A tax rate election will take place this November after Council approved a $6.3 billion budget for fiscal year 2026 based on a tax rate 5 cents above the state cap following a lengthy and frequently procedurally confused discussion that lasted more than two days. The average homeowner’s property taxes would rise by almost $300 per year the next year if Austinites approved that tax rate. In any case, there will be a $116 rise in fees for city services like trash and water.
Without those extra five cents, City Manager T.C. Broadnax’s initial budget proposal from July would have reduced funding for a number of nonprofit public health and homeless services, the city’s housing trust fund, firefighter overtime, the library bookstore Recycled Reads, and other services in order to address a $33 million deficit.
Those services were restored and the majority of Council’s goals were approved after an agreement was achieved on Thursday. Firefighter overtime was brought back to national standards, the well-liked Homelessness Strategy Office’s comprehensive plan was fully funded, and additional funds were added for EMS 911 call-takers, park maintenance, police supervision, financial support from the family stabilization grant, the Harvest Trauma Recovery Center, wildfire mitigation, sidewalk and street safety improvements, and more.
The Austin Police Department (APD) will reduce its overtime budget by $9 million this year, despite public safety remaining the largest item in the municipal budget. Additionally, Council Member Ryan Alter’s amendment will allow APD to deploy non-sworn personnel for more tasks, freeing up sworn personnel to patrol. CM Chito Vela praised this step, pointing out that there aren’t many methods to save costs in the field of public safety.
Even while there was enough agreement to pass the budget, concerns remained about how sustainable the money would be given the city’s ongoing structural deficit, additional state restrictions, and three more years (at least) of a Trump administration that is slash-and-burn.
Council Member Marc Duchen has been the only member to vote against almost every item during the budget process, and he reiterated his fear that the budget was a band-aid solution on Thursday before voting against it. Duchen went on to say that in the very near future, we will have to deal with some of these issues, even ones that we voted on only five minutes ago. He suggested a third-party audit of the city’s spending to ensure that we’re using every dollar wisely as he concluded his remarks. (Duchen attempted, but was unsuccessful, to increase Austin Energy utility bills, which would have generated an additional $63 million in revenue.)
A number of Council members cautioned that items designated as one-time expenses will eventually become stopgap fixes and be considered annually.
By identifying what are obviously going to be one-time and ongoing expenses, we’re going to be in the same spot, perhaps annually, Duchen said.
The opposite worry was voiced by Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison, who abstained from numerous last-minute amendments: I find it quite difficult to watch important items fall under ongoing when I see these groups getting ready for ongoing and then having the rug stolen from under them.
“I don’t want to create a false perception for the social service providers that just because it’s in the budget in 2026, the expectation is that it might be here in 2028 or 30,” the city manager said Thursday, during the budget meetings, in his opening remarks. The question of whether the city should be providing additional services in addition to its core offerings is up for debate. What he believed to be core versus non-core services was not elaborated by Broadnax.
The fact that this budget keeps the city’s 17 percent reserves annually until 2028 is one of the reasons given by a number of Council members for their yes vote.
Council Member Zo Qadri stated that we would be in the green for at least three years after the beginning. A balanced budget has been our aim. This is the closest we can go to it, and it’s how we satisfy community needs while safeguarding our city from future federal cuts. Yes, it’s raining right now. Although we are aware of how dire things are, we still need to be ready for additional rainy days.
When the budget was passed, Mayor Kirk Watson stated, “We’ve recognized that there is an inherent tension between asking people to pay rates, fees, and taxes for services and the issue of affordability.” It’s not ideal. It is a feature of living in a large, multicultural metropolis where individuals hold a wide range of opinions. It won’t always live up to our standards of excellence.
This budget cycle, Alter said, was a decision between investing in the community and following the example set by the federal and state governments.
He said we had a choice. We could do what Austin does best, which is to look out for one another, or we could follow the federal and state models and leave Austinites alone. We made a human choice today.
Community donations enable the work of the Austin Monitors. Even though we occasionally publish on funders, we take pains to ensure transparency by keeping editorial and business activities apart. Our code of ethics is described here, and a full list of donors can be seen here.
You’re a community leader
And we are thrilled that you trust us with important, in-depth news. You are aware that local and committed watchdog reporting is essential to a healthy community. We will always be here to support you. Will you now support our nonprofit news organization and take the bold next step?
