Travis County passes budget with a focus on justice reform

Last week, the Travis County Commissioners Court passed the Fiscal Year 2025 budget, totaling almost $2 billion – investments in the county’s mental health care services and legal defense apparatus mean the average homeowner will see an increase of about $162 in their property taxes, and could see more if a ballot measure increasing the county’s tax rate to fund improvements in child care services passes this November. 

The main investments in this year’s budget show a commitment to an overhaul of the county’s approach to its carceral system, which commissioners have been making moves toward prioritizing since County Judge Andy Brown’s election in 2020. After justice advocates convinced commissioners to drop an expansion of the women’s jail in 2021, commissioners turned their focus to diverting people away from the criminal justice system, instead of expanding the physical space to ease the county’s overcrowded jails. That focus has culminated in nearly $70 million earmarked to fund a mental health diversion center that will provide treatment to people in mental health crises charged with low-level crimes. Commissioners hope the diversion program will end the cycle of recidivism that nonviolent people without access to mental health care often find themselves in. Next Thursday, Integral Care is set to celebrate the opening of a 24-hour psychiatric and respite facility, the first phase of this diversion program, and an alternative to incarceration or the emergency room.

In addition to the $70 million, the FY 2025 budget allocates $2.7 million toward mental and behavioral health services more generally, including a full-time employee to work exclusively on opioid crisis mitigation. The County Attorney’s Office will receive $1.19 million for early case review, an initiative to expedite the mental health docket, and increased staff for the family violence and protective order programs. Another $1 million will expand the county’s mental health services contract with Integral Care; and another justice investment – $1.8 million toward indigent defense and legal fees in the Public Defender’s Office – is needed to make a top county priority a reality. 

That priority is the implementation of Counsel at First Appearance (CAFA) – lawyers present at bail hearings – another issue that justice advocates have been pushing commissioners to address for over a year. In April, the ACLU of Texas sued the county for failing to provide CAFA, alleging that it was a constitutional rights violation. Soon after, the county piloted a series of test shifts, and now plans to provide one shift a day, seven days a week by Oct. 1. The budget promises an expansion of that, putting $15.5 million toward two shifts per day. 

Diversion and CAFA aside, the budget also includes $10 million for improvements to the county’s substandard roads, connecting them to emergency services and addressing traffic and safety concerns – those issues came to a head during the battle over a proposed concert venue that would lie at the line between Travis and Hays counties, as residents of the area worried the increased traffic would become a safety hazard. Another $5 million goes toward enhancements to county parks; $1.7 million goes toward the upcoming presidential election, to help county staff ensure a fair polling experience; and the county’s workforce will enjoy an across-the-board pay raise. 

Come November, voters will need to decide on a ballot measure to increase the tax rate by 2.5 cents, meaning a hike of $126 annually, in order to boost the county’s capacity to provide affordable child care services. If passed, it would unlock $75.8 million for those services.

Photo by Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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