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September 11, 2009
City budget up for a vote Monday, with a few tweaks
The Austin City Council will vote on the city budget Monday morning, and it looks like council members will propose a few tweaks but no big changes.
Council Member Bill Spelman is proposing that the city no longer pay folks who show up for Municipal Court jury duty but are not chosen. That would save about $24,500. Currently, people who show up but aren’t chosen receive $6. People who are chosen would continue to get $10 for the first day and $40 for each subsequent day.
Spelman also wants to cut a vacant accounting job in the telecommunications office that he says can be handled by the controller’s office. That would save $47,341.
Spelman’s wish list of items to add to the budget: an inspector to make sure that new buildings comply with standards for access for disabled people; two employees to inspect the safety of construction sites; and money to hire two veterinarian technicians and extend spay/neuter services at Town Lake Animal Center from five days a week to seven. Those items would cost $230,000 total. Spelman said he and other council members are looking for other possible budget changes to pay for them.
Council Member Chris Riley said he wants the Austin Water Utility to reconsider its proposed water rate increases. The utility has four tiers of rates and will have a new, fifth tier in the 2009-10 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. Riley said he’s concerned that the proposed percentage increase for the third tier will be larger than the top two tiers, which have the heaviest water users — 41 percent compared to 6 and 18 percent. He said he plans to pass the rates as is, then gather more info and work with the water utility to revise them over the next few months.
Council members Laura Morrison and Randi Shade each said today that they might propose a few tweaks to the budget, but were still gathering information and weren’t ready to talk about their ideas.
An aide to Mayor Lee Leffingwell said he doesn’t plan to propose any changes. Council members Mike Martinez and Sheryl Cole did not return phone calls today.
The proposed budget calls for no layoffs, but would eliminate 105 vacant city jobs. If approved, the new tax rate will be 42.09 cents per $100 of property value, up from 40.12 cents this year. For an Austin home with an average taxable value of $260,999, that would mean a city tax bill of $1,099, an increase of $112.
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August 7, 2009
City employees criticize budget plan
A crowd of City of Austin employees packed City Hall late yesterday to tell the City Council that they should not mandate furloughs and cut service incentive pay to save money in next year’s budget.
The 2009-2010 budget proposed last month by City Manager Marc Ott would require all employees, except public safety employees, to take up to three days off without pay, with higher-level employees having to take the most days. The plan would also cut longevity pay, which employees who have worked at the city more than five years receive in a lump sum at the end of each year. Both ideas would save about $2.4 million total, Ott has said.
Several members of the city employees’ union told the council that employees depend on the longevity pay to make ends meet, and that cutting it would disproportionately affect employees who have the most experience and have been the most loyal. They warned that furloughs could result in overtime costs because the need to provide city services doesn’t stop just because the city is in a budget crunch.
Union official Carol Guthrie made the most impassioned remarks, at one point nearly yelling at Ott as she derided him for suggesting cuts to employee pay even though his salary is $242,000 and includes thousands of dollars more in deferred compensation, as well as car and cell phone allowances.
“That is not equitable,” she said, as cheers erupted from the audience. “Enough is enough.”
The council will also hold budget public hearings Aug. 20 and Aug. 27 before approving a budget in mid-September.
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August 4, 2009
Austin budget meeting slated for tomorrow
Several City of Austin departments will present their proposed 2009-10 budgets to the City Council at a work session Wednesday.
City Manager Marc Ott proposed an overall city budget last month. On Wednesday, officials from the Police, Fire, Emergency Medical Services, Municipal Court, Health and Human Services, Library, Parks and Recreation, and Planning and Development Review departments will go into more detail about their budgets.
Ott’s budget proposal would keep intact several services that residents have said they care about, such as parks programs, library hours and a police cadet class. But it would scale back other services, such as closing eight city pools, and raise customers’ bills for water, trash collection and electricity. It also calls for increasing the property tax rate to the rollback rate, the highest the city could choose under state law before residents could petition to hold a referendum to limit the tax increase.
The meeting begins at 9 a.m. at City Hall, 301 W. Second St.
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July 30, 2009
Tax roll won't be certified for another month
Local cities and counties might have to delay adopting tax rates and budgets for the upcoming year as they wait on the Travis Central Appraisal District to certify the tax roll for 2009.
The appraisal district announced it certified the roll last week, as they are required to by state law. But officials sent the City of Austin a letter on Wednesday saying they in fact had not certified the roll. Certification is now expected to be finished in late August, which officials are blaming on a record 90,000 appraisal protests. The appraisal district still hasn’t resolved about 51,600 of those protests, chief appraiser Patrick Brown said.
Appraisal district officials said they thought the roll was certified earlier because they entered the wrong query into their computer system and miscalculated the property appraisals that are still under protest. For the district to certify the total taxable value of property in local cities and counties, 90 percent of properties can no longer be under protest.
The appraisal district resolves protests for the highest valued properties first, so the total taxable property numbers provided earlier this week to local cities and counties probably won’t change much by late August, he said.
The City of Austin usually votes on a maximum property tax rate in early August, holds a few public hearings related to the tax rate and adopts a final budget and tax rate in mid-September. The budget then takes effect Oct. 1. Some of the timing of those actions is dictated by state law. And the city can’t set a tax rate until it sees the certified roll.
The city is also looking for ways to condense the public hearings and budget-adoption schedule into August and early September to still get a budget and tax rate passed by mid-September, city budget officer Ed Van Eenoo said.
Rodney Rhoades, executive manager of Travis County’s planning and budget department, said the county is still trying to figure out if and how the delay in the certification will affect its budget adoption schedule. It was planning to adopt a budget and tax rate on Sept. 29, to take effect Oct. 1.
The Austin Independent School District’s budget usually takes effect Sept. 1. The district will probably still adopt a budget by Aug. 31, but hold off on adopting a tax rate until September, after the roll is certified, interim chief financial officer Steve West said. The district is not planning to raise its tax rate anyway for next year, he said.
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July 21, 2009
Ott to unveil city budget plan tomorrow
What City of Austin services are likely to be cut and spared should become clear tomorrow morning, when City Manager Marc Ott will propose a 2010 budget.
Ott has said the city needs to cut between $30 million and $43 million, depending on the property tax rate the City Council chooses. The council will approve a final budget in mid-September, and the 2010 budget year begins Oct. 1.
There is not much mystery surrounding the budget this year, because Ott last month released a menu of cost-cutting ideas suggested by city departments, then sought the public’s input in five meetings. The big question now is whether Ott’s budget proposal will reflect the public’s wishes.
Some of the ideas the public liked included increasing the fines of drivers who pay off parking tickets early, closing underused pools and pools that have to be filled and refilled regularly, charging an admission fee for the annual Trail of Lights in Zilker Park and increasing development fees.
Tomorrow’s meeting starts at 9 a.m. in the boards and commissions room at City Hall, 301 W. Second St. It will probably last a few hours.
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June 30, 2009
Nine pools can close to cut budget, public says
The results are in from the three town-hall meetings the City of Austin has held so far to ask residents what they would cut from the city budget.
The city is looking to slash $30 million to $43 million from the 2010 budget, which takes effect Oct. 1.
At the meetings, city staffers asked residents to put poker chips on programs they would save and programs they would cut.
According to a tallied list of results, most residents were OK with the city increasing the fee for paying parking fines early, increasing development fees, increasing a fee that pays to repair and maintain roads, charging an admission fee for the annual Trail of Lights and closing nine pools that are underused or that need to be filled and refilled regularly.
Residents most wanted to save supervised summer playground programs, a police cadet training class, police overtime pay, pet sterilization and microchipping programs and operating hours at branch libraries.
To view the full list , go to www.cityofaustin.org/budget and click on “Fiscal Year 2010 Stakeholder Input.” The list is on page 41.
The final public meeting is tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Givens Recreation Center, 3811 E. 12th Street.
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June 15, 2009
Another meeting tonight about city budget cuts
The public will have another chance tonight and tomorrow to weigh in on possible cuts to the City of Austin’s budget.
City Manager Marc Ott has said the city will need to cut $30 million to $43 million from the 2010 budget, which takes effect Oct. 1.
Last Wednesday was the first of three public meetings. Attendees sat in small groups and wrestled over what services to cut and spare, using disks to mark their choices on big charts.
The other meetings are tonight at the Gus Garcia Recreation Center, 1201 E. Rundberg Lane, and tomorrow at the Tony Burger Activity Center, 3200 Jones Road. Both start at 6:30 p.m.
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June 11, 2009
Public weighs in on possible budget cuts
About 200 people showed up at Northwest Recreation Center last night to try their hand at the task that city staffers have been wrestling with for months: cutting the budget.
The crowd — a mix of ages, income levels, races and ethnicities — was divided into small groups and asked to agree on city services they would cut or save. They put round disks on bright game board-like charts to mark their choices.
City Manager Marc Ott said he would use the results to help craft a proposed budget by July 22. He’s said Austin needs to slash $30 million, or even more if there’s no property tax increase next year, to deal with lower-than-expected sales tax revenues.
“Your participation is absolutely important and meaningful,” he told the crowd.
What ensued at each table was bartering and wrangling as each participant made a case for why services should be cut or spared.
In one group, Claude Ducloux fought for no cuts to firefighting services, while Linda Secord persuaded others to save some library hours that are facing the ax.
“The city always cuts libraries first. It’s shameful,” she said.
This process is different from the budget work of former City Manager Toby Futrell. Futrell would present a budget forecast in the spring, then pretty much go quiet until she unveiled a proposed budget in July. So far, Ott has made public the menu of possible cuts suggested by city departments and sought input from city employees, boards and commissions and now, city residents.
Not everyone was happy with last night’s cost-cutting exercise. Some participants told Ott it was too prescriptive; others said it didn’t leave room to discuss other parts of the budget that have so far been spared from cuts, such as the city-owned water and electric utilities.
Two more of these public meetings are scheduled for Monday at the Gus Garcia Recreation Center, at 1201 E. Rundberg Lane, and Tuesday at the Tony Burger Activity Center, 3200 Jones Road. Both start at 6:30 p.m.
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June 8, 2009
Nine pools would close, library hours reduced under proposed budget cuts
Nine city pools would be closed and public libraries would open an hour later and close an hour earlier under new proposed budget cuts unveiled this afternoon.
City Manager Marc Ott asked most city departments to submit cost-cutting ideas to deal with an expected $30 million shortfall next year. City officials briefed reporters on some of the ideas this afternoon.
There would be no layoffs, though there might be furloughs, or unpaid vacation time. Some vacant jobs could be permanently eliminated. And there would be no pay cuts but also no pay raises in the 2009-2010 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.
“There is no fat. This is a menu of items that hit the bone,” Assistant City Manager Mike McDonald said.
Some of the cost-cutting ideas include:
Charging a $5 entrance fee for those older than 10 for the Trail of Lights, a popular December event at Zilker Park;
Reducing the hours of operation at city pools by two hours a day and closing nine pools, including seven so-called “fill and draw” pools, that have to be re-filled regularly.
Eliminating the first and last hour of library hours each day and reducing by $160,000 the budget for new book acquisition and library materials
Delaying a police cadet academy, reducing overtime and cutting vacant jobs (including some operators who handle nonemergency calls) in the police department
Having two-person medical response teams replace some, but not all, fire engines, at some fire stations
Charging patients more for ambulance services
Permanently closing one of two city-run day-labor sites
The city will hold three town hall meetings this week and next to gather public feedback about these ideas. Ott will present a proposed budget July 22.
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February 26, 2009
Ott: Library hours won't be cut
City Manager Marc Ott said he no longer plans to reduce library hours, as he’d proposed two weeks ago in a $20 million budget-cutting plan.
Instead, the library director will keep 10 vacant jobs open and fill them with temporary employees. That will save $80,000 instead of the $285,000 that would’ve been saved by cutting library operations at every branch by 9.5 hours a week.
Ott said he made the change because many residents he met with in smaller groups and a large town hall meeting last week told him how much they value libraries.
“I cannot guarantee that we will not need to reduce hours as part of 2010 budget development if we see a continued downward trend in revenue this year,” he said.
Other changes?
Ott will allow $80,000 to be spent on youth and child care programs, including a summer camp for low-income kids. He had originally proposed saving that money.
And Fire Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr has agreed to cut $200,000 from the city budget by putting in place a “flexible staffing plan.” Only three instead of four firefighters will staff some fire trucks at times, instead of paying overtime to keep four on a truck at all times.
Council Member Mike Martinez expressed concern that that change will endanger the safety of firefighters and residents.
But Kerr said her department will develop a plan that ensures that trucks are staffed with four firefighters during critical hours and in busy areas.
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February 19, 2009
Residents to Ott: Don't cut library hours
About 30 folks showed up at a town hall meeting tonight to talk to Austin City Manager Marc Ott about the city budget.
A common refrain: Please don’t cut back on library hours, Mr. Ott.
Ott proposed a $20 million cost-cutting plan to the City Council last week to deal with lower-than-expected sales tax revenues. The plan includes cutting library hours from 49.5 to 40 a week, closing a day-labor center and freezing vacant city jobs.
Ott has been meeting with community groups and he invited the public to the Mexican American Cultural Center tonight to offer feedback. He’ll present a final plan to the City Council next Thursday.
The audience was calm and cordial. Unlike council meetings, there was no limit placed on the time folks could speak. And Ott and his deputies responded to every person who went to the mike with a question or comment.
Speakers criticized plans to build a boardwalk in Lady Bird Lake, delay a police cadet class until September and pay consultants to write a citywide land-use plan. But most came to talk about libraries.
Wade Porter said cutting library hours would hurt kids who need a place to study after school and unemployed people who use books and computers to look for jobs.
Noting that city officials already reduced library hours by a day a week in this year’s budget, he said, “My main question is, where is this going to stop? What is the tipping point?”
Ott said he’s asked his budget staff to scrub the budget again and see if there’s a way to retain library hours. We’ll have to wait ‘til Thursday to find out the answer.
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Stimulus money + roads needing repair = more Austin lobbying
The City of Austin has almost tripled its budget for Washington lobbying to maximize its share of some hefty federal spending plans in the works, city officials said.
John Hrncir, the city’s director of governmental relations, said Austin’s budget for lobbying in Washington increased from about $75,000 in recent years to $225,000 this year. (Still relatively small amounts compared the $800,000 to $1 million Hrncir said the city spends lobbying the state government).
Hrncir said the point is to tap into as much money as possible available through the $787 billion federal stimulus plan, as well as to be ready for other federal measures, such as a big highway spending bill expected later this year.
With the federal government close to disbursing many billions of dollars to state and local governments, and those billions going through numerous federal channels, Austin wanted to go beyond relying on its Congressional delegation for influence and information, Hrncir said.
“A delegation can’t be on every committee that handles critical issues that affects you,” he said. The lobbying money money is split between firms Barbara T. McCall and Associates and Holland Knight.
We talked to Hrncir as a follow-up to comments yesterday from City Manager Marc Ott. He said Austin’s roads should be better maintained and mentioned the stimulus package as a possible solution.
Hrncir said the city is still figuring out what exactly will be available through the recently passed stimulus package and how to apply for it. Hrncir reiterated that the city listed a Frisbee golf course as a possible stimulus project because the U.S. Conference of Mayors asked for every possible project that cities could build.
Hrncir said that list was basically a kitchen sink’s worth of ideas and should not be confused with what the city actually applies for.
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February 12, 2009
More bad sales-tax news
Austin’s sale-tax revenue continues to sag, according to the city’s budget office.
The city generated $14.3 million in sales taxes in December — a heavy shopping month — down from $16.6 million in December 2007.
That’s a 13.8 percent decrease, and further evidence that Christmas sales lagged significantly in Austin.
The December sales-tax numbers are the most recent available. There is a lag because the sales-tax payments are first sent to the state, which then sends them back to cities.
The city’s financial year begins on Oct. 1. Through the first three months of this fiscal year, sales-tax revenues are 8 percent lower than last year, according to a letter to the City Council from Leslie Browder, the city’s chief financial officer.
Browder wrote to the council that the $20 million in cutbacks should be sufficient to get the city through the year. The city is now projecting that sales taxes for the entire 2009 fiscal year will be down 6 percent from the 2008 fiscal year.
The most recent sales-tax news comes as the city is mulling $20 million in budget cutbacks. On Wednesday, City Manager Marc Ott presented those cuts to the City Council.
“While poor economic news is likely to continue for some time, especially as it relates to the job market,” Browder wrote, “the passage of the stimulus package and progress at the national level toward resolution of the financial crisis should have both real and perceived positive effects going forward.”
Other cities were hit hard, according to the city’s figures. Dallas’ collections were down 6.5 percent and Fort Worth’s were down 7.5 percent, although Houston’s were up 9.1 percent, according to the Browder’s letter.
Round Rock’s collections, meanwhile, were down 9.5 percent, San Marcos’ were down 5 percent and Sunset Valley’s were down 8.8 percent.
“Overall,” Browder wrote, “growth for the Austin/San Marcos region decreased this month by 9.5 (percent) compared to the same month last year.”
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February 4, 2009
Disc golf course project causes a stir
National news outlets are poking fun at Austin for including a $886,000, 36-hole frisbee golf course in a list of projects that might be eligible for federal stimulus money.
But John Hrncir, the City of Austin’s government relations officer, said the story has been sensationalized.
He said the U.S. Conference of Mayors asked cities late last year to quickly submit lists of shovel-ready projects. The group wanted to show Congress that some stimulus money should be given directly to cities, which have projects ready to go, Hrncir said.
Austin’s list, compiled from many city departments, included several dozen projects totaling $1 billion. The projects range from installing water and sewer lines to adding lighting at Zilker Botanical Gardens. But the list is by no means an application for money from the feds, Hrncir said. The city will compile a formal list of projects and seek money for them if and when the stimulus package passes, he said.
“People are jumping on the list as if it is final and we have applied for the money, and we haven’t,” he said.
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January 29, 2009
Mayor announces budget-cut workshop dates
The Austin City Council will hold a work session on Wednesday, Feb. 11 and possibly Wednesday, Feb. 25 to discuss how to balance its budget, Mayor Will Wynn said Thursday during the council’s regular meeting.
The city is facing a budget shortfall stemming from the financial-sector meltdown. City Manager Marc Ott is preparing a “menu” of potential cuts for the council to consider.
The meetings will be public, but Wynn said he didn’t expect them to be posted to allow council votes.
Council Member Laura Morrison said Ott has already gone to the Austin Neighborhood Council seeking public input on the cuts, and plans to seek input from other groups and organizations.
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January 16, 2009
City manager gives more hiring-freeze details
Austin City Manager Marc Ott said at a Friday press conference that the city’s new hiring and wage freeze will save about $3 million, adding that he hopes it will make layoffs unnecessary.
The city now has about 200 unfilled positions, Ott said. Most of them, and others that may come open, will remain vacant “until further notice,” although he reserved the right to sign off on new hires if a department manager can justify “a critical need to fill the position.”
Ott said that sworn public-safety personnel — firefighters and police — will not be subject to the hiring freeze, nor will 911 call takers.
The city is also suspending a three-year program to adjust the payscale for many city employees and would have presumably raised their wages. One-third of the employees were put on a new payscale last year, but the rest won’t be for the foreseeable future, Ott said.
“There types of decisions are just difficult to make,” Ott said. “You’re affecting people’s lives. That’s not lost on me.”
Public safety departments will not affected by this change, because most of their employees are part of unions that have negotiated contracts, Ott said. The city has also delayed performance-based pay raises for three months, but those will start taking effect at the end of the month, he said.
Ott, dealing with declining sales-tax figures that will affect the city’s budget, has asked department heads to create a “menu” of ways to cut $15 million from the budget. This measure gets the city $3 million closer, according to his budget staff.
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January 14, 2009
More people asking to defer property-tax payments
An unusually high number of Travis County property owners are asking the Travis County Tax Office for permission to pay their taxes after the Feb. 2 deadline.
Although the county is still collecting about the same amount of taxes to date as in previous years, the tax office is encouraging people who may not be able to pay their whole bill by Feb. 2 to ask about a payment plan before the deadline.
“Taxpayers should know they can take action today to save on property taxes,” Tax Assessor-Collector Nelda Wells Spears said in a statement. The statement did not say how many more people are asking about payment plans, but emphasized that setting up a payment plan before Feb. 2 will minimize the penalties of late payment.
Those interested in setting up a plan are encouraged to visit the tax office at its 5501 Airport Boulevard office, call the office at 854-9473 or go to www.traviscountytax.org.
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January 9, 2009
Will city release budget cuts info?
UPDATE: City Manager Marc Ott said Thursday evening that the memos are basically working papers and that he and his budget team are still trying to come up with budget-cutting options for the council to consider at the Feb. 12 council meeting.
He said the council probably won’t make a final decision that day, so the community will have a chance to weigh in on the ideas.
It looks like City of Austin officials won’t release information about possible cuts to the 2009 budget until the budget office makes a formal presentation to the City Council next month.
City Manager Marc Ott asked department heads late last year to each recommend possible cuts to deal with less-than-expected sales tax revenues.
The Statesman submitted an open records request last week asking for any memos or documents that department heads have given the budget office or Ott listing suggested cuts.
A city spokeswoman said yesterday that some departments have submitted memos, but they are in draft form, and likely will remain drafts until the budget office makes a presentation to the City Council next month. As drafts, the records are exempt from the Texas Public Information Act and the city is not required to release them, spokeswoman Nicole Sherbert said.
We’ve called the budget office and Ott to ask for a better explanation. We’ll post their responses here when they call back.
Joel White, an open-government lawyer in Austin, said there is no exemption for drafts under open-records laws. However, the city could argue that the memos are “audit working papers” or part of an “inter-agency deliberative process,” both of which are exempt from open records laws, he said.
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November 17, 2008
Austin council appoints an acting auditor
The Austin City Council appointed an acting city auditor this morning: Steve Morgan, the guy who happens to be the current city auditor.
Confused?
Well, the change stems from a referendum that voters approved on Nov. 4. The measure called for creating a five-year term for the auditor and requiring that six out of seven council members would be needed to fire the auditor mid-term.
Previously, the auditor had no term and could be hired and fired at any time. That made the auditor vulnerable to political reprisal, because his job involves telling city leaders things they don’t want to hear. Morgan investigates city programs and reports problems and flaws to the City Council.
Assistant City Attorney Ginny Gilchrist said because the Nov. 4 referendum changed the auditor’s term and job, the City Council is required by city code to formally hire a new auditor — even if that new auditor ends up being Morgan, the old auditor.
The council will appoint a search committee of three council members, a state auditor and the city manager in the next few weeks, and that group will have three months to recommend three candidates to the council.
Does this mean Morgan will lose his job? Not necessarily.
Council Member Mike Martinez said that Morgan — Austin’s auditor since 2000 — has done an “outstanding job” and will be his pick, regardless of how the formal selection process goes.
“My intention was never to replace our auditor or find a new one,” he said.
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October 9, 2008
Economic crisis meets city finances
The financial crisis pinches individual pocketbooks, and likely, city finances.
Council Member Lee Leffingwell, in a Wednesday e-mail to other council members and City Manager Marc Ott, asked city staff to make a presentation about how the national economic troubles could affect the city. He made the request on behalf of himself and Mayor Will Wynn.
Leffingwell asked that the presentation be made, if possible, at next week’s council meeting.
Specifically, Leffingwell requested for staff perspective on - future sales tax and property tax revenue - ability to maintain staffing and city services at current levels - the 2006 bond program and pending improvement projects - the city bond rating and debt service - city worker pensions
“We would obviously like staff’s perspective on options for minimizing the potential impact of the financial crisis on city operations, and to have a dialogue about the landscape of the municipal bond marketplace moving forward,” Leffingwell said in the memo.
Austin (and other government entities) have already felt some pinch, in the form of higher interest rates on short-term debt, known as commercial paper. That story can be found here.
And Central Texas cities are by no means the only ones worrying about municipal finance. The New York Times recounts other cities’ troubles here.
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September 8, 2008
City council approves budget
The Austin City Council took less than an hour this morning to approve the $2.8 billion fiscal year 2009 budget.
There wasn’t much left to debate in the budget as the council opened the meeting this morning. Council members opted to earmark $300,000 of additional property tax revenue that materialized when the appraisal rolls were certified for contracts with social service agencies. The proposed budget already included a 3.5 percent increase in funding for those social service contracts.
“I wanted to make sure they are able to provide the services they need to to the best of their ability,” said Council Member Randi Shade, noting that demand for social services increases when the economy is tough.
Currently, 57 social service agencies, such as the Salvation Army and the Austin Children’s Shelter, share about $18 million from the city.
Council Member Lee Leffingwell said the public health and human services subcommittee will make a recommendation to council later this year about how to distribute the social services money.
“We have a lot of deserving agencies that need that money, so I anticipate that’s going to be a difficult process,” Leffingwell said.
City Manager Marc Ott said the budget is both “sound and responsible” and expressed support for using the extra property tax revenues to fund social service contracts.
“That’s a responsible use,” Ott said. “When the economy is like this, those needs tend to intensify.”
A story summarizing the budget can be found here.
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July 23, 2008
Council member react to proposed budget
The City of Austin’s proposed budget debuted this morning at City Hall, and council members were largely complimentary of the document, the first prepared under the guidance of City Manager Marc Ott.
Council Member Mike Martinez said the balanced budget was “a good start” but noted that some elements of it will be controversial.
“The library closures are going to be an issue,” Martinez said, referring to the proposal to close branch libraries one day a week to divert funding to library security and maintenance.
Martinez also raised concerns about the proposed end of the general fund contribution to the city’s affordable housing trust fund. And the general fund contribution to the transportation fund, held steady as compared to last year but not enough to reach maintenance goals, is also a concern, he said.
Council Member Lee Leffingwell seconded the worry about road maintenance money, saying that providing streets is “kind of a nuts and bolts” service that cities provide.
Leffingwell said he felt the proposed job freezes shouldn’t have much of an effect on city services.
But Council Member Randi Shade said she wondered how unfilled jobs won’t affect the services the city provides, unless perhaps the city was overstaffed before.
Council Member Sheryl Cole said she was happy to be reassured that the unfilled positions shouldn’t affect services for citizens or internal controls for the city.
She also said she was pleased to see that despite more difficult economic conditions, the city will still be investing in longterm planning, such as a new comprehensive plan and facilities such as the Austin Tennis Center.
“The message is we’re tightening our belts and we have staff freezing, but we’re still managing to make the long term investments in the city that’s need for it to continue to prosper,” Cole said.
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April 23, 2008
City predicts preliminary budget gap
City Council members this morning took a peek at what the 2009 budget might look like amid national and local economic uncertainty.
In the first of five budget work sessions, Chief Financial Officer Leslie Browder and Budget Officer Greg Canally laid out the effects of slowing sales tax growth and presented three different property tax scenarios to the council.
The early projection, which will be modified multiple times before a budget is presented to council in July, shows both revenues and expenditures going up. In the best projected scenario, the city will see a budgeted gap of about $20.6 million next year.
Council members said the less-than-perfect projection wasn’t a surprise, given the city’s recent slide in sales tax revenue. They said Austin isn’t immune to the national economy, but asserted it is faring better than most cities.
City Manager Marc Ott said there will be many opportunities to balance the projected budget before it is presented to council in July.
“We may be able to close that gap substantially if we work hard enough and stay focused,” Ott said.
Department directors are being asked to find places to save money. The city has already slowed hiring, but stopped short of a hiring freeze.
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October 9, 2007
Shining a little sunlight on city purchases
Loyal readers of the Statesman’s City Hall coverage might recall a recent story involving snow globes, the now-defunct City Store and the wife of the former chief financial officer.
Wondering how we stumbled on that one? Well, it started way back in August 2006 when Council Member Mike Martinez submitted a budget question asking for all purchases made under the city manager’s administrative authority, the threshold for which was $49,000 in the past fiscal year.
His request languished for a good nine months before the city manager coughed it up.
Most of the expenditures were pedestrian — equipment, furniture, mood pencils.
But the examination did turn up both the $47,000 in Saks Fifth Avenue snow globes and Jan Stephens’ two contracts, one for $48,000 to open the city store and another for $35,000 for a review of minority contracting records. The city’s integrity officer later deemed the contracts a violation of city policy since Stephens was married to a department head.
Those items never faced the glare of a City Council agenda because they fell beneath the administrative authority threshhold.
So now Martinez wants the specifics to be reported to the council on a monthly basis. Although the amounts seem small in the context of a $2 billion budget, the purchases add up — $34.7 million in 2006.
“There is no reason why the council and citizens should not have that information readily available and accessible,” Martinez said.
An item on Thursday’s council agenda, co-sponsored by Council Member Lee Leffingwell, calls for monthly reports on purchases above $5,000 made under the city manager’s administrative authority.
If approved, the resolution also would require regular reporting on vacant jobs and expenditures from a reserve account that catches all extra sales and property tax money not budgeted as well unspent money.
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