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Budget

Council to consider funds for fashion incubator

Austin is known for its live music, its barbecue and Mexican food, its innovative technology companies, and even for hosting the Formula One races. Now, there’s a possibility that Austin will become known as a hub for the fashion industry.…

Council approves $3.7 billion budget

After weeks of back-and-forth with city staff and three days of wrangling for dollars and cents on the dais, City Council approved a $3.7 billion budget Wednesday evening for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2016-2017. Austin homeowners will pay 44.18 cents…

Council makes small increases to social services

City Council approved a flurry of changes to the city budget Tuesday afternoon in an attempt to boost funding for social services. Mayor Steve Adler moved to target some of the $2.1 million in funding that Council had approved Monday…

Budget battle day two: Winners and losers

Two battles that played out at Tuesday’s budget session demonstrated that decisions City Council has made throughout the year have left it with few options for the Fiscal Year 2016-2017 budget. At one point, Council even voted to reduce the…

money

Council seeks elusive low-hanging fruit in budget

City Council spent hours Monday discussing and debating ways to balance the budget by finding small cuts in each city department. In the context of the city budget, some of the figures Council members are debating are minuscule. But even…

APD vows to end DNA evidence backlog

Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said Monday that the police department is committed to erasing its backlog of untested DNA evidence, which includes sexual assault kits as well as evidence collected from the scenes of property crimes. Acevedo told City…

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Council bickers over proposed budget cuts

The only thing clear from City Council’s most recent discussion about the budget is that there remains plenty of disagreement among the 11 members over where to cut. Mayor Steve Adler kicked off Thursday’s budget work session with a list…

City budget: Austinites say their piece

In just about a week, City Council will approve its Fiscal Year 2016-2017 budget. After hours of public testimony, it is clear that there are a lot of tough decisions left to make. Council closed the public comment portion of…

Council confronts tough budgeting decisions

City Council members were faced with the grim reality Wednesday that the city’s financial situation is going to force some tough spending choices in the coming years. A budget overview presented by the city finance department projected the city would…

AISD employees see insurance hikes

The final board of trustees meeting attended by Austin Independent School District’s Chief Human Capital Officer Michael Houser brought hard news: Some AISD employees could see a significant portion of their newly approved raises go toward paying increasing health care…

Task force to investigate HOT tax spending

City Council will spend the coming weeks looking into whether Austin’s Hotel Occupancy Tax (or HOT tax) should continue to be used only for tourism, or if there are better uses for the rapidly growing tax revenue. At their meeting…

City responds to call for more street and sidewalk maintenance

Austinites who have complained about the state of the city’s streets may soon see an improvement, if a proposed tax increase is approved as part of next year’s budget. In a survey conducted by the city last year, members of…

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