City Council holds its final budget work session Thursday, Aug. 10, as they prepare to amend the city’s spending plan for fiscal year 2023-24 and adopt it during a series of meetings scheduled for next Wednesday through Friday, Aug. 16-18. Tuesday, Aug. 8, Council held its penultimate budget work session, with Council members asking questions about spending on permanent supportive housing, public health programs, and improving maintenance of the city’s park system.
The overall budget proposed by Interim City Manager Jesús Garza comes in at $5.5 billion, but most of that is made up by enterprise departments – those that generate their own revenues through fees – including Austin Water and Energy, the airport, and resource recovery. All of the political action, including the focus of advocacy groups and policymakers, is on the much smaller $1.3 billion General Fund that pays for city services such as public safety, libraries, and parks.
Meanwhile, Council members have been posting a steady stream of budget-related questions into a central repository online for staff to answer. The responses provide additional context on line items included in the manager’s proposed budget, which will help direct the shape of amendments CMs propose during budget adoption next week. So let’s take a look at some of the most interesting issues they’re weighing.
Public Safety …
It’s well-known now by even casual City Hall observers that the Austin Police Department sucks up more money from the GF than any single department in city government (proposed at $476.5 million in the manager’s FY 24 budget). But what may be surprising is that $39 million of APD’s budget, or about 8%, is dedicated to positions the department has been unable to fill. As of July, APD has a total of 440 vacant positions, which includes roles such as victim services counselors and 911 call takers; but 313 of those vacancies are for officer positions, which amounts to about $30 million in funding.
It is highly unlikely that APD will fill even half of those vacant officer positions in the next fiscal year (the Austin Police Academy graduated just 33 cadets from the most recent class in May). As long as the positions are allocated to APD and remain unfilled, they can only be spent on police overtime – which the department certainly has been doing. In the current budget year, APD has already spent $32 million on overtime for sworn personnel, and they’re expected to end the fiscal year having spent $39.8 million on overtime.
One surprise is that $39 million of APD’s budget, about 8%, is dedicated to positions the department has been unable to fill.
By comparison, the 911 call center – which has been plagued by staffing issues resulting in long hold times for emergency calls – has 48 vacancies valued at $2.7 million. Garza’s proposed budget also includes $211,375 of new funding to continue the First Responder stipend of $150 per month for 911 employees with an active license from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, which is designed to increase recruitment and retention at the call center. The Collaborative Care Communication Center (C4), which operates under Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services, is a well-regarded system within the 911 call center that helps divert people who are in need of nonemergency health care or other services away from hospitals so that EMS field medics can focus on responding to true emergencies. In response to a question from CM Mackenzie Kelly, staff estimates that it would cost $1.1 million in ongoing costs to increase C4’s operating hours from 12 to 24 hours a day.
… And More
Some CMs have also begun laying out the budget priorities they will attempt to secure via amendments to the manager’s proposed spending plan. CM Chito Vela confirmed with staff that the manager’s budget includes just $250,000 in emergency rental assistance, and intends to offer an amendment boosting that to $7.8 million – which is about what was available to renters last year. Vela also intends to increase the city’s “shade fund” from $200,000 to $2 million; the funds would be used to increase shading in city parks.
CM Vanessa Fuentes said she will bring a $1.3 million amendment to continue a partnership with nonprofit UpTogether, with which the city contracted in August 2022 to pilot a “guaranteed income” program. For one year, 135 households of varying sizes received $1,000 per month, no strings attached, to spend as needed. If passed, the new funding would extend the program for another year.
Council will hold one more meeting today, Aug. 10, before adopting the budget. The focus of the final meeting will be on budget amendments proposed by Council members.
This article appears in August 11 • 2023.