Council Notes

City Manager Toby Futrell

Last Thursday, City Council preened for their annual close-up as the proposed 2006 budget premiered. City Manager Toby Futrell's presentation was mainly a feel-good, shaggy-dog story, one where the city was ready for strategic reinvestment after years of economic downturn. However, the cautious optimism Futrell projected will have to contend with blockbuster budget worries over police salaries that may derail the city's happy ending.

Futrell's script started with discussion of the proposed property tax rate she used drafting the budget: 43.95 cents per $100 of valued property splits the difference between an effective rate, which brings in the same amount of revenue as the previous fiscal year, and the higher nominal rate, which is identical to the previous year, but collects more due to rising property values and development.

An 11th-hour difference between the estimated effective rate and the true rate from a certified tax roll produced additional funds – the bottom line being that Futrell's rate would generate an extra $2.6 million for the city, to be spent on add-backs to slashed services and the ubiquitous entity of strategic reinvestment, while the tax roll windfall added $1.3 million for a proposed "priority pack of resources," including a new neighborhood program. The bonus bucks could also make the council more amenable to Futrell's proposal, since the extra gravy flows to the popular add-backs.

In all, $7.8 million is slated for these add-backs to services that were cut as Austin's economy reeled after September 11. The most visible reinvestment will be restoration of library hours, although the largest add-back budget chunk is slightly costlier at $1.46 million and goes to raises for the city's non-emergency workforce. Health and Human Services gains $573,000 in restored social service contracts and funds for battling communicable disease and HIV, while add-backs to community services, infrastructure maintenance, and public safety round out the restorations. Futrell's neighborhood program features creation of a sounds-scarier-than-it-is roving motorcycle squad of traffic enforcers, traffic calming, and money for historically underfunded code enforcement.

A $729,266 package for improving African-American quality of life was included in the proposed budget, with funding for economic and business development assistance, additions to the convention and visitors bureau, a vocational training program to partner with city utilities, preventative health care, and more. Tensions between the police and Austin's African-American community were also addressed, with $50,000 earmarked for police and safety training, including diversity and community sensitivity.

APD continues to be problematic for the city, and not solely for the above reasons – soon, Council will be forced to make some tough decisions concerning police salaries, as untenable increases are projected to outstrip the entirety of Austin's new revenue in a few years. Chief Financial Officer John Stephens, doing some of the day's heavier lifting, said that by 2009, public safety expenditures would consume 105% of new revenues, landing at $6.7 million over budget by 2012. "Public safety costs are rising out of proportion to any comparable index," said Stephens, warning that "any attempt to stem the growth must deal with salaries, or it will only be marginally successful." In the proposed 2006 budget, public safety as a whole accounts for 65% of the $479.7 million general fund, with 93% of the police's $183 million going to payroll.

Council member Brewster McCracken described three options facing the city: slowing salary increases, raising taxes, or big budget cuts. "We're looking at multiple tens of millions in shortages that will require cuts … if we don't curb public safety spending," said McCracken. "We're not paying our public safety folks enough, and we can't afford to pay them enough," he emphasized, but he also succeeded in getting Stephens to answer affirmatively that costs are "mainly … from the salary contracts with the unions." Salary negotiations: coming to a precinct near you.

As council wrangles with rising public safety costs, and the budget as a whole, the approval process continues this week with in-depth presentations from Austin's Community Services departments (Library, H&HS, PARD, et al.) on how the proposed budget affects them. Presentations and public hearings will run throughout August.

Also of interest Thursday will be an amendment from McCracken instructing Walgreens, the pharmacy chain contracted by the city, to fill all prescriptions, preventing self-appointed ideologues from denying birth control or other meds to prescription holders. Speakers from Planned Parenthood will be on hand for an informal Q&A and to describe what they say is Walgreens' less-than-stellar record of prescription refusal. Lastly, to honor the 12th anniversary of Austin's Save Our Springs ordinance, Aug. 7 has been designated as a free swim day at Barton Springs – in case the council needs to cool off by then.