Last Chance to Sway the City Budget

City Council Budget Work Session on August 1 (Photo by John Anderson)

City Council is scheduled to meet for the next three days, beginning today, Aug. 16, to deliberate over and adopt the city’s budget for the next fiscal year, but the spending plan could be given final approval as early as this evening.

Back in July, Interim City Manager Jesús Garza proposed a budget for fiscal year 2023-24 totaling $5.5 billion budget, though Council is only able to amend the $1.34 billion portion of the budget known as the General Fund, which includes services paid for through taxes.

Since Garza proposed his budget, the city’s number crunchers have found some extra cash stuffed away in mattresses (kidding, most of the newly available revenue is from higher-than-expected taxable values from properties located within the city and franchise fees generated from a deal with Google Fiber). The new funding amounts to $7.5 million in ongoing reventues and $7.8 million in one-time revenues, all of which Council can spend on their numerous priorities. But, as of Aug. 16, those priorities totaled $18.7 million in ongoing expenditures and $26 million in one-time expenditures – suffice it to say, not all of that is getting funded.

So if you’re interested in telling Mayor Kirk Watson or your Council Member how any of those GF dollars should be spent – or, how they should not be spent – there’s still an opportunity. City Hall registration for public comment at the Wednesday, Aug. 16 meeting will remain open until about 45 minutes before the meeting is posted to begin – that means if you make it Downtown (301 W. 2nd St., to be precise) before 9:15am, you can still register for public comment. Should Council need to meet Friday, Aug. 18, to vote on the budget, there will be another opportunity to provide public comment. More information can be found here.