City of Austin Council Message Board

Colleagues,

Thanks to our financial/budget staff for their excellence. And thanks for the Council’s robust discussion.

The process I’m anticipating is this:

1) we currently have a budget that was passed previously.
2) the main motion will be to amend that budget with the City Manager’s proposed revision/amendment that he presented on November 7.
3) further motions will be proposed amendments to the main motion.

Based on the discussion, we are requesting the City Manager develop a budget amendment (an amendment to the main motion) that is a single amendment taking into account the main priorities of the Council. Those appear to be items related to EMS (additional overtime and to improve dispatch), EMCOT (maximize coverage for emergency medical health response) and homelessness services (additional non-congregate shelter and PSH support). We are asking that the professional staff identify revenue opportunities to do as much as is financially responsible to meet the goals in these areas. We recognize that all our hopes may not be met.

As I said today, members may have other proposed amendments. Those will be, again, amendments to the main motion. They will require a revenue source.

We are hopeful the primary amendment to the main motion (EMS, EMCOT, HSO) can be completed by staff by the end of day Wednesday, but we recognize the difficulty we’re placing on staff. Individual amendments should still be submitted by 10:00 AM tomorrow, if at all possible.

We think the results from this amendment will provide for a coherent budget approach

Thanks again for your work. We look forward to our continued deliberations. 

Kirk

CM Vela
CM Alter
CM Laine
CM Qadri

Colleagues,
We all knew this budget process would be tough, and it has been. But I’m encouraged that we’re united on the basics: protecting EMS so medics can keep saving lives, not going backward on our work to reduce homelessness, and making sure people in crisis get help through EMCOT instead of being left on their own. These are services that keep regular people safe, and they’re worth fighting for. I want to thank our staff for digging in and finding ways to keep them funded.

But the truth is simple: we’re going to have to say “no” more often than we’d like—but that’s what responsible budgeting looks like, and taxpayers deserve nothing less. And if we’re asking the community to accept tough choices, we should hold ourselves to the same standard. That’s why I’m putting forward an amendment to cut my own office budget by 8.5%, matching the proportional reductions required across the city without TRE revenues.

I’m also offering two pieces of direction to make sure City Hall delivers additional transparency and accountability. First, I’m asking the City Auditor to help us shine a light on where we can save money and operate more efficiently—and to put those findings on a public-facing website so everyone can track our progress. Second, I want our boards and commissions involved, because the people who volunteer their time to serve on them know their issues inside and out and can help us find real savings.

At the end of the day, these decisions aren’t about City Hall—they’re about the people we serve. I look forward to continuing this conversation in the days ahead.

Alter Budget Amendment 1: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 094120.pdf
Alter Budget Direction 1: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 094917.pdf
Alter Budget Direction 2: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 094152.pdf

Ryan

Colleagues,

I'm grateful for our collective support for these vital priorities. My office has developed two additional budget amendments which reflect immediate funding gaps within our community.

Laine Amendment 05 - Veterinary Services (100k): http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 100144.pdf

This amendment serves to provide emergency stabilization and pain management for severely injured animals found outside of the City of Austin Animal Center's operating hours. This service has long been provided for members of the public, and this allocation would maintain this service for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Laine Amendment 09 - Williamson County Child Advocacy Services (300k): http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 100524.pdf

This amendment helps close the gap in funding for child abuse victims and witnesses of violent crime who live at Austin addresses outside of Travis County. I wish to thank my co-sponsors for their support of these children, who deserve equal support from the City of Austin following traumatic events and victimization.

We have been advised to label the funding sources for these amendments as TBD. I look forward to our discussion on the dais.

Thank you,

Krista

Colleagues,

In line with the City Manager’s efforts to review our social service contracts and city-distributed grants for their effectiveness in providing basic services to our community, I submitted a budget direction for our consideration to develop uniform performance metrics and deliverables for these contracts and grants. This will ensure we are following best practices in procurement and grant awards.

Budget direction: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 103224.pdf

Kirk

On behalf of CM Ellis:

Colleagues,

Thank you for the helpful discussion yesterday and today. I also deeply appreciate our professional staff diving into the issues and working constructively with us to help us produce the best possible updated budget, given our financial constraints.

As I laid out today, I am sponsoring two budget amendments and welcome additional cosponsors:

Ellis-1: Restore Medical & Dental Benefits for Part-Time Temporary City Employees
Cost Estimate: Pending CBQ response, ongoing.
Suggested Source: Service Prioritization Austin-Human-Resources-01 (Contracts)
Confirmed Cosponsors: CM Velasquez, MPT Fuentes, CM Duchen
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 125034.pdf

Ellis-2: Partially Restore Additional Wildfire Mitigation Funding
Cost Estimate: $540k, ongoing [Note I have reduced this amendment from the original $1M.]
Suggested Source: Proposed Tax and Estate Planning Pilot
Confirmed Cosponsors: CM Laine, MPT Fuentes, CM Duchen
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 125117.pdf

Thanks,
Paige