The Travis County Commissioners Court signed off on a $2.3 billion budget for the next fiscal year on Tuesday, putting more money toward affordable housing, mental healthcare and disaster preparedness.<\/p>\n
Travis County\u2019s revenue comes mostly from property taxes, and it makes up about a fifth of an Austinite’s property tax bill. The budget went up 4% this year, but because property values dipped slightly<\/a> this year, some people will pay a little less in taxes. Someone with a home valued at $372,633 will pay $1,439 in property taxes to the county \u2014 about $30 less than last year.<\/p>\n If you like to nerd out on local government budgets, you can check the entire 511-page document here<\/a>. Otherwise, follow the breakdown below.<\/p>\n Services for Travis County\u2019s most vulnerable residents\u00a0<\/p>\n Tax dollars fund the county jail \u2014 the county\u2019s biggest expense \u2014 plus the Sheriff\u2019s Office, criminal and civil courts, staff salaries, roads, parks and the cost of putting on elections. The budget also funds some programs you might not expect from a county, including affordable childcare<\/a>, affordable housing, and mental healthcare services<\/a>. Travis County Judge Andy Brown said that\u2019s because counties are being \u201casked to do more with limited resources\u201d in recent years because of spending cuts or overall gaps at the state and federal level.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest one ongoing is mental health services,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThe state is supposed to provide indigent mental healthcare through the state hospital system, but they don’t fund that sufficiently. There’s not enough capacity in that system across the state, and especially here in Travis County.\u201d<\/p>\n Brown said as a result, the county is investing about $15 million in its mental health diversion program \u2014 which redirects people accused of low level crimes to in-patient mental health facilities instead of sending them to jail. That\u2019s on top of $54 million Central Health recently approved<\/a> for mental health services.<\/p>\n Brown said this year marks the biggest investment the county has made in the diversion program. It\u2019s eventually expected to save the county money by preventing more people from entering jail, which Brown calls the \u201clargest and most expensive\u201d mental health care facility in the county.<\/p>\n The budget also includes $2 million to build more affordable housing units for people at risk of becoming homeless, and $3 million to hire more lawyers to represent indigent clients. <\/p>\n $1.6 million will go toward hiring senior lawyers who can handle complex felony cases.<\/p>\n Disaster preparedness<\/p>\n The budget boosts the county\u2019s reserve fund for disasters from $18 million to $35 million \u2014 a move Brown said the county is making after it zeroed out its savings account when responding to the July 2025 floods<\/a>, which killed nine people, destroyed nearly 200 homes and left enough debris to fill well over 3,000 dump trucks.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are seeing the effects climate change is having on our community,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe have to recognize that we could have a much larger disaster at any point. We could have flooding that affects a broader geographic area. We could have a fire that, almost by definition, would affect a much larger geographic area.\u201d<\/p>\n One last rail study\u00a0<\/p>\n The county is also putting $200,000 toward what Brown hopes will be the county\u2019s last study on a passenger rail line from Austin to San Antonio. The study will examine the economic benefit of building a rail \u2014 and the downsides of moving forward without one.<\/p>\n