The rewrite of the city’s Land Development Code is expected to account for approximately $2.8 million in the next budget, all of it coming from funds put on hold when City Council canceled the process known as CodeNEXT last year. Consultants connected to the Opticos firm that led the canceled effort – specifically Peter J. […]
city budget
The city’s plan for expenditures based on income.
Posted inBudget
Budget, tax hearings coming soon
Budget and tax rate season is upon us once again. As Deputy Chief Financial Officer Ed Van Eenoo told City Council at Tuesday’s work session, the city will hold three public hearings on the $4.2 billion budget, beginning today at Council’s meeting, described by Van Eenoo as starting at 1 p.m. and by Mayor Steve […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: At what cost
Where’d you go, Harper-Madison?… After District 1 Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison filed her mid-year campaign finance report in July, it turned out that she raised $3,695 in campaign funds in January, February and March and spent $3,589. As Council members are prohibited from raising money outside a one-year window that ended in December, she was […]
Posted inBudget
Updated: Cronk proposes $4.2 billion budget, more help for homeless
“This year, our mission is to build on these successes while at the same time bracing our city’s budget against the future impacts of the state’s decision to lower the cap on local property tax revenue growth,” City Manager Spencer Cronk said, explaining the city’s plan to go to the 8 percent rollback rate for […]
Posted inBudget
Watching Legislature, city delays financial forecast
Without final action on the property tax bill moving through the Texas Legislature, Austin budget planners are holding off on presenting the city’s financial forecast to City Council. At this point, however, legislative watchers expect final passage of SB 2, the bill that would put a 3.5 percent cap on the amount of revenue cities […]
Posted inParks
Parks and Recreation lacks $2.4 million in funding, potentially faces more cuts
As the question of property tax caps continues to loom in the state Legislature, city departments are wrestling to pare down their budgets in anticipation of what management expects to be a $51.7 million gap in funding for the entire city by 2022 (estimate made per 2.5 percent rollback rate). For the Parks and Recreation […]
Posted inBudget
Access to health care, transit among top budget priorities for Austin seniors
With the city paying closer attention to the needs of its fast-growing senior population, staff and commissions involved in issues for the aging are hearing a lot of familiar concerns heading into the early stages of budget talks. An emphasis on addressing traffic congestion and availability of transportation services, and finding ways to make housing […]
Posted inBudget
Public safety departments cite $3.5M in unmet needs
At Monday’s Public Safety Commission meeting, commissioners unanimously voted to send a memo to City Council recommending an additional $3.5 million in funding for the 2020 fiscal year. The money would fund initiatives including a $10,000 raise for future police cadets, re-approved funding for the interdepartmental mental health outreach team, a new records management system […]
Posted inCity Council
Should the city move to a two-year budget?
Every week that City Council holds a Thursday meeting, Council members meet Tuesday for a “work session” to discuss items that they plan to vote on at the meeting. In recent months, however, Council has also begun setting aside an hour during some work sessions for a broad conversation about how to make city government […]
Posted inDevelopment
Many, but not all, development fees to climb
Last year, Rodney Gonzales, director of Austin’s Development Services Department, asked Council to fund an additional 50 employees to increase his department’s efficiency in dealing with a multitude of permits, reviews and inspections. Council killed the plan by postponing it. However, this year Gonzales proposed adding 50 new full-time positions as part of a $63.6 […]
Posted inAustin
Cuts to arts groups brings call for changes to funding mechanism
Local arts groups facing dramatic cuts in their funding levels from the city could get some relief this budget year, and possibly an earlier heads-up in future budget years if their funding allocations appear headed for a decrease. The city’s Arts Commission voted 9-0 at Monday’s meeting to reconvene a working group focused on the […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: The meatloaf index
Don’t tell your constituents… During a Cap Metro board meeting at the Austin Convention Center attended by City Council members, transportation consultant Jeffrey Tumlin bemoaned the current state of transportation planning in most American cities, which prioritizes minimizing “vehicle delay instead of people delay.” The result, he said, is a situation in which the person […]