message<\/a> to the City Council and the mayor, Broadnax wrote the budget was challenging to create and that adjustments were necessary for further growth. As part of the proposal, property taxes are also projected to increase by about $14 a month.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cThis year\u2019s proposed budget presents a pathway forward for the City of Austin that will allow us to continue to provide the exceptional services our community members deserve, prioritize what they most value, and invest in areas of greatest need,\u201d Broadnax wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hannah McKay, a civil engineering junior living off campus, said while she and her roommates only pay for electricity and split the bill, she could see this change becoming noticeable for some residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s one of those things that\u2019s going to drive people out of town per se, or force people to leave their homes or their housing situations,\u201d McKay said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be something that people are going to maybe notice depending on their financial situation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, with these increases, many services are at risk of being cut. Social services contracts are being reduced in the planned budget, which includes food access assistance, mental health resources and, especially for students, housing assistance, Qadri said. He said his office and others in the city are specifically worried about these proposed cuts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to either reduce those cuts or completely avoid them at all costs,\u201d Qadri said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the Council reviews the budget, any residents can share their thoughts or concerns at Council meetings or town halls, Qadri said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAny sort of thing that could burden a family of four or a UT student living in West Campus, we want to make sure that we\u2019re hearing from these folks,\u201d Qadri said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austin residents may pay a small percentage more per month for utilities and property taxes if the new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-379276","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\/379276","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=379276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}