City Council set stricter guidelines for mid-year budget amendments at its April 10 meeting. The ordinance passed 7-0.

"I just felt this was a way of strengthening—tightening [the process] up a little bit," Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell said.

The revised policy limits the scenarios for budget amendments outside of the budget process. Some of those exceptions include when there would be verifiable costs or risks from delaying action or when funding is required to address extraordinary circumstances such as a natural disaster.

Councilman Chris Riley said he thinks the council needs to have "flexibility to make appropriate adjustments" so members can make timely and needed amendments without battling stringent limitations.