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Budget

County commissioners approve Central Health budget

Shortly after approving the county budget, the Travis County Commissioners Court OK’ed the $291 million fiscal year budget for Central Health, the county’s public hospital district. Central Health is a public authority funded by local property taxes that is charged…

Travis County bush

Travis County Commissioners Court approves $1.2 billion budget

The Travis County Commissioners Court voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a $1.2 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2019-20 and a corresponding tax increase. The average Travis County homeowner will pay $126 more in county taxes this year as a result…

Capital Metro board approves 2020 budget

The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority may still be playing catch-up with some basic comforts like benches, shelters and waste bins at bus stops, but the agency promises to accelerate those smaller efforts while preparing for a high-capacity transit future in…

Central Health budget passes after last-minute questions dominate vote

After a nearly five-hour meeting, Central Health’s volunteer board of managers voted to approve Central Health’s Fiscal Year 2019-20 budget on Wednesday night. During the hours leading up to the vote, multiple board members introduced significant new questions about the…

Commissioners Court dismisses pay pleas from disgruntled employees

On Tuesday, members of the Travis County Commissioners Court responded to claims from two groups of public safety workers who feel unappreciated due to the amount of pay they receive. In both cases, commissioners made it clear that they didn’t…

Travis County considers how to recoup revenue

As the deadline for Travis County’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget draws near, the Commissioners Court is grappling with how to appropriately price county fees and services in anticipation of the 3.5 percent property tax increase cap that will go into…

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$7.7 million added to housing trust fund

Council agreed during Tuesday’s budget meeting to more than double the funds in the city’s housing trust fund, by adding $5 million for rental housing development assistance and $2.7 million for a new home repair program. The trust fund now…

Austin City Hall front

Council adopts $4.2 billion budget

For the second year in a row, City Council has adopted its fiscal year budget in a single meeting of discussing and adopting amendments. With the budget passing 10-1, Council Member Jimmy Flannigan said his vote against the budget came…

Cronk promises employee pay raises next year

Austin city employees were expecting a 2.5 percent pay raise for Fiscal Year 2020 from the time staff’s proposed budget was revealed. But many of them, after reading about the 3.5 percent tax cap imposed by the state Legislature, were…

Commissioners Court OKs small pay hikes for law enforcement

After approving raises for the county’s civilian workforce, the Travis County Commissioners Court wants to boost pay for the region’s 1,300 sheriff’s deputies, park rangers, jail guards and constable officers. However, members of the court are opting for a more…

Council looks at police, fire department budgets

At Council’s final budget work session on Wednesday, Deputy Chief Financial Officer Ed Van Eenoo told Council members he had learned that the city would have about $2.4 million more than anticipated when staff prepared the original budget of $4.2…

Council sets differing expectations for homeless strategy officer

While Lori Pampilo Harris, the city’s newly hired homeless strategy officer, packs her things and prepares for her journey from Orlando to Austin, City Council is making big plans for her first day on the job. The first order of…

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