Tem Leslie Pool kicked things off, stressing the lengthy lead time generally given bond elections, specifically general obligation bonds, to allow for a bond advisory task force to guide much of the process. Pool later told the Austin Monitor she wasn’t opposed to the resolution; rather, she said, “in the last year, city financial staff have clearly stated their concerns that we are straining our bonding capacity, and I listen when I hear these warnings. If we are going to talk about a bond, whether in 2024 or 2026, then we should consider the bond advisory task force process in which all Council districts are represented.”

As things stand now, interim City Manager Jesús Garza told Council, the city has an estimated $1.8 billion in un-issued debt from previous bond elections and a full slate of ongoing capital projects, with others in the pipeline. “We don’t have the physical capacity as an organization to take on that debt and get it done in a way that meets the community interest as well as the needs of the public,” Garza said, echoing what he and financial staff told the Audit and Finance Committee last year.

Even before the work session began, Alter had posted a revised version of his resolution, incorporating nearly all of the amendments his colleagues had proposed on the City Council Message Board. The changes include using other bond instruments not specific to general obligation bonds as a financial tool and add language to include financing for other Council-adopted plans, such as the Austin/Travis County Community Wildfire Preparedness Plan and the Parks and Recreation Department’s long-range plan.

In an interview Monday afternoon, Alter indicated he was expecting amendments from his colleagues and had received “good feedback” from city staff. By then, he had already locked in six votes, with Council Member Alison Alter signaling her support and Council Member Chito Vela signing on as a co-sponsor, along with Council members Vanessa Fuentes, José Velásquez, and Paige Ellis.

While other cities such as Denver, Portland and New York have outpaced Austin in financing climate projects, Ryan Alter acknowledges Austin is somewhat hamstrung by the state Legislature’s grip. Denver, for example, has been able to fund its projects “in a manner that we would not have available here,” he said. “But what we are looking to do is see what kinds of investments they are making and what kind of impacts they are having.”

Alter reasons it’s better to spend money on climate-protection projects now rather than waiting and paying a larger price in the future. By all accounts, most of his colleagues agree, setting up the resolution for what appears will be a near-unanimous vote.

USDA photo by Bob Nichols. This story has been changed since publication to clarify the financial mechanisms being contemplated.

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