{"id":405072,"date":"2026-08-13T02:00:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T02:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/405072\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T02:00:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T02:00:19","slug":"austin-city-council-adopts-6-6-billion-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/405072\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin City Council adopts $6.6 billion budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Austin City Council adopted a budget on Wednesday that makes cuts<\/a> to several programs and services and sets up the framework for a new office aimed at speeding up emergency response times. <\/p>\n

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and Council Member Marc Duchen voted against the budget, citing concerns about the city’s spending as residents struggle with affordability. <\/p>\n

“At this point in time, we could have done more to meet the needs of people struggling in our community,” Watson said. <\/p>\n

The $6.6 billion budget includes more than $5 million in cutbacks to social service contracts, which are agreements the city makes with nonprofits and groups that serve people in need. But an unexpected $4.7 million in additional property tax revenue will allow the council to restore some of those contracts through one-time funding. <\/p>\n

A recent city audit<\/a> found that several local nonprofits had been underperforming and were not consistently providing promised services. The audit did not identify the nonprofits by name. <\/p>\n

Austin City Council members are now asking city staff to take a deeper dive into those contracts to determine which programs are performing well and how they benefit the community. <\/p>\n

While city leaders work to figure out which programs will get funding, they’re also focused on improving Austin’s 911 system and addressing slow response times. <\/p>\n

Council Members Krista Laine, Mike Siegel, Ryan Alter and Jos\u00e9 Vel\u00e1squez cosponsored an amendment which would move 911 call takers from the Austin Police Department to a newly created office focused on emergency communications, funded by $1.3 million from the police budget and other city funds.<\/p>\n

“We need change, and we need to make a commitment as a council to continue on the path to excellence in emergency communication,” Laine said.<\/p>\n

Six council members voted in favor of creating the office, with Watson and Duchen opposing it. Council Members Chito Vela, Paige Ellis and Natasha Harper-Madison abstained from the vote. City staff and public safety leaders advised against the move, saying it was premature. <\/p>\n

“I think we are all sharing a similar need here,” Ellis said. “But I worry this could be something that inadvertently slows down response times and creates confusion and chaos at the worst possible moment.” <\/p>\n

The budget also includes $3 million to keep a temporary emergency shelter known as the Marshalling Yard open, along with $6 million for permanent supportive housing services and $6 million to fund overtime costs for the Austin Fire Department. <\/p>\n

The council added some expenses using certificates of obligation, a type of loan that does not require voter approval. That includes $32 million for mobility projects that will add sidewalks, bike lanes and urban trails, $3 million to upgrade and expand the Austin Animal Center and $1 million for traffic calming devices, like speed bumps. <\/p>\n

It’s been several weeks since Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax presented a draft budget<\/a> to the City Council, stressing spending constraints. City staff have blamed limited property tax and flat sales tax revenues for financial challenges. <\/p>\n

The city tried to fill the gap last year with a proposed property tax hike known as Proposition Q, but voters soundly rejected<\/a> that effort. <\/p>\n

In November, the city will put a $295 million bond<\/a> proposal before voters, which would increase property taxes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Austin City Council adopted a budget on Wednesday that makes cuts to several programs and services and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2067,132,134,133,141880,1223,10533,11143,42053,141881,3222,2063,1225],"class_list":["post-405072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-affordability","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-austin-social-service-contracts","tag-austin-texas","tag-austin-tx","tag-city-budget","tag-city-spending","tag-homelessnesss","tag-housing","tag-property-taxes","tag-public-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405072","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=405072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}