Wading into the affordability debate with a new tactic, City Council Member Ellen Troxclair is proposing to cut transfers from the Austin Water utility to the city’s General Fund. On Wednesday, members of Council’s Public Utilities Committee unanimously approved forwarding Troxclair’s resolution – which seeks information on cutting or eliminating the transfer – to the […]
Budget
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Budget chiefs still see financial picture as rosy
A trio of city financial managers told the Austin Monitor this week that Austin is still doing well financially, and, due to conservative fiscal planning at the city, Austin Energy and Austin Water both closed out 2015 with greater than projected surpluses. Deputy Chief Financial Officer Ed Van Eenoo said that the city’s general fund […]
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Does Austin spend enough on parks?
The Parks and Recreation Department is growing. And, though the department’s funding is much larger now than in past years, department leaders say Austin isn’t spending nearly enough on parks to keep the city competitive with other parks systems across the country. At $75 million, the 2016 General Fund budget approved for the department by […]
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County adopts new tax rate
The Travis County Commissioners Court formally adopted a brand new property tax rate on Tuesday. The unanimous vote marked the last major action in this year’s version of the annual budget dance. It was a relatively placid affair, given the sharp rhetoric about affordability that defined last year’s local elections. The new tax rate for […]
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County approves budget, restores jail visitations
On the eve of Fiscal New Year’s Eve, Travis County commissioners voted to adopt a brand-new budget that will keep the lights on through 2016. Along the way, they managed to inject some last-minute drama into the proceedings by restoring in-person visitations at county jail facilities. For weeks, it appeared that, unlike City Council’s recent […]
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Jail visitation dominates county budget hearing
Travis County Commissioners Court held its first of three public hearings on the proposed tax rate for the next fiscal year on Tuesday evening, but instead of anxious property owners venting about affordability concerns, a determined group of inmates’ rights advocates dominated the proceedings. County Judge Sarah Eckhardt gavelled in the special meeting at 6 […]
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Tax rate, transfers for parks, libraries, win approval
It was just a formality, but City Council voted 9-2 on Tuesday to adopt the Fiscal Year 2015-16 property tax rate of 45.89 cents per $100 of valuation, a 6.8 percent increase over last year. Council Members Ellen Troxclair and Don Zimmerman voted no without comment. They had previously voted against the rate and expressed their […]
Posted inAustin, Budget
Austin Monitor Radio: Austin Mayor Steve Adler
Austin Mayor Steve Adler joins Monitor publisher Mike Kanin to talk about the city of Austin’s fiscal year 2015-16 budget. The show is embedded below: [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/224729829″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
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Council adopts budget based on lower tax rate
By Jo Clifton and Tyler Whitson City Council adopted a balanced $3.5 billion Fiscal Year 2015-16 budget on Thursday that reduces the anticipated property tax burden for owners of median-valued homes by about $14. With an overall jump in utility rates and fees, however, those hypothetical Austinites will likely still see an approximately $4 increase […]
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Tovo finds an apparently painless $2 million cut
After its second day of budget deliberations and numerous additions for quality-of-life programs, City Council still needed to find or trim an additional $1.2 million to $1.3 million in order to balance the budget for Fiscal Year 2015-16. A city spokesman said late Wednesday that staff would not be sure of the exact number until […]
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Zimmerman plan to “rebalance” transportation spending splits Council
City Council Member Don Zimmerman would like to see a change in Austin’s transportation infrastructure spending. His proposal, which would mandate at least $2 million per district for mobility Capital Improvement Projects, won varying levels of support from Council Members Ora Houston, Ellen Troxclair, Sheri Gallo and Ann Kitchen on Wednesday. However, it remains unclear […]
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Council finishes budget adoption Day One
City Council dove into the Fiscal Year 2015-16 city budget reading process on Tuesday, making some progress toward its goal of adopting the budget by the end of Thursday. Though there is still a long way to go before Council reaches a final draft, it made some headway on a working budget that consists of city […]