Of the various city services threatened by the $33 million budget deficit Austin is facing, a major one is the social support the city offers to low-income citizens. An example of these so-called bridge services, City Council Member Krista Laine told us, is the medical care provided at community clinics. It demonstrates our values, she said, but also saves us money.
“If you think about going to the ER because you have COVID or a severe case of measles, that’s very costly. That could be an example of where Austin should extend the bridge, to save us money in the long run. There are a lot of examples like that. Another one is with homelessness services. Those are the kinds of things that I would say are on the chopping block. If we don’t do something different, we are going to lose a lot of the services that the city provides.”
The “something different,” Laine said, is the adoption of a tax rate election. Council is expected to decide Thursday, July 31, whether to put a TRE on the ballot in November. If approved, the proposal will ask voters to make the final decision on raising property taxes from 1 to 8 cents on every $100 of taxable home value. An 8-cent raise could increase taxes for the average homeowner about $500 per year.
Laine said Council is looking at scenarios with differing amounts of property tax increases and the cuts in services – or lack thereof – they would precipitate. Mayor Kirk Watson is urging residents not to assume Council will propose a TRE. At the same time, he has laid the groundwork for such an occurrence, praising the work of the city’s Audit and Finance Committee for creating the different TRE scenarios.
“If we don’t do something different, we are going to lose a lot of the services.” – Council Member Krista Laine
City Manager T.C. Broadnax released the $6.3 billion budget proposal, which has served as a starting place for the discussions, three weeks ago. It includes no TRE, dealing with the $33 million deficit by grabbing cost savings from the city’s police, fire, and EMS departments, including by cutting overtime and reducing the number of firefighters on fire trucks from four to three. It also eliminates the city’s Housing Trust Fund, which helps build affordable housing, and the Neighborhood Partnering Program, which helps facilitate the construction of neighborhood improvement projects.
Council members Mike Siegel, Ryan Alter, and Vanessa Fuentes have criticized the budget, with Alter saying it “does more than just cut out fat – we hit some bones.” Firefighters are also unhappy with it. Bob Nicks, president of the Austin Firefighters Association, called the proposal to reduce the number of firefighters on fire trucks “reckless” at a press conference last week. Fuentes and Council members Paige Ellis and Marc Duchen stood alongside Nicks at the event.
The budget process will continue for the next two weeks, with the final vote expected by Aug. 15. Laine said she wants the end product to include pay increases for city employees who are not sworn officers. She emphasized the importance of bringing down emergency response times and said she will work to fund transportation, parks, and homelessness services for District 6.
“I will fight to continue to expand mental health response, too,” she added. “We already have, when you dial 911, the option to select mental health response. But what we have not had is a robust rollout that truly enables as many mental health response calls as possible to be handled by mental health professionals rather than police.”
This article appears in August 1 • 2025.
