{"id":367143,"date":"2026-07-09T18:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T18:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/367143\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T18:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T18:36:08","slug":"austin-nonprofits-brace-for-possible-social-service-cuts-in-next-city-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/367143\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin nonprofits brace for possible social service cuts in next city budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Austin\u2019s next budget<\/a> could determine how much help is available for people turning to nonprofits for food, rent and other basic needs.<\/p>\n

Austin leaders are preparing the city\u2019s next budget, and some organizations are worried they will be asked to do more with less as the need for services continues to grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are nervous, right. What does this mean for us, what does this mean for our partners in this work?\u201d said Georgia Hernandez, director of development for El Buen Samaritano Episcopal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

City documents show Austin already reduced or reallocated more than $5.2 million from social service contracts last year. Now, the city projects another $16.8 million in reductions over the next two budget cycles. The city says the cuts could be spread across the next two budgets, with $6 million to $8 million expected this coming year.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest frustration is that, with some foresight, we could have started on this two or three years ago and then avoided all of this kind of very challenging and contentious process,\u201d said Marc Duchen, Austin City Council District 6.<\/p>\n

Duchen said the city is trying to balance the need for services with another difficult budget year.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we’re working through a lot of potential challenges, right? This is the second year in a row that we find ourselves in a significant budget deficit,\u201d Duchen said. \u201cOur goal has really been trying to work with community partners that provide these services and recognizing that in many cases, these are important, if not essential services, but also recognizing that this is our second budget deficit in a row.”<\/p>\n

He said the goal is to avoid gaps in services. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re trying to be very thoughtful about this process in terms of making sure that we can continue to deliver services at a cost that we can afford, but also doesn’t create the sort of service interruptions or service gaps that impact people,\u201d Duchen said.<\/p>\n

El Buen Samaritano Episcopal provides food, rental assistance, workforce training, health services and other support for thousands of Central Texas families.<\/p>\n

RELATED | Austin to release first budget proposal Friday as leaders face $27M deficit<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/p>\n

Austin nonprofits that provide food assistance, rental assistance, help paying bills, and other support services are waiting to see how deep possible city budget cuts could go. (Alexia Stanbridge\/ CBS Austin)<\/p>\n

\u201cMany come for the need of food and then end up getting moved around to all of our other programs,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n

Hernandez said the organization already felt the impact of last year\u2019s funding reductions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne million dollars meant 180 families that El Buen serves wouldn\u2019t be able to be served and kept housed,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n

She said the need is not slowing down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe need isn’t cutting. The need is still there; the need is growing,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n

In its most recent numbers, El Buen Samaritano Episcopal served almost 35,000 separate individuals. More than 4,000 received rental assistance, and the organization says 74% maintained stable housing continuously after receiving assistance. Now, Hernandez said the organization is hoping it will not be one of the groups that receives cuts this year. She said El Buen is also preparing, getting creative and looking for outside funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this calls us to get creative; it calls us to collaborate more,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n

Some council members said nonprofits are facing a difficult and uncertain budget cycle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they are entering really uncertain times, and that\u2019s really hard for nonprofits who are just getting by if at all,\u201d said Ryan Alter, Austin City Council District 5.<\/p>\n

Alter said council members are trying to determine which programs must be prioritized.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are trying to figure out as a body is, what are our biggest priorities and what do we absolutely need to fund, and then what are those programs that are maybe important but maybe can’t rise to the level of some of the other programs,\u201d Alter said.<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/p>\n

Austin nonprofits that provide food assistance, rental assistance, help paying bills, and other support services are waiting to see how deep possible city budget cuts could go. (Alexia Stanbridge\/ CBS Austin)<\/p>\n

He said part of the challenge is tied to revenue limitations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s because of limitations placed on us by the state. We have to pay for the same things that are more expensive just like everyone else. And we don’t have the money to do it,\u201d Alter said.<\/p>\n

Alter said the decisions are difficult because the services directly affect people in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, we are talking about programs that keep people alive,\u201d Alter said.<\/p>\n

He said the city has to plan for long-term budget limits. \u201cLooking forward, we have to recognize that we are under this revenue limitation and so we can’t always say yes when we want to, even when there is a program … we think is really worthy,\u201d Alter said.<\/p>\n

Alter said the city has also launched an efficiency assessment. \u201cWe have also just launched an efficiency assessment of our city, and I believe that is going to help find some savings across our city,\u201d Alter said.<\/p>\n

Duchen said the city cannot be the only source of money for some programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city can’t afford to be the sole provider or sole funder of certain programs, and that comes at a great cost,\u201d Duchen said.<\/p>\n

The city says the reductions follow the failed tax rate election in 2025.<\/p>\n

District 7 Council Member Mike Siegel said he is looking at options to limit cuts to social services, including pulling from consulting contracts.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me that\u2019s an area I think that the city would like us to make cuts, instead of these essential life-saving programs and supports,\u201d Siegel said.<\/p>\n

Siegel said the city also needs help beyond the local level. \u201cWell, at the structural level we need to make sure the federal government starts funding essential programs and services again,\u201d Siegel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we want to make sure we are not wasting money on professional consultant contracts for work that can be done by city employees,\u201d Siegel said.<\/p>\n

He said with these difficult decisions and the budget issues, “being an Austin city councilman right now is pretty tough,\u201d Siegel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy priority is big picture,\u201d Siegel said.<\/p>\n

City leaders are expected to release their proposed budget Friday. That will give nonprofits a better idea of what the reductions could look like and whether their programs could be affected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Austin\u2019s next budget could determine how much help is available for people turning to nonprofits…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-367143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}