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 budget by just $5,000. The funds were intended to go toward tourism. The cut, proposed […]
Budget
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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 small cuts prompt debate on the dais, as well as pushback from department leaders. City […]
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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 Council that a $200,000 grant the department had just received would help eliminate that backlog, […]
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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 of programs he suggested adding to the budget that was proposed by city management earlier […]
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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 the budget adoption process at its last meeting and will vote to adopt the new […]
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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 face a $1 million shortfall during Fiscal Year 2017-2018. That might not sound bad, but […]
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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 costs. Houser, who retired after Monday’s regular meeting, told AISD trustees that staff reviewed employee […]
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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 on Aug. 18, Council members unanimously passed a resolution to form a task force to […]
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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 the public rated street maintenance among their top priorities for increased funding. As a response, […]
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Adler: Business incentives shouldn’t be ‘bad word’
In a booming city with an unemployment rate south of 3 percent, it’s not surprising that people might be skeptical of spending taxpayer dollars to lure more jobs into town. In a recent survey of Austinites about city spending priorities, business recruitment was the city program for which by far the greatest number of respondents […]
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Environmental Commission recommends funds for river watchers
The health of Austin’s rivers is carefully monitored on a regular basis by a team of experts. But some of those experts are much younger than many people may realize. Austin Youth River Watch has been training at-risk high school students to check the levels of pollutants in the city’s natural waterways since 1992. The […]
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Council members want more social services spending in budget
A number of City Council members voiced surprise and disappointment at the 2017 budget proposed by city staff, saying it fell woefully short of the commitment to health and human services called for in previous Council resolutions. Council Member Delia Garza was particularly flummoxed by the $99.2 million Health and Human Services budget submitted by […]