The city of Austin’s proposed fiscal year 2016-17 budget is $3.7 billion—about $200 million more than FY 2015-16 with a proposed property tax rate of $0.4411 per $100 valuation. The proposed tax rate would be a decrease from the FY 2015-16 tax rate of $0.4589 per $100 valuation. With the proposed rate, a resident with a median-valued home would have an annual projected tax bill increase of $44, according to city documents. Council must approve the budget no later than Sept. 14.

Austin Police Department

  • $402.5 million proposed budget, an increase from $391 million
  • 12 new sworn officer positions proposed to increase proactive community policing time; 21 new civilian positions proposed to move 21 sworn officers currently performing civilian work back into patrol activities
  • 73 percent of residents said they were satisfied with the overall quality of police services in FY 2015-16

Animal Services

  • $13.1 million proposed budget, an increase from $11.7 million
  • Three new animal control officers proposed to meet increased call demand, improve response time, bolster community education and perform community outreach
  • 7,200 animals adopted in FY 2015-16

Emergency Medical Services

  • $84.4 million proposed budget, an increase from $78.8 million
  • 52 medic I and II positions proposed to complete the transition to a 42-hour work week approved in FY 2015-16
  • Department anticipates receiving 152,564 emergency calls in FY 2016-17 and has a goal to process 90 percent of all calls within 90 seconds

Parks and Recreation

Director Sara Hensley said the department plans to open more than 100 acres of new, improved or redeveloped parkland in FY 2016-17.

  • $94.9 million proposed budget, an increase from $87.2 million
  • Bachman Park, Colony Park, Country Club Creek Trail, Brownie Park, Georgian Acres Park, Janet Long Fish Tract, Veloway Trail, Convict Hill Quarry Park, Covered Bridge, Elroy Neighborhood Park, Rinard Creek Greenbelt, Wunneburger Park, Duncan Neighborhood Park, Town Lake Metro Park, Eilers Neighborhood Park and Hoffman Oaks Park slated for improvements

Austin Public Library

Director Brenda Branch said the department is collaborating with the Austin and Travis County Health and Human Services departments to help the community build health literacy and basic digital literacy skills.

  • $48.1 million proposed budget, an increase from $42 million
  • $3.6 million to fund Phase 2 of the New Central Library, which is expected to open in spring 2017
  • In FY 2014-15, 5.6 million items were checked out; 3.1 million customers visited one of the 22 library locations.

Austin Fire department

Fire Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr said there have been significant delays in renovating existing fire station locker rooms for female firefighters to be gender-neutral because of a backlog and lack of funding.

  • $185.9 million proposed budget, an increase from $175.3 million
  • Three new firefighter positions added to patrol the airport and nine new civilian positions added
  • $3 million will cover overtime costs and vacancies; department has 134 vacancies as of Aug. 10

Health and Human Services

  • $99.2 million proposed budget, an increase from $85.2 million
  • Department anticipates providing 4,500 people with preventive screening and educational health services in FY 2016-17

Austin Water

  • $577.7 million proposed budget, an increase from $542.4 million
  • 20.5 new positions proposed to address growing service area and number of customers; two positions proposed for the expedited plan review program
  • Average customers’ water/wastewater bill expected to rise by $2.95 per month

Austin Energy

Interim General Manager Mark Dombroski said the department expects to be able to reduce revenue requirements and base rates for most customers beginning in January 2017.

  • $1.38 billion proposed budget, a decrease from $1.43 billion
  • Base rate adjustments because of a cost-of-service study and rate review have lowered the revenue requirements by $24.6 million and will lower systemwide rates by 3.8 percent; average customers’ electricity bills are expected to increase by an estimated $1.74 per month.

Austin Code

  • $19.8 million proposed budget, a decrease from $20.1 million
  • The department anticipates investigating 20,030 code compliance cases in FY 2016-17

Neighborhood Housing and Community Development

The department is seeking public input on its housing plan until the end of August. The plan includes numerical goals, timelines and strategies to maintain and create affordable housing for all incomes within the city.

  • $19.5 million proposed budget, an increase from $18.8 million
  • Department has a goal of creating 200 permanent supportive housing units by 2018

Municipal Court

  • $26.4 million proposed budget, an increase from $24.9 million
  • The department is in the process of acquiring a new case-management system, approved last fiscal year, to process 350,000 new cases filed annually and facility online services

Austin Resource Recovery

  • $91.9 million, an increase from $90.8 million
  • Base customer charges expected to increase by $1 per month; Clean Community Fee rates set to increase by $0.40 per month for residential customers and $1.75 per month for commercial customers

Austin Convention Center

The city of Austin is soliciting feedback from the public on the proposed expansion of the Austin Convention Center, which was built in 1992.

  • $102.2 million proposed budget, an increase from $93.1 million
  • 62.7 percent of the department’s revenue is funded by the city’s hotel occupancy tax
  • In FY 2014-15, the center hosted 18 new events

Communications and Technology Management

  • $97 million proposed budget, an increase from $88.6 million
  • $24,500 is sought for body cameras for Austin Police Department

Economic Development

Calling it “bureaucratic” at an Aug. 9 budget work session, District 6 Council Member Don Zimmerman said he wants to eliminate the economic development department.

  • $46.2 million proposed budget, a decrease from $47.9 million
  • Department estimates it created 232 city jobs in FY 2015-16, with 785 expected to be created in FY 2016-17 by new business incentives and programs

Fleet Services

  • $55.7 million proposed budget, an increase from $55.4 million
  • Proposed $16.5 million to purchase vehicles

Planning and Zoning

  • $8.5 million proposed budget, a decrease from $9.8 million
  • Two proposed new positions to support CodeNEXT and long-range planning

Development Services

  • $45.5 million proposed budget, an increase from $39.3 million
  • 39 proposed new positions to address workload issues and reduce permit review backlog
  • In FY 2014-15, 93 percent of building inspections were performed within 24 hours of the request

Human Resources

  • $16.8 million proposed budget, an increase from $16 million
  • Minimum hourly wage for city employees to increase from $13.03 to $13.50
  • 2 percent performance-based salary increase proposed

Austin Transportation

  • $44.4 million proposed budget, an increase from $43.3 million
  • 12 new positions proposed for traffic signal maintenance as well as signal timing and safety improvements, Vision Zero, traffic management, corridor mobility reports, data analysis, transportation planning and Austin Center for Events initiatives

Public Works

  • $90.3 million proposed budget, an increase from $86.1 million
  • 82,043 linear feet of new sidewalk proposed to be constructed or renovatedCentral