Photo courtesy City of Austin The 2011–12 Austin City Council (from left): Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole, Councilman Bill Spelman, Councilwoman Laura Morrison, Mayor Lee Leffingwell, Councilwoman Kathie Tovo, and Councilmen Chris Riley and Mike Martinez.
The Austin City Council went through its first day of budget and tax rate discussions and amendments Sept. 10, and council members recessed the meeting until Sept. 11 without taking any action.
The 2012–13 proposed budget totals about $3.1 billion in expenditures and about $3 billion in appropriated funds. The 2012–13 proposed tax rate is 50.29 cents per $100 of assessed property value, an increase of 2.18 cents over last year's tax rate. The increase is expected to generate an estimated additional $49.4 million in general fund revenue, totaling about $313.3 million in property tax revenue.
After a presentation by city staff proposing 14 amendments to the operating budget, Mayor Lee Leffingwell proposed a more than $4.4 million budget reduction by levying a 2 percent reduction in funds to nonpublic safety departments including Planning and Development, Social Services and Parks and Recreation.
"I feel very good about where the City of Austin is now, but we are in a recovery and it's a gradual recovery, not only here but around the nation," Leffingwell said. "I don't think it's the time for a huge tax increase."
Leffingwell's proposal also would reduce the tax rate by 0.57 cents, bringing the rate to 49.72 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
"I want to try to reduce the amount of property tax increase and still provide the necessary services," Leffingwell said. "I realize this budget presented by staff is a good budget. A lot of thought went into it, and it reflects the input of the community and reflects the input of council members, but I'm going to make a proposal that will reduce (the budget.)"
Many other council members expressed concern over such broad cuts, some even as high as $1 million.
"This would be a pretty big amendment, and I don't have a clear sense how it would affect those departments," Councilwoman Kathie Tovo said during the discussion.
"I like the idea of saving ($4.4 million). I like the idea of spreading it around so that it's roughly even-handed to all departments but I think it's important for us to have at least a better sense than we've got now of what's going to happen," Councilman Bill Spelman said.
Spelman suggested giving the city staff about a week to review the changes and come back to the council with a clearer picture of how the cuts could affect each department, but the motion failed on a vote of 6-1, with the mayor voting for the amendment.
Council members also proposed 14 different amendments to the budget, four of which dealt with revenue and 10 of which dealt with expenditures, but no action was taken on these items.
The council will take up these amendments when it reconvenes Sept. 11 in order to possibly vote on a first reading of the budget and tax rate. A second meeting is expected to follow the conclusion of the first meeting.
