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 budget expenditures, despite having discussed the budget at four previous board meetings since the budget […]
Budget
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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 believe the claims were justified. First, there is the issue of pay for law enforcement […]
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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 effect for FY 2021 due to a bill passed in May by the Texas Legislature. […]
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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 totals $14.4 million. The home repair program has yet to be designed, but Rosie Truelove, […]
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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 down to the lack of adequate planning for the budget deficits forecasted in the not-so-distant […]
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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 concerned that this year’s raise might be the last one. During Tuesday’s budget adoption process, […]
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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 modest pay raise than that sought by unions representing sheriff’s deputies. At a Thursday budget […]
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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 billion. (That number is based on the tax rate of 44.31 cents per $100 valuation, […]
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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 business, if Mayor Steve Adler has his wish, is for Harris to review the city’s […]
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Council looks beyond the budget
City Manager Spencer Cronk sat down with Council members at a special called work session Thursday to give an overview of four budget-related topics that have come up in recent weeks: the Hotel Occupancy Tax; an emergency-response report by the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute; the allocation of funds to fight homelessness; and the budget […]
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Human Rights Commission calls for $1.75M for more mental health emergency responders
The Human Rights Commission has joined the city’s Public Safety Commission in recommending that City Council commit funds in the next budget to add staff for first responders dealing with individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. The rights commission unanimously approved a recommendation heavily based on a May report that outlines the need for $1.75 […]
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Central Health presents 2020 draft budget with substantial structural changes
Central Health, the Travis County health care district that provides medical care to indigent residents, unveiled its preliminary 2020 budget on Monday evening at a community discussion held at its headquarters in East Austin. This year’s budget incorporates a 6.9 percent tax increase over Fiscal Year 2019, estimated to cost the average property owner an […]