City of Austin releases proposed budget for 2023-2024
AUSTIN (KXAN) — City of Austin Interim City Manager Jesús Garza released his proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year on Sunday, which forecasts a combined projected increase of 2% in local fees for the typical ratepayer.
In his message included in the budget, Garza said the budget is “Back to Basics.”
“The FY 2023-24 Budget we are proposing is Back to Basics in the sense that we are refocusing on the core services our residents need and expect,” Garza said. “To ignite and foster a Back to Basics culture, I moved quickly to evaluate and fundamentally shift the organizational structure of the City. We went beyond an organizational chart – we carefully and critically assessed issues that represent our most significant community challenges, like emergency response, capital project delivery, homelessness and affordability, defining the City’s role, as well as the roles of partner organizations.”
He said that the $5.5 billion budget also targets the city council’s priorities of “affordability, resiliency, quality of life, public safety, and ending homelessness.”
The proposed city budget’s spending breakdown.
The city budget’s breakdown of its general fund.
“Doing this requires a bias to action, and already sweeping changes have yielded significant results,” Garza said. “The proposed budget…continues that important work and provides the City of Austin with a blueprint for the future. The budget…secures the financial health of our City, while investing in the crucial areas that not only matter most to our community but are paramount if Austin is to live up to its longstanding legacy as a world-class city.”
Austin’s 2022-2023 budget totaled $5 billion, and the 2021-2022 budget was $4.5 billion.
According to the first page of the budget document, the budget will raise more in total property taxes than the 2022-2023 budget by 2.3%. Of that, around 48% was raised from property added to the tax roll over the last year.
Ratepayer changes from the city’s proposed budget.
The city council will begin discussions about the budget soon, and ask for public input before adopting the budget in August, according to the city’s budget page.
Source: KXAN.com
