Crystal_Cotti's Blog

The summer break is over for Austin council members...their weekly marathon meetings resume this Thursday. And what better way to say "Welcome Back" than with the city manager's proposed budget.

Consider this round one of budget deliberations. This is Marc Ott's first proposed budget as the Austin City Manager so expect it to be under the microscope. After he makes his recommendations, city council members get to have their say. A few public meetings later, the council votes, typically in mid-September to approve the budget which goes into effect October 1.

This year the council has about a $25 million gap to fill. Ott has directed all city departments to cut $600,000 from their budget without significantly impacting city services. It will take some budget magic to accomplish that but so far Ott has been able to contain any significant opposition. A proposal to not fund the city's Housing Trust Fund is the only one to attract any outcry from the public. (Although  rumors are flying firefighters aren't happy about a proposal to close downtown fire stations on the weekend on a rotating basis...we'll let you know if that makes it into the final draft, it seems doubtful based on the political cost the city would face)

Alas, it seems social service organizations are more worried about not getting a 10 percent increase in city funding rather than any actual cuts. A concern like that doesn't seem to mobilize the troops the way cuts would so I'm predicting very few budget fireworks. Hopefully, I'm wrong.