AUSTIN (KXAN) — The city of Austin will release its proposed budget several days before it presents to Austin City Council this year, according to City Manager TC Broadnax.
The proposed budget will be made public on July 11 — next Friday. City staff will officially present that proposed budget to city council on the following Tuesday, July 15.
Broadnax sat down with KXAN’s Grace Reader on Inside Austin’s Agenda last week to break down what you can expect from the budget process this year. Here’s what you need to know:
Austin will need to address $40 million budget deficit
According to Broadnax, the city will need to work through a deficit before signing off on the budget, which will go into effect Oct. 1.
“In that budget we are still working through how to close a $40 million budget gap primarily driven by reduced sales tax and a small shift in how our land valuations came back to us,” Broadnax said. He also pointed to lost federal grants and an increase in cost associated with current contracts.
For months, the city has warned the budget process this year will be tough — and cuts will need to be made.
“I’m deliberately focused on ensuring that there is not a wholesale negative impact on any specific service, and/or things that would be highly objectionable within reason,” Broadnax said.
The big picture
“Our overall budget is…close to $6 billion,” Broadnax said. “Of that…that’s inclusive of all the departments.”
When the budget is released, it will include everything: Austin Energy, the Convention Center, the airport. But to get a more clear picture of where your property taxes go, you want to dig into the general fund.
“The general fund, which is about $1.4-$1.5 billion is comprised of where all the normal, traditional departments are — police, fire, EMS, libraries,” Broadnax said.
In fact, most of your taxes go to public safety. If you pooled all of the money coming into the general fund, 100% of your property taxes and roughly 75% of Austin’s sales tax revenue goes toward EMS, fire and police, according to Broadnax. Other departments like parks and libraries are funded through city fees.
And finally, it’s important to keep in mind the city of Austin isn’t the only entity pulling property taxes from you — nor are they the largest. According to city financial staff, last year Austin made up 23.7% of your property tax bill. Austin Independent School District claimed the most at 47.6%.
Travis County, Austin Community College and Central Health also collect property taxes.
“That’s the part I think cities have the biggest struggle with. One, they don’t get to set what the values for the properties are…but then also, you know, folk don’t go to county commission meetings, they don’t go to trustee meetings and other meetings, they come to where I think the rubber meets the road and that’s the city council,” Broadnax said.