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SO I THINK MAYBE IN JUST A MINUTE HERE, WE'LL GO AHEAD AND HAVE COUNCIL MEMBER FLANAGAN GREET YOU ALL.
UH, TELL YOU A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE BUDGET THIS YEAR.
AND THEN, UM, AND DANNY KNEW OUR BUDGET GURU AT THE CITY WILL TELL YOU ALL ABOUT THE BUDGET.
AND AS YOU HEAR THESE PRESENTATIONS, PLEASE DO FEEL FREE TO ADD QUESTIONS INTO THE CHAT FEATURE OR THROUGH THE EMAIL ADDRESS.
AND WE WILL GET THOSE ANSWERED TOWARDS THE END OF THE EVENING.
SO, JIMMY, I THINK, UNLESS WE WANT TO WAIT ANOTHER MINUTE OR TWO, WHY DON'T YOU GO AHEAD AND TAKE IT AWAY FROM HERE? OKAY.
WELL, THIS IS LIZ, AS MARTY SAID, MARTY IS A CHIEF OF STAFF FOR THE DISTRICT SIX OFFICE, AND I'M GLAD THAT WE'RE ABLE TO HAVE OUR, OUR ANNUAL BUDGET CONVERSATION AND EVEN DOING IT VIRTUALLY.
UM, YOU CAN ACTUALLY GO ONTO MY FACEBOOK PAGE AND FIND THE PRIOR YEARS SOME OF THEM, AT LEAST THAT WE RECORDED, UH, WHERE I WOULD SOMETIMES FILL IN THE ROLE OF THAT VENUE AND SOMETIMES INVITE ED TO JOIN US OUT IN DISTRICT SIX, UH, AND PROVIDE, UH, INTERESTING COLOR COMMENTARY AS HE GOES THROUGH HIS PRESENTATION.
AND SO WE MIGHT DO SOMETHING SIMILAR TO THAT NOW.
UM, BUT IT'S A VERY INTERESTING AND CHALLENGING BUDGET YEAR.
THIS IS, UM, YOU KNOW, THERE'S JUST VERY, THERE'S VR.
THERE'S NOTHING IN THE PAST THAT PREDICTED OR IS SIMILAR TO WHAT WE'RE DOING NOW.
UM, WE HAVE A DIFFERENT BUDGET SCHEDULE THAN WE NORMALLY HAVE BECAUSE OF CHANGES IN THE LEGISLATURE LAST YEAR.
AND OBVIOUSLY THE PANDEMIC HAS, UH, DISRUPTED, UH, SALES TAX REVENUES, ESPECIALLY, BUT, BUT EVEN SOME OTHER SMALLER FUNDS THAT, THAT PAY FOR SOME OTHER, UH, SMALLER PARTS OF CITY FUNCTIONS.
AND THEN THERE'S THE FEDERAL STIMULUS THAT PLAYED A ROLE IN HOW WE HELPED ADDRESS SOME OF THOSE ISSUES AND ALL OF THE, UH, PANDEMIC RELATED EXPENSES THAT WE HAD TO ADJUST FOR IN THE BUDGET YEAR THAT IS WRAPPING UP.
AND THEN THE THINGS THAT WE'RE TRYING TO PLAN FOR IN THE BUDGET YEAR THAT WE ARE PROPOSING TO ADOPT.
THEN OF COURSE, FINALLY WE HAVE ALL OF OUR PUBLIC SAFETY DEBATE AND, UH, FUNDING QUESTIONS.
YOU KNOW, I CHAIR THE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE FOR THE COUNCIL.
THAT'S THAT HAPPENED ON JUNE 11TH.
WHEN THE COUNCIL UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED A SET OF RESOLUTIONS TO REIMAGINE OR RETHINK OR RESTRUCTURE OR REFORM, PICK A WORD, UM, WE'RE GOING TO TRY TO DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY AND SPECIFICALLY FOR DISTRICT SIX, THAT MATTERS.
CAUSE WHEN I TALKED TO FOLKS IN THE DISTRICT, WHAT I HEAR IS I WANT TO SEE MORE, I WANT TO SEE MORE TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT.
I WANT TO SEE MORE PROTECTION TO MY NEIGHBORHOODS.
I WANT TO SEE FASTER RESPONSE TIMES.
AND ULTIMATELY THERE'S JUST, YOU JUST CAN'T HIRE ENOUGH OFFICERS TO DO ALL OF THE WORK YOU WANT TO DO AND EXPECT THEM TO DO ALL THE JOBS YOU WANT THEM TO HAVE.
AND SO WE HAVE TO DO THIS DIFFERENTLY.
IF WE'RE GOING TO BE SMARTER, IF WE'RE GOING TO BE MORE FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE AND THAT'S THE TYPE OF WORK THAT WE'RE ENGAGING IN, YOU CAN ALSO CHECK THE COUNCIL MESSAGE BOARD, AUSTIN COUNCIL, FORUM.ORG FOR PROPOSALS THAT I POSTED AS WELL AS A FEW OTHER COUNCIL MEMBERS HAVE POSTED AS WE HEAD INTO THIS BUDGETED OPTION.
I DON'T EXPECT ED TO HAVE ANY OF THOSE THINGS PREPARED, UH, FOR COMMENT TODAY, I THINK THIS IS MORE OF A HIGH LEVEL CONVERSATION ABOUT WHERE THE BUDGET IS AND HOW THE BUDGET WORKS, UH, FOR OUR, FOR OUR BIG CITY.
UM, BUT, BUT THERE'S JUST A LOT OF WORK GOING ON.
AND THEN I'LL SAY BEFORE I HAND IT OFF TO ED THAT NORMALLY THE WAY THE BUDGET WOULD WORK IS THAT WE WOULD ADOPT IT, UH, IN SEPTEMBER ACTUALLY.
BUT BECAUSE THE LEGISLATURE CHANGED THE RULES, NOW WE DO IT IN AUGUST AND THEN WE WOULD KIND OF LET THE STAFF RUN WITH IT AND THE COUNCIL WOULD HANDLE OTHER POLICY MATTERS, LAND USE POLICY, TRANSPORTATION, POLICY, OTHER THINGS, BUT BECAUSE OF ALL THE CHANGES AND THE PANDEMIC AND POLICING AND ALL OF THE STUFF, IT IS FAR MORE LIKELY, COUNCIL WILL CONTINUE ITS BUDGET WORK BEYOND ADOPTION BEYOND FORMAL ADOPTION NEXT WEEK.
AND SO DON'T, YOU DON'T HAVE TO ASSUME THAT THINGS THAT YOU SEE IN THIS PRESENTATION ARE LOCKED IN STONE FOREVER.
UH, THE COUNCIL IS FAR AS MUCH MORE WILLING NOW THAN IT HAS BEEN IN THE PAST TO ENGAGE IN AN ONGOING CONVERSATION WITH THE PUBLIC ABOUT HOW WE WANT TO SEE CHANGES, HOW WE WANT TO SEE THINGS MOVE FORWARD.
AND IF WE HAVE BIG IDEAS, HOW QUICKLY OR EASILY THOSE ARE GOING TO BE ROLLED OUT.
SO A LOT OF ONGOING WORK TO BE DONE, BUT IT'S ALWAYS GOOD TO START WITH A FULL, AS FULL AND COMPREHENSIVE UNDERSTANDING OF WHERE THE MONEY IS, WHERE IT COMES FROM, WHERE IT GOES.
AND THERE IS NOBODY BETTER TO TELL THAT STORY AND TO EXPLAIN IT TO THIS COMMUNITY THAN THE AMAZING ED VENINA HEY, RIGHT.
THAT WILL BE AN AWESOME PRESENTATION OR ANYTHING.
IT COULD JUST BE ALL BUDGETS BE RIGHT.
UM, WELL THANK YOU FOR HAVING ME, EVERYBODY.
I MISS BEING AT THE LIBRARY TODAY.
UM, BUT UH, ENJOY BEING IN YOUR PRESENCE VIRTUALLY AND LOOK FORWARD TO HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH YOU THIS EVENING.
I AM GOING TO TOUCH ON THAT'S WHERE WE'RE PLANNING AND TEED UP.
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ABOUT COVID-19 AND OUR SPENDING FRAMEWORK, WE'RE RESPONDING TO THAT, THAT FEDERAL FUNDS, OUR FISCAL YEAR 21 BUDGET TAX RATES AND, UH, THE PROCESS THAT IS UNDERWAY ABOUT RE-IMAGINING WHAT PUBLIC SAFETY LOOKS LIKE IN AUSTIN.AND, UH, IF ALL GOES TO PLAN, I'M GOING TO TAKE ABOUT 20 MINUTES TO TEE UP THE FEE THAT UP, AND THEN WE'LL SEE WHAT KIND OF LIVELY DISCUSSION WE HAVE.
UM, AFTER THAT, LET ME START WITH SHARING MY SCREEN, UM, WITH THE CROWD SO WE CAN SEE WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.
SO LET ME START OFF, UM, TALKING ABOUT OUR COVID-19 SPENDING FRAMEWORK.
AND, UM, UM, AS COUNCIL MEMBER MENTIONED, WE HAVE RECEIVED A LOT OF FEDERAL FUNDS.
WE'VE ALSO BROUGHT SOME OF OUR LOCAL FUNDING TO BEAR, UH, TO THE CHALLENGE THAT THE COMMUNITY IS FACING IN REGARDS TO COVID-19 IN TOTAL, THE CITY'S RESPONSE RELATED TO COVID-19 IS $330.3 MILLION.
WE WENT THROUGH A LOT OF DISCUSSIONS WITH THE CITY COUNCIL AND WITH COMMUNITY GROUPS AND STAKEHOLDERS ABOUT HOW WE COULD BEST UTILIZE THOSE MONIES TO NOT ONLY MEET THE DIRECT EMERGENCY RESPONSE, BUT OF COURSE ALSO ADDRESS THE MEDICAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH NEEDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE PANDEMIC.
UM, BUT THEN, AND VERY, VERY IMPORTANTLY, PROVIDING ECONOMIC SUPPORT TO OUR, OUR COMMUNITY MEMBERS, INDIVIDUALS, AND BUSINESSES, NONPROFITS, AND, UM, UM, CREATIVE SECTOR INDIVIDUALS THAT HAVE BEEN DIALING IN IMPACTED BY THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF COVID-19 AND THE GATHERING RESTRICTIONS AND THE IMPACT ON THE WORLD, LOCAL ECONOMY AND THE FINAL PIECE.
SO BIT THAT WE DIDN'T SPEND A LOT OF TIME TALKING ABOUT IT.
IT WAS A $58.7 MILLION CAUSE IT WAS ALLOCATED TO THEM THE AIRPORT.
AND THAT IS SPECIFICALLY FROM AN AIRPORT GRANT THAT WE RECEIVED FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THAT CAN ONLY BE USED FOR AIRPORT PURPOSES.
SO THAT'S WHY THERE WASN'T A LOT OF ATTENTION PUT ON THAT LARGE DOLLAR, UH, AMOUNT OF FUNDING.
BUT AGAIN, IN TOTAL, UH, $330.3 MILLION, THESE ARE THINGS THAT ARE ALREADY IN PLACE.
THE COUNCILS APPROVED THIS, UH, SPENDING FRAMEWORK, THE FUNDS HAVE BEEN APPROPRIATED AND OUR VARIOUS CITY DEPARTMENTS ARE ENGAGED IN IMPLEMENTING THIS FRAMEWORK.
OUR PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT AND MEDICAL DIRECTOR ARE FOCUSED HEAVILY ON THE PUBLIC HEALTH NEEDS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING, BUT ALSO THE, UH, PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT ARE FOCUSED ON WHEN THE ECONOMIC SUPPORT COMPONENT OF THE, THE FRAMEWORK, UM, EMERGENCY RESPONSE, UM, IMPACTS OUR, UM, OUR, UM, HOMELAND SECURITY AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICE AND A WHOLE SLEW OF CITY OPERATIONS.
AND THEN OF COURSE THE AIRPORTS, UH, FAIRLY STRAIGHT FORWARD, WHERE DID ALL THIS MONEY COME FROM? WELL, UM, MOSTLY CAME FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
YOU MAY HAVE HEARD ABOUT THE CARES ACT.
THE, UH, THE BIGGEST PORTION OF THE CARES ACT FOR THE CITY OF AUSTIN AND FOR OTHER MUNICIPALITIES WAS CALLED THE CORONAVIRUS RELIEF FUND.
UH, THE CITY OF AUSTIN SHARE OF THAT FUNDING WAS A LITTLE BIT OVER $170 MILLION, BUT THAT AIRPORT GRANT A $58 MILLION, UM, WAS ALSO THROUGH THE CARES ACT.
WE RECEIVED ADDITIONAL FUNDING FROM THE HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT.
THIS IS FOR, UH, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, BLACK RANT AND EMERGENCY HOMELESS SOLUTION GRANTS, OR THE AREAS OF FLOODING ARE RECEIVED THROUGH HUD.
UM, THAT OTHER CATEGORY IS JUST A VARIETY OF OTHER SMALLER GRANTS THAT WE'VE RECEIVED FROM DIFFERENT FEDERALISTS AGENCIES.
UM, AND THEN THE FEMALE IS, THIS IS OUR ESTIMATED AMOUNT THAT WILL BE REIMBURSED BY THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY.
THE ADMINISTRATION 55 MILLION IS WHAT WE'RE CURRENTLY ESTIMATING THERE.
25 MILLION OF OUR FUNDING WILL BE LOCAL FUNDING COMING OUT OF THE CITY'S RESERVE, WHICH IS AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF FUNDING.
AND THAT THERE'S A LOT MORE FLEXIBILITY, FAR, FEWER STRINGS ATTACHED AND RESTRICTIONS IN REGARDS TO HOW WE UTILIZE OUR GENERAL FUND RESERVES.
UM, I WANT TO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT JUST KIND OF THE GOOD NEWS STORY IS THAT, YOU KNOW, AUSTIN HAS NOT EXPERIENCED SOME OF THE DIRE SERVICE IMPACTS, UM, THAN OTHER CITIES I'VE SEEN.
WE'VE SEEN ANOTHER CITY'S, UM, UM, EMPLOYEES BEING FURLOUGHED SERVICES BEING CUT BACK.
AND HONESTLY, THIS IS THE WORST TIME TO BE DOING SOME OF THOSE THINGS WHEN THERE'S SO MUCH ECONOMIC TURMOIL, BUT THANKFULLY IN AUSTIN, UM, WE ENTERED THE COVID-19 AND DEMOCRAT BASIS AND A VERY STRONG FINANCIAL POSITION WITH HEALTHY RESERVES.
YOU HAVE ALREADY HEARD ME TALK ABOUT THAT 25.7 MILLION, UM, DOLLARS THAT, UM, THAT WILL, UM, UM, PROVIDE US ADDITIONAL FLEXIBILITY IN HOW WE RESPOND.
THAT'S JUST OUR GENERAL FUND RESERVE.
WE ALSO HAVE STRONG RESERVES IN OUR CONVENTION
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CENTER AND AIRPORT AND OTHER ENTERPRISE OPERATIONS THAT YOU CAN EXPECT BOTH THE CONVENTIONS HAVE BEEN SUBSTANTIALLY IMPACTED BY COVID-19 AND HOW IT'S AFFECTING AIR TRAVEL ON THE HOTEL INDUSTRY.UM, WE ALSO ADHERE AND KUDOS TO OUR CITY COUNCIL FOR ADHERING TO VERY CONSERVATIVE BUDGETING PRACTICES.
SO YOU CAN SEE WE, WE, WE CAME INTO THIS PRICES SUBSTANTIALLY AHEAD OF PACE IN REGARDS TO OUR SALES TAX COLLECTIONS, COMPARED TO WHAT WE HAD BUDGETED, WHICH IS GOOD NEWS BECAUSE AS WE GO THROUGH THE REST OF THE YEAR, UM, WE ARE SEEING SIGNIFICANT DROPS IN OUR SALES TAX REVENUES.
BUT WHEN YOU START FROM A POSITION OF STRENGTH, UM, IT MAKES IT A LITTLE BIT EASIER TO MANAGE THROUGH, UH, THOSE, THOSE TOUGH FINANCIAL.
WE ALSO HAVE VARIOUS VERY DIVERSE REVENUE MIX IN OUR GENERAL FUND WITH ROUGHLY 70% OF OUR GENERAL FUND REVENUE SOURCES, NOT BEING DIRECTLY IMPACTED BY COVID-19.
SO THAT, THAT HELPED US A LOT AND PUT US, IT PUTS US IN A STRONG POSITION, GREAT LIQUIDITY.
THAT SIMPLY MEANS THAT WE'RE NOT LIVING PAYCHECK BY PAYCHECK.
YOU KNOW, WE HAVE ENOUGH MONEY IN THE BANK TO GET THROUGH THESE DIFFICULT FINANCIAL TIMES, UM, AND STILL MEET ALL OF OUR FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS, ALL THOSE REASONS.
UM, YEAH, THAT IS WHY WE ARE THE ONLY LARGE TEXAS CITY THAT REMAINS AAA CREDIT RATED BY ALL THREE OF THE MAJOR RATING AGENCY AGENCIES, WHICH IS A REALLY BIG DEAL BECAUSE AT AAA BOND RATING INSURANCE, WE GET THE LOWEST POSSIBLE INTEREST RATE.
AND WHEN WE HAVE TO GO OUT TO THE MARKET TO BORROW FUNDS, TO DO THINGS LIKE TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS, NEW CENTRAL LIBRARIES, FIRE STATIONS, THINGS THAT WE ISSUE DEBT FOR, WE GET THE LOWEST POSSIBLE INTEREST RATES, WHICH FOUND RESULTS IN THE LOWEST POSSIBLE PACKET BILLS ON THOSE DEBT SERVICE PAYMENTS TO YOU, TO TAXPAYERS.
SO I'M GOING TO MOVE ON AND TALK NOW A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THIS FIGURE 21.
AGAIN, THE COVID SPENDING PLAN IS SOMETHING WE WRESTLED WITH OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS AND WAS APPROVED BY COUNCIL.
UM, NOW I'M GOING TO BE LOOKING INTO, OR TALKING ABOUT WHAT OUR BUDGET LOOKS LIKE AHEAD.
UM, I WOULD LIKE TO START OFF WITH THIS REAL HIGH 50,000 FOOT VIEW OF OUR BUDGET IS WHAT WE CALL OUR ALL FUNDS BUDGET.
AND WE TRULY ARE A FULL SERVICE, UM, MUNICIPAL ENTITY, NOT ONLY WE PROVIDE YOUR TRADITIONAL SERVICES OF WHAT WE CALL THE GENERAL FUND SERVICES, WHICH ARE POLICE AND FIRE AND EMERGENCY MAN MEDICAL SERVICES, PARKS, AND LIBRARY.
BUT WE ALSO, UM, OPERATE A NUMBER OF ENTERPRISE OPERATIONS, SUCH AS THE TWO BIG UTILITIES, AUSTIN ENERGY IN AUSTIN WATER, UM, AND THEN A WHOLE VARIETY OF SMALLER ENTERPRISES, LARGE OPERATIONS ON THEIR OWN, BUT, UM, SMALL COMPARED TO SOME OF THE, THE BIG OPERATIONS WE HAVE GOING ON.
BUT AIRPORT CONVENTION CENTER, TRANSPORTATION, PUBLIC WORKS, AUSTIN RESOURCE RECOVERY.
THE FOLKS THAT PICK UP YOUR TRASH AND RECYCLED, THESE ARE ALL SET UP AS ENTERPRISE OPERATIONS, WHICH MEAN THEY DO NOT RELY ON TAXES, IT'S REVENUES, UM, TO FUNCTION.
THEY ARE, UH, THE COSTS OF THOSE OPERATIONS ARE RECOVERED THROUGH ARE THE FEES THEY CHARGE TO THE USERS OF THOSE SERVICES.
THE GENERAL FUND IS A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT IN THAT IT'S PREDOMINANTLY FUNDED THROUGH THE PROPERTY TAXES AND SALES TAXES THAT INDIVIDUALS PAY.
I'M GOING TO TALK ABOUT THAT A LITTLE BIT MORE ON THE NEXT SLIDE.
SO THIS IS THAT GENERAL FUND BUDGET, 25% OF OUR TOTAL BUDGET, OR $1.1 BILLION.
YOU CAN SEE OVER ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THIS GRAPHIC, THAT ABOUT HALF OF THE REVENUE FOR OUR GENERAL FUND COMES FROM PROPERTY TAXES, JUST SHORTER 23% FOR SALES TAXES, AND ABOUT 15%.
UM, IT'S FROM TRANSFER IS FROM THE, THOSE TWO UTILITIES FROM AUSTIN ENERGY AND AUSTIN WATER.
UM, THE CITY OF AUSTIN AS THE OWNER OPERATOR OF THOSE ENTERPRISES, WE GET THE BENEFIT OF THE RETURN ON INVESTMENT THAT WOULD OTHERWISE GO TO A SHAREHOLDER.
UM, WE GET TO KEEP THAT RETURN ON INVESTMENT IN AUSTIN AND PUT IT FORWARD, UH, UM, SERVICES TO THE COMMUNITY AND HELP AND TO HELP PEOPLE, OUR ACTUAL RATE LOWER THAN IT OTHERWISE WOULD BE.
UM, COLLECTIVELY THOSE THREE THINGS ARE ABOUT 88% OF OUR TOTAL REVENUES AND THEN FALL PERCENT COMES FROM EVERYTHING ELSE.
UM, THINGS SUCH AS, UH, AS FEES THAT ARE CHARGED BAR BY OUR VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS FOR SERVICES, UH, FRANCHISE FEES, UM, AND, AND A VARIETY OF OTHER SMALLER REVENUE SOURCES.
ALL OF THAT REVENUE KIND OF GOES INTO THE GENERAL FUND POT.
IT GETS ALLOCATED OUT, UM, AS SHOWN ON THE PIE CHART.
I THINK YOU ADD ALL THOSE UP AND YOU'RE AT ABOUT 66%, ROUGHLY TWO THIRDS OF THE GENERAL FUND BUDGET IS ALLOCATED TO THE TRADITIONAL PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENTS OF POLICE, FIRE, AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES.
UM, THERE HAVE BEEN SINCE THE TEN ONE COUNCIL CAME ON BOARD, THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF ATTENTION TO THAT, OF THE BUDGET AND EXPLICIT DIRECTION FROM COUNCIL TO STAFF TO OVER TIME, UH, SEE THAT PIE CHART PART SHIP THAT SEE THE PIECES
[00:15:01]
OF THE PIE FOR PLATES BY YOUR EMS BECOMES COMPARATIVELY SMALLER AND THE, UM, ALLOCATION TO OTHER DEPARTMENTS BECOME LARGER.AND A FEW SLIDES I'M GOING TO SHOW YOU THAT THAT HAS OCCURRED.
IT'S BEEN SOMETHING THAT'S BEEN HAPPENING OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST SIX OR SEVEN YEARS.
UM, HOW DO WE PAY FOR ALL THIS, ALL THESE ENTERPRISE OPERATIONS AND THE GENERAL FUND.
UM, WE PAY FOR IT THROUGH A VARIETY OF USER, UH, UTILITY RATES AND PACK BILLS.
AND OF COURSE THE SALES TAX RATE, BUT WE LIKE TO TRACK OVER TIME WHAT WE CALL A TYPICAL RESIDENTIAL RATE PAYER AND HOW MUCH THEY PAID FOR ALL THESE SERVICES.
AND, AND DEPENDING UPON THE OPERATION THAT DETERMINED WHAT THE TYPICAL RATE FARE IS.
BUT, UM, THIS GRAPHIC IS FOCUSED ON RESIDENTIAL RATE PAYERS, AND THEN WE WORK WITH OUR UTILITY IS TO TELL US, THIS IS WHAT A TYPICAL USER EXPERIENCES SORT OF BROTH AND ENERGY TYPICAL USER, UM, UM, UTILIZES 860 KILOWATTS OF POWER PER MONTH, UH, ON AVERAGE OVER THE COURSE OF THE YEAR.
UM, AND WE'RE TOLD BY AUSTIN ENERGY THAT, THAT COMES OUT TO BE A BILL OF 1050 $6 AND 60 CENTS.
UM, AND YOU CAN SEE IN FISCAL YEAR 21, THAT'S PROJECTED TO COME DOWN, UM, ABOUT $41 FOR, UM, PER YEAR.
UM, THAT HAS TO DO WITH SOME DISCOUNTS THAT OFTEN ENERGIES OFFS OPERATE UNDER RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS IN LIGHT OF THE COVID-19 PRICES IN AN EFFORT TO KEEP THE KEEP BILLS LOWER.
UH, FOR THE MOST PART, WE ARE NOT PROJECTING A RATING CREASES FROM OUR ENTERPRISE DEPARTMENTS NEXT YEAR.
THE ONE EXCEPTION TO THAT IS AN AUSTIN RESOURCE RECOVERY, WHERE WE ARE PROPOSING TO CITY COUNCIL AN INCREASE TO THE RESIDENTIAL OR TO THE RATE FOR RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL RATES.
UM, IN ORDER TO FUND A, UH, THE ORGANICS COLLECTION PROGRAM, WHICH WAS APPROVED BY COUNCIL SEVERAL YEARS AGO, WE'VE BEEN IMPLEMENTING THAT PROGRAM OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS AND DEFERRING THE RATE INCREASES UNTIL THE PROGRAM WAS PULLING IN PLACE.
NOW THAT IT'S IN PLACE, UM, IT'S TIME FOR US TO START ASSESSING THE FEE IN ORDER TO PAY FOR IT, PAY FOR THE PROGRAM.
UM, AND THAT COMES OUT TO $31 AND 20 CENTS ANNUALLY, $2 AND 60 CENTS FOR A MONTH DOWN IN THE TRANSPORTATION USER, WHO YOU'RE PROPOSING AT 25 CENT FOR A MONTH INCREASE THERE.
AND THEN THE PROPERTY TAX BILL IS CALCULATED AS THE, UM, THE TAX BILL FOR THE MEDIAN, NON SENIOR, UM, HOMESTEAD, UM, OWNER OF A, OF A MEDIAN VALUE TO HOMESTEAD.
HE, IF HE'S NOT A SENIOR AND ALL THAT STUFF IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE DEPENDING UPON IF YOU'RE A SENIOR, NON SENIOR THAT NEVER DETERMINED WHAT YOUR EXEMPTIONS ARE, UM, AND WE KIND OF CHOOSE WHAT OUR MOST COMMON OR MOST COMMON INDIVIDUAL IS, WHICH IS THAT MEDIAN, NOT SENIOR HOMEOWNER, UM, WE'RE PROJECTING IN $19 AND 73 CENTS INCREASE, UM, FOR THAT HOMEOWNER IN TOTAL, ALL THAT NETS OUT TO ROUGHLY A DOLLAR A MONTH, $12 FOR A YEAR INCREASE IN THE TOTAL TAX BILL AND UTILITY BILL NEXT YEAR, OR ABOUT THREE TENTHS OF 1%.
I ALWAYS LIKE TO STOP AND POINT OUT THE PEOPLE THAT, THAT, YOU KNOW, THAT $1,428 PER YEAR TAX BILL LOOKS REALLY LOW.
THAT'S JUST AUSTIN PIECE OF THE TAX BILL ON THE NEXT SLIDE, I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT THE OVERLAPPING TAX BILL LOOKS LIKE.
WE CAN ONLY DO THIS RIGHT NOW FOR FISCAL YEAR 20.
WE ARE AHEAD OF THE, OF THE PACE IN REGARDS TO LOOKING AT OUR TAX RATE.
UM, BUT NONE OF THESE AGENCIES HAVE ACTUALLY SET A TAX RATE YET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021.
AND SO WE CAN'T REALLY UPDATE THIS TABLE YET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021, BUT LOOKING AT FISCAL YEAR 2020, AND HERE FOR NORTH AUSTIN, WE CHOSE THE ROUND ROCK INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, BUT YOU MAY BE SURE BY AUSTIN INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, IT WOULD CHANGE THESE NUMBERS SLIGHTLY, BUT NOT SUBSTANTIALLY.
UH, THE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT THAT YOU PAY INTO WILL BE THE BULK OF YOUR TACTICAL ABOUT THAT 50 PLUS PERCENT OF IT.
UM, HERE WILLIAMSON COUNTY IS 19.5% OF THE PROVO MAXVILLE CITY OF AUSTIN, 18 AND A HALF PERCENT.
UM, AND THEN IF YOU PAY TO AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE AND CENTRAL HEALTH, UM, THAT WOULD BE 8.7% OF THE TAX BILL, BUT IN TOTAL, UM, THE TOTAL OVERLAPPING CAPITAL FOR FISCAL YEAR 2020, UM, FOR, UH, FOR A NORTH OFFICE AT HOME PAYING INTO ROUND ROCK AND WILLIAMSON COUNTY IS ESTIMATED AT $7,604.
UM, WE DID WANT TO INCLUDE A LITTLE BIT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
CAUSE AS I SAID, EVERYBODY'S SITUATION IS DIFFERENT.
THERE IS NO TRULY TYPICAL, UM, HOMEOWNER TAXPAYER, BUT YOU KNOW, IF YOU PAY INTO AUSTIN ISD OR LAND OR ISB, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT TAX RATE, BUT AGAIN, IT'S NOT GOING TO CHANGE THE OVERALL, UM, PICTURE YOUR, YOUR PAYMENT TO THE SCHOOL DISTRICT IS GOING TO BE THE BIGGEST PART OF YOUR TAX BILL AT TRAVIS COUNTY HAS A SLIGHTLY LOWER TAX RATE THAN WILLIAMSON COUNTY.
[00:20:01]
DEPENDING UPON YOUR LOCATION, YOU MAY PAY INTO ONE OR MORE OF THESE SPECIAL DISTRICTS.UM, AND THEN, YOU KNOW, HERE'S SOME EXAMPLES OF DIFFERENT NEIGHBORHOODS AND WHAT THE COMBINED TAX RATE IS.
SO THERE'S CERTAINLY GOING TO BE SOME VARIATION IN THE FIND YOUR UNIQUE CIRCUMSTANCES WHERE YOU LIVE.
SO JUST FOR FOLKS FOR CLARITY, UM, THE THERE'S, THERE ARE NEW SPECIAL DISTRICTS, NAMELY THE RIVER PLACE LIMITED DISTRICT.
SO IF YOU LIVE IN RIVER PLACE, UH YOU'LL YOU WOULD HAVE THE COMBINED OF LEANDER ISD, TRAVIS COUNTY, CHARLES KIND OF HEALTH DISTRICT, PLUS YOUR NEW LIMITED DISTRICT AND ACC.
UM, AND THEN ON THE AVERY RANCH COMBINED TAX RATE, THAT THAT WOULD BE THE LEANDER ISD PORTION OF AVERY RANCH.
BUT THE NEIGHBOR AVERY NEIGHBORHOOD IS SPLIT BETWEEN LEANDER AND ROUND ROCK ISD.
SO, YOU KNOW, THERE'S NOTHING SIMPLE ABOUT JURISDICTIONS IN DISTRICT SIX.
IT, IT, FOR WHATEVER REASON, IT JUST HAS TO BE THE MOST COMPLICATED THING ON EARTH.
AND SO THIS JUST GETS, GETS TO SHOW YOU HOW YOU CAN HAVE A FAIRLY WIDE RANGE OF TAX RATE JUST WITHIN ONE COUNCIL DISTRICT BETWEEN THE LOWEST RATE, ROUGHLY, WHICH IS THE NEIGHBORHOODS CLOSEST TO TOWN, UM, AND THE NEIGHBORHOODS FARTHEST AWAY AT THE HIGHEST TAX RATE.
AND ULTIMATELY WHAT THAT TELLS YOU IS, YOU KNOW, THE PROPERTY IS CLOSER IN, HAVE HIGHER VALUATIONS, THE PROPERTIES FARTHER OUT HAVE LOWER VALUATIONS, BUT IT DOESN'T CHANGE THE COST OF GOVERNMENT.
SO THE LOWER, THE PROPERTY VALUES ROUGHLY THE HIGHER THE TAX RATE.
AND THAT'S WHY YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED TO SEE A WILLIAMSON COUNTY TAX RATE HIGHER THAN TRAVIS COUNTY'S TAX RATE.
AND ULTIMATELY YOU GOT TO, YOU GOT TO HIRE THE SHERIFF'S AND YOU GOTTA HAVE THE FIRE STATIONS AND YOU GOTTA HAVE ALL THE THINGS.
AND SO THAT'S HOPEFULLY JUST SHINES A LITTLE BIT OF LIGHT ON ONTO THAT COMPLEXITY.
AND MOST OF THESE SPECIAL DISTRICTS HAVE THEIR OWN ELECTED OFFICIALS, UH, OBVIOUSLY ACC AND THE COUNTY DOES, UM, THE LIMITED, THE LIMITED DISTRICT DOES THE BRUSH UPPER BRUSHY CREEK WATER CONTROL IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT.
IT EVEN HAS A SEPARATE SET OF ELECTED OFFICIALS.
UM, BUT THE ROAD DISTRICT AND THE HEALTH DISTRICT HAVE APPOINTED LEADERSHIP AND THE ROAD DISTRICT AND WILCO IS ACTUALLY JUST CONTROLLED BY THE WILLIAMSON COUNTY COMMISSIONER'S COURT.
UM, AND I'M GOING TO JUMP IN THEN TO A DISCUSSION ABOUT WHAT WE'RE DOING IN THE AREA OF PUBLIC SAFETY HAS BEEN A LOT OF FOCUS ON THAT AND THIS YEAR AND THIS YEAR'S BUDGET, AND THERE'S GOING TO CONTINUE TO BE FOCUSED ON IT AS WE MOVE FORWARD FORWARD BUDGET ADOPTION.
UM, ON JUNE 11TH, THE CITY COUNCIL PASSED TWO TRANSFORMATIONAL RESOLUTIONS DIRECTING STAFF TO MAKE REDUCTIONS TO THE AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT BUDGET, AND ALSO REALLY TO MORE FUNDAMENTALLY RETHINK WHAT PUBLIC SAFETY MEANS AND HOW WE DELIVER PUBLIC SAFETY TO THE COMMUNITY.
UM, STAFF TOOK THOSE RESOLUTIONS TO HEART.
WE SPENT, UM, AS MUCH TIME AS WE COULD.
AND THE LITTLE TIME WE HAD TO IMPLEMENT THE PORTIONS OF THE RESOLUTIONS THAT WE WERE ABLE TO, AGAIN, THESE RESOLUTIONS WERE PASSED ON JUNE 11TH AND, UM, YOU KNOW, IN LIGHT OF ALL THE, UH, PRO CLASS WE HAD SEEN ACROSS THE CITY AND WE REALLY HAD TO HAVE OUR BUDGET BY TEND UP AND THE NUMBER OF SETTLED DOWN BY, YOU KNOW, JUNE 21ST, JUNE 22ND, SOMEWHERE AROUND THAT TIMEFRAME.
SO WE ONLY HAD ABOUT 10 DAYS TO WORK ON THIS.
UM, BUT WE WERE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH, UM, QUITE A LOT.
UM, THE RESOLUTIONS CALLED FOR A NUMBER OF THINGS.
UM, THEY CALL FOR US TO DELAY THE JUNE, 2020 CADET CLASS.
UM, THAT CLASS COSTS US A LITTLE BIT MORE THAN $2 MILLION TO RUN.
UM, AND UNTIL WE WERE ABLE TO REVISIT OUR TRAINING PROTOCOLS FOR APD, THE DIRECTOR WAS TO, UM, TO NOT HAVE THE JULY CADET CLASS.
SO, UM, WE HAVE, WE HAVE TAKEN THAT OUT OF THE BUDGET.
UM, THE CITY COUNCIL, UM, HAD, UH, HAD, UH, DEVELOPED OR STAFF HAD DEVELOPED AND, AND, UM, PUT IN PLACE A LEAST STAFFING PLAN, A FIVE-YEAR POLICE STAFFING PLAN BASED UPON COUNCIL DIRECTION, THAT STAFFING PLAN INVOLVED FOR ADDING 30 ADDITIONAL OFFICERS PER YEAR.
UM, ONE OF THE RESOLUTIONS DIRECTED STAFF TO DELAY THAT STAFFING PLAN AND TO NOT HAVE THE 30 POSITIONS IN FISCAL YEAR 21, UM, THAT WE, THAT WE HAD PUT INTO OUR BASE BUDGET FOR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
SO WE REMOVED THOSE 30 DIVISIONS.
AND THEN ON TOP OF THAT, THE RESOLUTION DIRECTORS, STAFF TO CUT VACANT POSITIONS IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT THAT COULD NOT BE REASONABLY FILLED DURING FISCAL YEAR 21.
SO THE POLICE DEPARTMENT CURRENTLY HAS ABOUT 170 VACANT POLICE OFFICER POSITIONS.
THAT'S OUT OF, UH, UH, ALMOST 1900 SWORN POSITIONS, ABOUT 170 ARE VACANT GIVEN THE TIME.
WE RUN ALL OF OUR CADET CLASSES IN FISCAL YEAR 2021 AND, AND ACHIEVE OUR NORMAL GRADUATE RATION GRADUATION RATES.
UM, WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO FILL 70 POSITIONS.
[00:25:01]
SO IN TOTAL, UM, A NET SWING OF A HUNDRED POSITIONS BETWEEN WHAT, UM, STAFF WAS TOLD THAT THE PROPOSED BUDGET AND THE PROPOSED BUDGET WE ULTIMATELY BROUGHT FORWARD, UM, STAFF IS ALSO PROPOSING TO DELAY THE SCHEDULE REPLACEMENT OF OFFICER DUTY WEAPONS FOR A SAVINGS OF $4,000, UM, AND ARE TRANSFERRING THE AUSTIN CENTER FOR EVENT STAFF.UM, THESE ARE SPECIAL EVENTS STAFF TO THE DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT, TOTAL REDUCTION OF $11.3 MILLION TO THE POLICE DEPARTMENT BUDGET, UM, TO WITS THE RESOLUTION DAVIS, UM, A NUMBER OF AREAS THAT THEY WANTED TO SEE THE FUNDING ENHANCE IN GENERAL.
UM, THEY WANTED AS THE RESOLUTION DIRECTED STAFF TO REALLOCATE THE FUNDING TO ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES, TO PUBLIC SAFETY, SO ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR POLICE OVERSIGHT AND THE EQUITY OFFICE AND FOR ADDITIONAL AUDITS OF THE DEPARTMENT, UM, MORE FUNDING FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES AND IMMIGRANT LEGAL SERVICES AND FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROGRAMS, AND MORE HOUSING STABILITY PROGRAMS. UM, IT TALKED ABOUT ADDITIONAL TRAINING IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT FOR TRAUMA INFORMED RESPONSE AND RACIAL AND CULTURAL SENSITIVITY, AS WELL AS TRAINING ON HOW TO DEAL WITH DRUG OVERDOSE CALLS.
UM, AND THEN FINALLY, UM, UM, A PROPOSAL TO, UM, INCREASE FUNDING FOR A NEWLY CREATED CIVIL RIGHTS OFFICE.
AND SO I WANT TO BE CLEAR ON THIS LACK ONE, THAT'S A REALLY IMPORTANT OFFICE AT $300,000.
ISN'T THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF FUNDING FOR THE OFFICE.
UM, IN TOTAL, THE OFFICE WILL BE ABOUT $2 MILLION, BUT A LOT OF THAT FUNDING IS COMING FROM REALLOCATED RESOURCES AND STAFF FROM OTHER AREAS OF THE CITY BUDGET INTO THIS MOVING FORM, CIVIL RIGHTS OFFICE.
AND THE $300,000 WILL SUPPORT THE ADDITION OF A NEW EXECUTIVE LEVEL CIVIL RIGHTS OFFICER, UM, AS WELL AS, UH, FUNDING NEEDED WHERE THE OFFICE SUPPLIES BUDGET.
SO THAT'S HOW STAFF HAS PROPOSED TO COUNCIL REALLOCATING, THE $11.3 MILLION OF FUNDING.
UM, I PUT THIS SLIDE TOGETHER.
IT'S KIND OF A BUSY SLIDE, BUT I HOPE IT HELPS EXPLAINS THE UPS AND DOWNS IN THE BUDGET BECAUSE IN EARLIER TOWN HALL MEETING, WE RECEIVED SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS.
UM, AND SO IT'S KIND OF WANTING TO SPEND A LITTLE, A BIT OF TIME ON THIS.
YOU CAN SEE IN FISCAL YEAR 20, THE POLICE DEPARTMENT BUDGET WAS A TOTAL OF 434.5 MILLION TO THAT.
AS WE WERE DEVELOPING THE FISCAL YEAR 21 BUDGET, UM, WE HAD INCREASED THE BUDGET BY $7.9 MILLION FOR WHAT WE CALL BASE COST DRIVERS.
THIS HAPPENS IN ALL CITY DEPARTMENTS, BUT WE HAVE LABOR CONTRACT WITH OUR POLICE OFFICERS TO CALL FOR A 2% WAGE INCREASE.
THE CONTRACTS ALSO CALL FOR STEPPING INCREASES AND OTHER PAY PROVISIONS.
SO WE HAVE TO ADD MONEY TO THE BUDGET AS WE GO FOR FISCAL YEAR 20 TO 21, WE HAVE TO ADD MONEY TO THE BUDGET FOR THOSE CONTRACTUAL PROVISIONS.
AS I HAD MENTIONED EARLIER, WE ALSO HAD INCLUDED FUNDING FOR THE 30 NEW POLICE OFFICERS FOR THE POLICE STAFFING PLAN.
IN TOTAL, THERE WAS $7.9 MILLION OF COST DRIVERS THAT WERE ADDED TO THE FISCAL YEAR 20 BUDGET.
FROM THAT POINT, COUNCIL PASSED THE TWO RESOLUTIONS DIRECTING US TO MAKE REDUCTIONS FROM THAT BASE BUDGET.
THOSE REDUCTIONS, AS I JUST GOT THEM WALKING YOU THROUGH 12 OF $11.3 MILLION, BUT TWO OF THE ITEMS, UM, THAT WE ARE PROPOSING TO REALLOCATE THE $11.3 MILLION TO DO WITH THOSE ITEMS WERE BACK TO THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.
ONE WITH THE TRAINING I TALKED ABOUT.
UM, AND THEN I THINK I MIGHT'VE SKIPPED OVER IT, BUT THERE WAS $2.3 MILLION TO REPLACE THE POLICE DEPARTMENT'S RECORD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.
SO THAT WAS 3.2 MILLION THAT WAS ALLOCATED BACK TO THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, WHICH GETS YOU TO A PROPOSAL BY THERE FOR FISCAL YEAR 21 OF FOUR 34.3 OR ROUGHLY $200,000 LOWER THAN, THAN THE CURRENT YEAR BUDGET.
UM, SO THAT'S JUST KIND OF THE INS AND OUTS OF WHAT WE DO IN, IN CREATING A BUDGET FROM YEAR TO YEAR.
UM, I TALKED ABOUT EARLIER THAT THAT THERE'S BEEN THIS LONG, UM, MULTI-YEAR TREND FORWARDS, UM, RETHINKING OUR GENERAL FUND BUDGET AND PUTTING MORE EMPHASIS ON OTHER AREAS OF THE GENERAL FUND BUDGET.
UM, THERE IS, UH, A LOT OF CHANGES THAT OCCUR IN A GENERAL FUND BUDGET FROM YEAR TO YEAR.
SO THE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING DEPARTMENT USED TO NOT BE PART OF THE GENERAL FUND.
NOW IT IS, UM, WE HAD A VARIETY OF, OF, UM, UH, OF ALLOCATED POS THAT WE USED TO ACCOUNT FOR AT THE FUND LEVEL.
AND THEN IN 2015, WE'VE GOES INTO THE DEPARTMENT LEVEL.
I KIND OF START WITH EXPLAINING THAT FOOTNOTE DOWN THERE IS THAT, UM, WE MADE ADJUSTMENTS TO OUR FISCAL YEAR 2014 BUDGET SO THAT WE COULD COMPARE IT APPLES TO APPLES WITH OUR FISCAL YEAR 2021 BUDGET AND FIND THAT IN 2014, ROUGHLY 73% OF THE TOTAL GENERAL FUND BUDGET WAS ALLOCATED TO PUBLIC SAFETY PROGRAMS.
[00:30:01]
AND IN FISCAL YEAR 2021, THAT PERCENTAGE IS DOWN TO 67%.SO SEEING ABOUT A 6% SWING IN THE PORTION OF THE BUDGET, ALLOCATED THE POLICE, FIRE, AND EMS, AND OF COURSE A FULL MEASURE, IT INCREASED IN OTHER PROGRAMS IN OTHER PROGRAM AREAS.
AND AGAIN, YEAH, LET ME JUMP IN ON THIS ONE AD LIKE THIS IS PROBABLY MY LEAST FAVORITE WAY TO ANALYZE THE BUDGET.
AND I, AND I'VE TALKED WITH, WITH, WITH THIS
UH, IN FACT, WHEN YOU LOOK AT LIKE THE FIRE DEPARTMENT IS PROBABLY THE BEST EXAMPLE WHERE YOU EXPAND THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, BECAUSE YOU HAVE MORE GEOGRAPHY TO COVER THE, THE SIZE OF YOUR FIRE DEPARTMENT IS BASICALLY BASED ON RESPONSE TIME.
SO ONCE YOU, YOU KNOW, IF WE'RE, IF WE'RE AT A SET LEVEL, THEN, THEN A SET SIZE, WHICH, BECAUSE THEY CHANGED THE ANNEXATION LAWS, WE'RE BASICALLY AT A SET GEOGRAPHY.
THEN ONCE WE BUILD OUT THE LAST THREE OR FOUR FIRE STATIONS, INCLUDING NEAR THE CANNON CREEK NEIGHBORHOOD, WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO BUILD MORE FIRE STATIONS BECAUSE THAT'S, THAT'S JUST HOW FIRE WORKS.
UH, POLICE, WE'RE GOING THROUGH A PROCESS TO FIGURE OUT, WELL, ACTUALLY, WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO DETERMINE THE RIGHT SIZE OF A POLICE FORCE OR OTHER SERVICES THAT WE CURRENTLY SEND POLICE, BUT WOULDN'T HAVE TO BE POLICE.
AND THEN EMS, I WOULD GUESS PROBABLY MOST CLOSELY TRACKS WITH POPULATION BECAUSE YOU GENERALLY HAVE KIND OF THESE HEALTH INDICATORS THAT DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT YOU NEED EMERGENCY HEALTH SERVICES.
SO I'VE NEVER BEEN A FAN OF THIS PERCENTAGE.
AND I HAVE A FEW COLLEAGUES THAT I SERVE WITH THAT, LIKE USING THIS METRIC, BUT IT'S NEVER ONE THAT I LIKED BECAUSE I DON'T THINK IT ULTIMATELY REFLECTS WHY OR, OR WHAT IS THE RIGHT PERCENTAGE.
AND AS WE'VE LEARNED, AND I THINK YOU'VE SAID THIS BEFORE, YOU CAN'T EVEN REALLY COMPARE THESE PERCENTAGES WITH OTHER CITIES, BECAUSE IT'S JUST SO COMPLICATED, A PERCENT OF WHAT AND DIFFERENT CITIES ALLOCATE THINGS INTO DIFFERENT FUNDS.
SO, YOU KNOW, THAT'S A LONG WAY, A LONG WAY AROUND OF SAYING, THIS IS, THIS IS NOT MY FAVORITE SLIDE AND I DON'T DISAGREE WITH YOU.
I ACTUALLY ARGUED AGAINST, BUT IT HAS BECOME A POPULAR THING FOR A NUMBER OF OUR COUNCIL MEMBERS TO KEEP AN EYE ON.
YOU CANNOT COMPARE THIS ACROSS OTHER JURISDICTIONS IN AUSTIN, IN AUSTIN, PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSPORTATION ARE BOTH SET UP AS ENTERPRISE DEPARTMENTS AS THEY ARE, AS IT'S POST COMPLIANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.
I CHALLENGE YOU TO GO FIND ANY OTHER CITY THAT, WHERE THOSE ARE NOT GENERAL FUND FUNCTIONS.
SO IF THOSE FOUR DEPARTMENTS OR GENERAL FUND DEPARTMENTS, ALL OF A SUDDEN OUR GENERAL FUND WOULD BE BIGGER.
AND THE PERCENTAGE OF THE BUDGET GOING TO POLICE FIRE AND EMS WOULD BE SMALLER.
SO THE COMPARISONS ACROSS JURISDICTIONS ARE COMPLETELY MEANING LESS THAN ARBITRARY.
UM, AND WHAT I STARTED MY COMMENTS OFF WITH IS EVEN FROM YEAR TO YEAR, IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO DO IT IN AUSTIN.
YOU CAN'T JUST DO IT WITHOUT MAKING A BUNCH OF ADJUSTMENTS BECAUSE LAST YEAR DEVELOPMENT SERVICES WAS PART OF OUR GENERAL FUND BUDGET.
NOW THEY'RE NOT, WHEN THEY'RE A PART OF OUR GENERAL FUND BUDGET, THE BUDGET WAS BIGGER AND POLICE WAS A SMALLER PERCENT AND THEN THEY LEAVE AND POLICE BECOMES A BIGGER PERCENT.
SO IN ORDER TO COMPARE THIS OVER TIME, YOU HAVE TO MAKE THESE ADJUSTMENTS.
BUT, UM, I WILL SAY IN ALL OF THIS AND ALL OF THE NOISE THAT THIS DATA THERE HAS BEEN A CONSCIOUS SHIFT IN, IN, IN THE FOCUS AND BEFORE TEN ONE, WE WERE, WE FOLLOWED THE TWO OFFICERS FOR A THOUSAND STAFFING MODEL THAT WASN'T, WASN'T BASED IN, UM, WORKLOAD MEASURE METRICS OR OUTCOMES.
IT WAS SIMPLY IF WE ADDED A THOUSAND PEOPLE, WE ADDED TWO OFFICERS PERIOD, AND THAT'S THE WAY WE OPERATED FOR, UM, FOR A VERY LONG TIME IN AUSTIN.
AND WE'VE MOVED AWAY FROM THAT, THAT MODEL.
UM, WE'VE TAKEN DIFFERENT APPROACHES OF LOOKING AT WHAT THE HELL'S REMEMBER PLAN I CAN TALK ABOUT.
WHAT IS THE RIGHT NUMBER OF POLICE OFFICERS? AND WE'RE STILL GRAPPLING WITH THAT.
I WOULD SAY CREDIT TO FORMER COUNCIL MEMBER, BILL SPELMAN FOR LEADING THE CHARGE ON BREAKING AWAY FROM ARBITRARY METRICS AND SEEKING METRICS THAT ARE ACTUALLY DIRECTED TO OUTCOMES.
AND YOU COULD SEE THAT ON THIS NEXT SLIDE IS ANOTHER WAY OF LOOKING AT THE CHANGE IN EMPHASIS OVER TIME.
UM, IN 2012, 13, 14, 15, THAT WAS THAT TWO OFFICERS PER THOUSAND MODEL THAT I TALKED TO YOU, I WAS TALKING TO YOU ABOUT, I THINK WE MOVED AWAY FROM THAT IN 2015.
UM, BUT WE HAD BEEN ADDING ON AVERAGE 45 OFFICERS A YEAR BETWEEN 2012 AND 2016, 2016 IS THE FIRST BUDGET THAT THE TEN ONE COUNCIL APPROVED.
AND OVER THAT TIME, WE STILL CONTINUED TO SEE, YOU KNOW, FAIRLY MODEST INCREASES IN POLICE STAFFING OVER TIME.
UM, BUT AT FISCAL YEAR 2021, WITH THE REDUCTION WE'RE NOT PROPOSING AND CUTTING THOSE VACANT POSITIONS, YOU ACTUALLY SEE THAT THE NUMBER OF OFFICERS WE HAVE IN THE BUDGET FOR 2021 IS ACTUALLY LESS THAN THE FIRST COUNCIL, THE FRUIT BUDGET APPROVED BY THE TEN ONE COUNCIL.
[00:35:01]
SO THERE, THERE HAS BEEN A CHANGE IN FOCUSED AND THERE HAS BEEN A CHANGE IN EMPHASIS AND HAS BEEN BY DESIGN.UM, AND IT'S BEEN DONE AND EVENTUALLY OVER THE YEARS, UM, BASED ON DIRECTION THAT WE'VE RECEIVED, UM, AND WE CONTINUE TO HAVE THESE CONVERSATIONS AND, YOU KNOW, THIS CHART, JUST SO THE, SO THE PUBLIC IS CLEAR THAT THE FIRST WORD IN THE TITLE OF THIS SLIDE IS REALLY IMPORTANT.
THIS IS THE AUTHORIZED LEVEL, BUT IT IS NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF HOW MANY OFFICERS WE WOULD HAVE IN ANY OF THESE YEARS, BECAUSE THERE ARE ALWAYS VACANCIES AND THERE ARE ALWAYS CHALLENGES WITH RECRUITING AND RETENTION.
AND SO, YOU KNOW THAT IF YOU WERE TO CHART THE NUMBER OF OFFICERS ON THE FORCE, IT, I DON'T KNOW ED, IF YOU'VE EVER DONE THAT, WHAT DOES, WHAT MIGHT THAT CHART LOOK LIKE? UM, YOU KNOW, IT CHANGES, IT CHANGES PAY PERIOD BY PERIOD BECAUSE EVERY ABOUT EVERY PAY PERIOD WE LIVED IN WAS ABOUT THREE OR FOUR OFFICERS TO ATTRITION.
AND THEN WE GRADUATED BECAUSE THAT CLASS WE DON'T, WE DON'T JUST HIRE ON ONE, YOU GRADUATED FOR THAT CLASS.
SO IT TENDS TO LOOK LIKE THIS STAIR-STEP WE KIND OF EAT IT, CREEPS UP AND THEN IT COMES DOWN AND THEN IT CREEPS UP AND IT COMES DOWN.
BUT ON AVERAGE, OR TYPICALLY I WOULD SAY WE HAVE BETWEEN 50 TO 150 VACANTS WARM POSITIONS AT ANY GIVEN POINT IN TIME.
RIGHT NOW WE'RE ON THE HIGH SIDE AT 170.
SO YOU LOOK AT THAT FISCAL YEAR 20 BAR THAT SAYS A 1,959 POSITIONS THAT'S AUTHORIZED, BUT 170 OF THEM ARE VACANT CURRENTLY TODAY.
AND THAT'S WHERE I WAS EMPHASIZING BY CUTTING THE 70, IF NOT AFFECTING THE, UH, THE BOOTS ON THE STREET, WE'LL STILL HAVE THE SAME NUMBER OF BOOTS ON THE STREET.
WE'LL JUST HAVE FEWER AUTHORIZED POSITIONS THAT, THAT WE KNOW WE WON'T BE ABLE TO FILL THE FISCAL YEAR 20, 21 IN ANY EVENT.
SO, UH, THE BUDGET THAT STAFF PRESENTED, THE CITY COUNCIL, WE, WE PRESENTED IT, YOU KNOW, AND IN EARNESTNESS, UM, DOING EVERYTHING WE COULD IN THE SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME, WE HAD TO IMPLEMENT THE DIRECTION, UH, THAT WAS, THAT WAS ARTICULATED THROUGH COUNCIL'S RESOLUTIONS.
WE KNOW IT DIDN'T ADDRESS EVERYTHING, YOU KNOW, UM, THIS IS THE WE'RE RIGHT HERE IN THIS PROCESS WHERE WE RECEIVED COUNCIL DIRECTION AND PUBLIC TESTIMONY ABOUT THE POLICE DEPARTMENT'S BUDGET.
WE MADE CHANGES TO THE BUDGET.
THE CITY COUNCIL WILL BE CO UM, CONSIDERING ADOPTING THAT BUDGET AND MID AUGUST.
UM, AND THEN, UH, THE CITY MANAGER HAS COMMITTED TO CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION TO REIMAGINE PUBLIC SAFETY WITH A COMMUNITY PROCESS AND ENGAGING STAKEHOLDERS.
UM, WE WOULD BE COMING BACK TO COUNCIL DURING FISCAL YEAR 21.
SO WHEN COUNCIL ADOPTS A BUDGET, THAT DOESN'T MEAN IT CAN'T CHANGE, UM, COUNT, THEY'RE GONNA ADOPT A BUDGET.
AND THEN DURING THE YEAR ON ANY GIVEN THURSDAY COUNSEL CAN ELECT TO AMEND THE BUDGET.
SO AS WE GO THROUGH THE RE-IMAGINING PROCESS, UM, STAFF WOULD BE COMING BACK TO THE CITY COUNCIL WITH BUDGET AMENDMENTS TO IMPLEMENT FURTHER CHANGES TO OUR, OUR PUBLIC SAFETY FUNCTION.
UM, AND THEN CONTINUING WITH OUR, OUR LONGER RANGE PLANNING FOR FUTURE BUDGETS.
UM, THIS LIST OF SERVICES ARE THINGS THAT ARE CURRENTLY PROGRAMMED AND SERVICES THAT ARE CURRENTLY IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, UM, THAT WE BELIEVE ARE GOOD OPPORTUNITIES TO HAVE A DISCUSSION WITH THE COMMUNITY AND WITH THE CITY COUNCIL ABOUT IF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT IS THE RIGHT PLACE FOR THESE SERVICE AREAS.
SO THE FORENSIC LAB THAT'S CURRENTLY IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, IS THAT THE BEST PLACE FOR IT, OR ARE THERE OTHER OPTIONS, UM, AND OTHER DEPARTMENTS OR OUTSIDE ENTITIES THAT MAYBE, UM, WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE FOR OUR FORENSICS LABORATORY FUNCTIONS.
BUT, UM, WE SUSPECT THAT THIS LIST COULD BE LONGER THAN THIS.
AS WE GET INTO THE DISCUSSIONS WITH THE COMMUNITY, THERE COULD VERY WELL BE OTHER AREAS THAT THE COMMUNITY IS INTERESTED IN TALKING ABOUT, UM, WHERE THEY SHOULD BEST BE HOUSED AND HOW THEY SHOULD BEST BE PROVIDED.
BUT THESE, THE CLERK TEAM SERVICES, UM, WILL PROVIDE A STARTING POINT FOR THOSE CONVERSATIONS.
AND, AND AS I SAID AT THE BEGINNING, UM, THOSE PROPOSALS ARE BEING POSTED ON THE COUNCIL MESSAGE BOARD.
I POSTED TWO PROPOSALS THIS MORNING.
YOU CAN LOOK UP THOSE DETAILS ON AUSTIN COUNCIL, FORUM.ORG.
I'M GOING TO CLOSE OUT HERE WITH, UM, OUR REMAINING BUDGET TIMELINE.
UM, WE HAD OUR FIRST BUDGET INPUT MEETING ON JULY 23RD.
UM, THAT WAS BEING WELL OVER 13 HOURS OF PUBLIC TESTIMONY ABOUT THE CITY'S BUDGET.
UH, WE HAVE OUR SECOND BUDGET INPUT MEETING WILL BE ON JULY 30TH, UH, MORAL MOVING OVER TO THAT PURPLE SECTION IN THE MIDDLE.
WE'LL HAVE OUR FIRST WORK SESSION WITH THE CITY COUNCIL, UM, UM, ON JULY 28, THAT WILL PROBABLY BE ABOUT TWO HOURS.
I WOULD ESTIMATE WE'LL FINALLY GET STARTED AROUND ONE OR TWO TOMORROW.
IT'S A PORTION OF THE COUNCIL, THE BROADER COUNCIL WORK SESSION ON THE, FOR THEIR, FOR THEIR UPCOMING MEETING AGENDA.
UM, BUT WE'LL HAVE THAT WORK SESSION TOMORROW AFTERNOON
[00:40:01]
WITH COUNCIL.AND THEN AUGUST 4TH IS COMPLETELY DEDICATED TO BUDGET DISCUSSIONS.
I ANTICIPATE THAT IT'LL BE A FULL DAY BUDGET CONVERSATION WITH THE CITY COUNCIL.
UM, THAT PROCESS LEADS US TOWARDS, UM, OUR, UH, ADDITIONAL PUBLIC HEARINGS ON AUGUST 12TH, FOLLOWED BY THE BUD, BUT ADOPTION.
UM, COUNCIL COULD FEASIBLY ADOPT THE BUDGET ON AUGUST 12TH OR, UM, DEPENDING UPON HOW LENGTHY THE DELIBERATIONS AND DISCUSSIONS ARE.
IT COULD EXTEND TILL AUGUST 14TH, THAT'S OUR PROCESS.
UM, I'LL LEAVE YOU WITH THIS SLIDE UP ON YOUR SCREEN FOR A LITTLE BIT.
YOU CAN GO TO SPEAK UP AUSTIN.ORG.
YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS PRESENTATION.
YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO OUR BUDGET.
YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THE RESULTS OF OUR ONLINE COMMUNITY SURVEY, UM, UPCOMING, UH, ALCOHOL THAN OTHER DISTRICTS.
UM, JUST IN GENERAL, GOING TO SPEAK UP AUSTIN DOT OVER.
YOU CAN FIND ALL THE DIFFERENT ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES THAT THE CITY OF BOSTON HAS GOING ON.
ONE OF WHICH IS, UM, WHETHER IT'S 121 WITH THAT COUNCIL MEMBER I'M FINISHED, AND YOU'RE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS, THE, UH, THE PEOPLE ONLINE RIGHT NOW.
AND I WOULD ADD TO THE, TO THE DATES, UM, MARTY, WE HAVE A PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT LIST AS WELL, WHERE WE'RE ALLOCATING SOME HOURS TO, UH, CONTINUING OUR PUBLIC SAFETY BUDGET CONVERSATION.
WHAT'S THE DATE OF THAT MEETING THAT IS AUGUST 6TH, RIGHT? UM, WHERE DURING COUNCIL MEETINGS, WHERE WE ARE TAKING VOTES, YOU CAN SIGN UP TO SPEAK, YOU WISH TO, AND IN THIS VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT THAT IT'S DONE OVER THE PHONE, BUT ON COMMITTEE MEETINGS, UM, THOSE ARE MORE JUST KIND OF WORK SESSIONS WHERE WE'RE NOT TAKING VOTES.
WE'RE MOSTLY KIND OF GETTING THROUGH THE WORK.
SO THOSE AREN'T, THOSE ARE NOT OPPORTUNITIES FOR PUBLIC INPUT.
SO SPEAKING OF PUBLIC INPUT FOR THOSE OF YOU ON THE PHONE OR ON THE CALL, WHATEVER THIS IS CALLED NOW, A VIRTUAL MEETING, GO INTO THE CHAT.
IF YOU'VE GOT QUESTIONS THAT YOU'D LIKE TO BE A COUNCIL MEMBER OR ADVANCING YOU TO ANSWER, UM, I WILL GET THOSE QUESTIONS AND I WILL START ASKING THE QUESTIONS TO THESE FOLKS SO THEY CAN ANSWER THEM FOR YOU.
IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE GETTING INTO THE CHAT, YOU CAN ALSO EMAIL YOUR QUESTION TO BUDGET QA AT AUSTIN, TEXAS.GOV.
AND THOSE QUESTIONS WILL ALSO GET TO ME OVER THE NEXT 40 MINUTES.
SO WITH THAT, I WILL START WITH THE QUESTION, UM, HOW IS THE CITY BUDGET IMPACTED BY THE PANDEMIC INSIGNIFICANT INCREASES IN UNEMPLOYMENT, BOTH ECONOMIC AND STRAIN RESOURCES, MORE THAN ANY USER FEEDS ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASE.
SO I'M NOT SURE WHO TO GIVE THAT TO YOU.
I CAN START SEE IF ANYBODY WANTS TO ADD A FEW IN, BUT, UM, CLEARLY THE, THE IMPACT ON, ON, UM, THE ECONOMY IS IMPACTING OUR SALES TAX REVENUES.
I WILL SAY THAT THE IMPACTS HAVE NOT BEEN NEAR AS DIRE AS WE WERE AFRAID THEY MIGHT BE.
SO WE HAD, UM, WE HAD ENTERED INTO THIS BUDGET PROCESS, UM, ESTIMATING THAT OUR SALES TAX REVENUES WOULD BE DOWN AS MUCH AS 50% IN, IN MAY AND APRIL AND GAINING AND DOING, UM, OUR APRIL PAYMENT WAS ACTUALLY DOWN 20%.
SO COMPARED TO 50%, THAT SOUNDS GREAT.
NOW, 20% DECLINE IN SALES TAX WAS THE WORST MONTH WE'VE HAD SINCE 1987.
UM, BUT AGAIN, IT WAS NOT NEARLY AS CONSEQUENTIAL OR WE WERE EFFECTING, UM, MAY CAME IN AT 10.7% DOWN.
UM, AND SO AGAIN, QUITE A BIT BETTER THAN WHAT WE HAD BEEN EXPECTING.
UM, SO WE'RE PLANNING FOR THE WORST.
WE GOT SOMETHING BETTER THAN THE WORST, AND, YOU KNOW, IT DOESN'T MEAN IT'S NOT GOING TO BE A CHALLENGE.
UH, BUT YOU KNOW, IT'S DEFINITELY IMPACTING OUR REVENUE.
WE HAVE IT WHERE WE ARE NOW, WE'RE GOING TO END THE FISCAL YEAR AND THE GENERAL FUND DOWN ABOUT $40 MILLION IN REVENUE COMPARED TO WHERE WE HAD THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO BE.
SO WE'RE MANAGING THROUGH THAT THROUGH A COMBINATION OF OUR STRONG RESERVES, UM, THROUGH THE FACT THAT OTHER REVENUES AREN'T BEING IMPACTED AND ARE ACTUALLY COMING IN A LITTLE BIT BETTER THAN WHAT WE HAD BUDGETED, UM, THROUGH THE PRUDENT USE OF THE FEDERAL FUNDS TO OFFSET, UH, UM, VARIOUS PUBLIC SAFETY AND PUBLIC HEALTH EXPENSES THAT THE CITY IS INCURRING.
UM, WE'RE GOING TO MANAGE THROUGH THIS.
UH, WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO MANAGE THROUGH IT SO FAR WITHOUT HAVING TO LAY OFF OR FURLOUGH CITY EMPLOYEES, OR IF YOU'VE CUT CITY PROGRAMS. I KNOW SHE'S, WE'RE NOT PROPOSING.
UM, OTHER THAN THIS, THE SLIDE I SHOWED YOU FOR AUTHOR RESOURCE RECOVERY, THAT WOULD BE THE MOST SUBSTANTIAL USER FEE THAT WE'RE PROPOSING A $2 AND 60 CENTS INCREASE.
AND AGAIN, THAT'S TIED TO THE, UH, THE, THE FINALIZATION OTHER DECIDER MANIC COLLECTIVE PROGRAM.
YOU KNOW, THE, THE, THE IMPACT
[00:45:01]
OF UNEMPLOYMENT ON THE, ON THE CITY BUDGET, RIGHT, IS IT'S, THERE'S A, THERE'S ALMOST A, KIND OF A DISINTERMEDIATION BETWEEN UNEMPLOYMENT AND CITY BUDGET, WHERE IT WOULD HAVE A MORE IMMEDIATE IMPACT ON SAY FEDERAL TAX COLLECTIONS, BECAUSE IT'S BASED ON INCOME, BUT FOR US AT OUR LEVEL OF, BE A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT IMPACTS TO THE PATIENT THAT IMPACTS TO, OOH, MARTY, YOU SHOULD MUTE.UH, THE, THE IMPACT TO KIND OF THE SAFETY NET, YOU KNOW, WHAT HAPPENS IF PEOPLE CAN'T PAY THEIR RENT, YOU KNOW, WHERE DO THEY GO? WHO'S, WHO'S HANDLING THAT.
OBVIOUSLY HOMELESSNESS IS A BIG ISSUE, AND WE DIDN'T REALLY GET TO TALK ABOUT THAT TOO MUCH TODAY.
THERE'S I THINK PRESENTATIONS COMING TO THE COUNCIL SOON ABOUT OUR HOMELESS KIND OF ECOSYSTEM IN TERMS OF SERVICE PROVIDERS AND INVESTMENTS AND THINGS.
UM, SO IT'S, IT'S A, IT'S A MUCH LONGER KIND OF MACRO ECONOMIC CONVERSATION KIND OF RELATED TO THAT.
COME TO REMEMBER, MAYBE ADDRESS A QUESTION.
DO YOU PLAN TO KEEP THE THREE AND A HALF PERCENT REVENUE CAP, 2% AND LIFE CHANGES AND, OR IN GENERAL, UH, YOU KNOW, THE, THE, THE 3.5% CAP THAT THE LEGISLATURE INSTITUTED LAST YEAR.
SO THIS WAS THE FIRST YEAR THAT THE CITY COUNCIL COULDN'T JUST GO TO 8%, LIKE IN THE PAST, IN TERMS OF INCREASING YOUR TAX BILL, ROUGHLY LIKE THERE'S A LOT OF DETAILED MATH THAT GOES BEHIND IT, BUT ROUGHLY THAT'S IT.
SO THEY LOADED A THREE AND A HALF PERCENT, AND THAT'S REALLY PROBLEMATIC.
IT'S PROBLEMATIC BECAUSE IN MANY CITIES, BUT ESPECIALLY AUSTIN, YOU SAW ED'S PRESENTATION ABOUT THE S THE SIZE OF THE CITY BUDGET, THAT'S POLICE, FIRE, AND EMS. WELL, THE PRIMARY COST DRIVER OF A MAJORITY OF OUR BUDGET ARE THE UNION CONTRACTS THAT DRIVE COSTS AT FIVE AND A HALF PERCENT.
SO IF YOU HAVE, IF YOUR COSTS GO UP IN FIVE AND A HALF PERCENT, BUT YOUR REVENUE DOESN'T GO UP AT FIVE AND A HALF PERCENT NOW, YOU'RE KIND OF IN A PROBLEM.
WELL, IT GOT EVEN MORE COMPLICATED THIS YEAR BECAUSE THE DISASTER DECLARATION LIVED TO THE PANDEMIC CAUSE THAT SAME LAW THAT LOWERED IT TO THREE AND A HALF SAID, WELL, WHAT IF THERE'S A DISASTER? DECLARATION CAN GO UP TO EIGHT AND THEN ULTIMATELY, LIKE, HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT TO RAISE TAXES WITHOUT VOTER CONSENT IN, IN SUCH A CRISIS? SO VERY COMPLICATED DECISION, BUT I CAN TELL YOU TODAY THAT THE COUNCIL TOOK A VOTE DURING ITS JOINT WORK SESSION WITH CAP METRO IN THE CONTEXT OF PROJECT CONNECT THAT LOCKS US IN AT THREE AND A HALF PERCENT.
SO THE COUNCIL WILL NOT BE ADOPTING AN 8% TAX INCREASE WITHOUT VOTER APPROVAL.
WE ARE STICKING TO THE THREE AND A HALF PERCENT BASED ON THE VOTE THE COUNCIL TOOK THIS AFTERNOON.
SO A LOT OF EXPLANATION TO A SIMPLE ANSWER.
UM, ALL RIGHT, I'M GOING TO MOVE ON TO KIND OF A DIFFERENT TOPIC HELPS MEMBERS.
WE COULD START WITH YOU ON THIS ONE.
THIS MIGHT JUST BE YOU, THE TRAVIS COUNTY APPRAISAL DISTRICT HAS HAD SOME USE FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS.
HOW HAVE THESE CHALLENGES AFFECTED THE CITY AND ITS BUDGETING PROCESS? WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO FIX T CAD SO THAT ALL CITIZENS FEEL THAT THEY ARE PAYING A PROPORTIONALLY EQUAL SHARE OF TAXES? WHAT IS THE CITY'S ROLE IN PROVIDING OVERSIGHT FOR THE PRISON DISTRICT MANAGEMENT? YEAH, THIS ONE'S TOUGH.
SO THE, THE, THE SYSTEM DESIGN, HOW THIS IS SUPPOSED TO WORK RIGHT, IS YOU HAVE THE INDEPENDENT APPRAISAL DISTRICT THAT DETERMINES VALUE, AND THAT'S ESSENTIALLY MANDATED IN THE STATE CONSTITUTION.
SO HOW APPRAISAL DISTRICTS EXIST AND THE WAY THAT THEY OPERATE AND THEIR MANDATES EXIST AT THE STATE LEVEL, THE CITY MAKES APPOINTMENTS TO THE BOARD OF THE APPRAISAL DISTRICT, BUT WE DON'T MANAGE IT.
AND WE DEFINITELY DON'T PROVIDE AN OVERSIGHT FUNCTION BEYOND THE APPOINTMENT TO THE APPRAISAL DISTRICT, AS IT IMPACTS THE BUDGET.
IT, IT KIND OF DOES AND KIND OF DOESN'T THAT THREE AND A HALF PERCENT, 8% THAT'S BASED ON WHAT WE COLLECTED.
IT'S NOT REALLY BASED ON THE VALUE.
SO IF THE APPRAISAL DISTRICT DECIDED OVERNIGHT THAT IT WAS GOING TO RAISE ALL THE PROPERTY VALUES BY A HUNDRED PERCENT, IT ACTUALLY, WE WOULD THEN DROP OUR TAX RATE BECAUSE THE WAY THE STATE LAW IS WRITTEN FOR MUNICIPALITIES, YOU DON'T MAGICALLY GET MORE MONEY JUST BECAUSE VALUES GO UP.
AND THAT, THAT KIND OF HELPS WITH KIND OF A NEW MONEY.
UM, AND IT'S, IT'S DIFFERENT ON THE SCHOOL SIDE.
I THINK IT DEFINITELY WAS DIFFERENT BEFORE.
AND THEN THE LEGISLATURE CHANGED ON THE RULES ON SCHOOL FINANCE IN THE LAST SESSION.
AND FRANKLY, I HAVEN'T KEPT UP WITH IT.
CAUSE THERE HAS TO BE AT LEAST ONE THING, THE CITY COUNCIL ISN'T RESPONSIBLE FOR.
AND SO I'VE DECIDED IT'S GOING TO BE SCHOOL FINANCE AND IT'S NOT GOING TO BE SOMETHING I HAVE TO UNDERSTAND.
UM, SO THAT'S, I MEAN, ROUGHLY THAT'S, THAT'S KIND OF LIKE THE GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS IS APPRAISAL DISTRICT.
IF THEY'RE RAISING VALUES OR, OR NOT RAISING VALUES, RIGHT? THE TRAVIS COUNTY APPRAISAL DISTRICT
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DECIDED NOT TO REAPPRAISE IN THIS PAST YEAR.IT ACTUALLY DOESN'T HAVE THAT DRAMATIC OF AN IMPACT ON THE BUDGET PROCESS.
BUT THAT'S NOT TO SAY THAT THERE AREN'T ISSUES BECAUSE IF THE APPRAISAL DISTRICT MISSES THE RATIO BETWEEN RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL, THAT NOW YOU START GETTING INTO THE KIND OF DISTRIBUTION OF TAX BURDEN.
AND THAT REALLY DOES SIT ON THE APPRAISAL DISTRICT BECAUSE THEY UNDERVALUE COMMERCIAL.
THEN PROPORTIONALLY THE TAX BURDEN IS FALLING ON A RESIDENTIAL THAT FALLS ON THE APPRAISAL DISTRICT SIDE.
AND IT WAS A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO.
I THINK IT WAS RIGHT BEFORE I GOT ELECTED THAT THE CITY COUNCIL SUED THE APPRAISAL DISTRICT OVER THIS QUESTION, NOT BECAUSE THE APPRAISAL DISTRICT DISAGREED, BUT BECAUSE THE APPRAISAL DISTRICT WAS HAVING ISSUES WITH THE WAY STATE LAW WAS WRITTEN AND WE NEEDED A COURT TO KIND OF SUSS IT OUT.
AND THE COURT BASICALLY WAS LIKE, SORRY, WE'RE NOT GOING TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM.
THE LEGISLATURE HAS TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM.
WELL, YOU TRY AND SOLVE A PROBLEM WITH THE LEGISLATURE.
I'M NOT SUPER HOLDING MY BREATH, BUT YOU KNOW, ELECTIONS IN NOVEMBER, YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT COULD HAPPEN, BUT ULTIMATELY CHALLENGES WITH APPRAISAL DISTRICTS MOSTLY HAVE TO BE SOLVED AT THE LEGISLATIVE LEVEL, BUT BECAUSE THERE'S ALWAYS A DISTRICT SIX WRINKLE TO EVERY QUESTION BECAUSE THE TRAVIS COUNTY APPRAISAL DISTRICT DID NOT CHANGE THEIR APPRAISAL FROM LAST YEAR, THIS YEAR, HALF OF DISTRICT SIX AND 95% OF THE CITY OF AUSTIN, THEIR APPRAISAL STAYED LIKE THIS FOR BUDGETING PURPOSES.
WELL, WE GET OVER THIS PERCENTAGE, BUT WILLIAMSON COUNTY DID.
SO ALL THE WILLIAMSON COUNTY VALUES TICKED UP A LITTLE BIT.
WHAT IMPACT HAS THAT HAD ON THE RATIO OF TAX BURDEN? ULTIMATELY THERE'S NOTHING THE CITY CAN DO ABOUT THAT.
IT IS HOW APPRAISALS ARE SET AND YOU WANT THAT SEPARATION.
YOU DON'T WANT THE ENTITY THAT SETS THE TAX RATE, ALSO INVOLVED IN SETTING THE PROPERTY VALUE, BECAUSE THEN YOU'RE, YOU'RE NOW MESSING WITH BOTH SIDES OF AN EQUATION AND THAT'S NOT A GOOD WAY TO GO.
SO IT IS, IT IS A VERY IMPERFECT SYSTEM.
THERE'S A LOT OF CONVERSATION ACROSS THE ENTIRE STATE OF TEXAS ABOUT HOW TO DO APPRAISALS BETTER, OR TO HAVE A BETTER TAXATION SYSTEMS IN THE STATE OF TEXAS, YOU KNOW, HAVING SUCH A PROPERTY TAX HEAVY SYSTEM, IT CAUSES A LOT OF ISSUES AND THERE'S KIND OF A LOT OF EQUITY ISSUES.
IT PUTS US, IT TAXES YOU BASED ON PROPERTY, YOU OWN, AS OPPOSED TO YOUR ABILITY TO PAY THAT TAX.
AND SO THERE'S A LOT OF, A LOT OF CHALLENGES ABOUT IT, BUT ABOVE MY PAY GRADE, TALK TO YOUR STATE REP, DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO ADD TO THAT ONE YOU'RE ON YOU? IF YOU DO TALK TO YOUR STATE REP, IT COMES DOWN TO SALES PRICE DISCLOSURE.
THERE IS NO SALES PRICE DISCLOSURE FOR PERIPHERAL PROPERTY SALES, WHICH MAKES IT NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANY APPRAISAL OR NOT.
THOSE TEETH HAD TO REGULARLY RAISE MERKEL PROPERTIES.
THEY HAVE VERY LIMITED DATA TO WORK WITH.
I THINK T CAD TRAVIS CAD DOES A YEOMAN'S JOB OF IT, BUT THEY STILL ARE NOT GOING TO UPGRADE VALUES WHERE THEY HAVE NO ACCESS TO SALES DATA.
AND, AND EVEN IF, EVEN IF THE COUNCIL WANTED TO REQUIRE THAT WE DON'T HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO REQUIRE IT.
SO IT DOES ENTIRELY FALL, LIKE I SAID, ON THE APPRAISAL, ON THE, ON THE LEGISLATURE.
SO THE NEXT QUESTION I HAVE, UM, THERE'S A QUESTION ABOUT A SURVEY OR A POLL THAT WAS CONDUCTED AND IT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN THE CITY'S SURVEY, UM, ON DEFUNDING THE POLICE.
I KNOW THAT THE CITY HAD A CITY BUDGET PRIORITY SURVEY.
SO I'M CURIOUS, MAYBE THIS IS ED.
UM, DO YOU HAVE INFORMATION ON THAT, ON LIKE THE RESULTS OF THAT SURVEY? LIKE WHO PARTICIPATED, WHAT WERE THEIR PRIORITIES, ANY INFORMATION ON, YOU KNOW, THE POLICE BUDGET, YOU KNOW, PRIORITIES THAT THEY SELECTED? VERY TIMELY QUESTION BECAUSE, UM, WE JUST SENT A MEMO OUT TO COUNCIL TODAY.
I'M ANNOUNCING THAT WE WERE, WE HAD POSTED THE RESULTS FROM THAT SURVEY AND WE COLLABORATED ON THAT SURVEY WITH, UM, STANFORD, STANFORD UNIVERSITY.
UM, THEY APPROACHED US WITH THIS OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO WORK WITH THEM ON THIS PROJECT.
AND, UM, AND, AND WE GOT THE BENEFIT OF THEIR, UM, OF THEIR RESEARCH SKILLS.
ANYWAY, WE HAD A GREAT TURNOUT DOING THE SURVEY WITH AN ONLINE, I THINK WE HAD NEARLY 40,000 PARTICIPANTS IN THE SURVEY.
UM, AND THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF, I THINK OVER 90% OF THE RESPONDENTS, UM, UM, VOICED A PREFERENCE FOR REDUCING THE POLICE DEPARTMENT BUDGET AND INTO INCREASED FUNDING, PRIMARILY FOR PUBLIC HEALTH AND NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING.
AND THAT'S KIND OF THE TAKEAWAY FROM THE SURVEY.
THERE'S LOTS OF DETAILS IN THERE.
I THINK THE STANFORD GROUP DID A GREAT JOB WITH IT, AND THAT WAS JUST POSTED TODAY.
YOU CAN GET TO THAT OFF OF OUR SPEAK UP AUSTIN.
AND DOES IT HAVE, UM, DISTRICTS OF PARTICIPANTS? UM, IT DOES NOT HAVE DISTRICT BREAKOUTS IN THERE AND THEY DID, AND THEY HAVE DEMOGRAPHICS BY
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RACE AND GENDER AND ETHNICITY, BUT NOT BY DISTRICT.EVERY EMAIL I WOULD ADD, YOU KNOW, SURVEYS ARE JUST ONE TOOL.
UM, WE GET EMAILS INTO OUR OFFICE FROM DISTRICT SIX CONSTITUENTS ON A REGULAR BASIS.
SOMETIMES THEY'RE INDIVIDUAL EMAILS FROM CONSTITUENTS.
THOSE ARE GENERALLY THE BEST ONES AND THE ONES THAT PROBABLY GET THE MOST ATTENTION.
AND THEN SOMETIMES THEY'RE KIND OF ORGANIZED BY A GROUP AND THEY COME IN WHERE THERE'S, YOU KNOW, IN ONE WEEK I THINK WE HAVE NEARLY 10,000 EMAILS THAT HAVE RELATIVELY EXACTLY THE SAME MESSAGE.
AND, YOU KNOW, IT TAKES TIME TO KIND OF GO THROUGH THAT.
AND, AND MY STAFF, UH, MARTY THAT MARTY LEADS, UH, HAS DONE ITS BEST TO TRY TO GO THROUGH AND RESPOND TO EVERYBODY AND TRACK DOWN EVERYONE WHO LIVES IN THE DISTRICT.
SO WE CAN MAKE SURE WE UNDERSTAND WHAT
UM, BUT, BUT YOU KNOW, WHETHER OR NOT A SURVEY IS OPEN OR CLOSED, THE BEST TIME TO PROVIDE YOUR INPUT IS NOW, OH, WAIT, DON'T THINK, WELL, THERE'S A, THERE'S A PUBLIC HEARING IN A WEEK AND I'LL PROVIDE MY, BUT THEN NO, THE SOONER YOU GET YOUR INPUT INTO THE INBOX OR ARE INTO THE EYEBALLS OF A COUNCIL MEMBER, THE BETTER, BECAUSE WE CAN INCORPORATE THAT INTO THE WORK.
AS WE KIND OF NARROWED DOWN THE UNIVERSE OF POLICY AND BUDGET AND DECISION MAKING, AND THE EARLIER YOU GET YOUR IDEAS IN THE MIX, THE MORE LIKELY THEY ARE TO BE.
AND SO THAT ACTUALLY LEADS RIGHT INTO ANOTHER QUESTION, WHICH WAS HOW LONG CAN RESIDENTS GIVE FEEDBACK ON THE BUDGET, THROUGH THE SURVEY? SO MAYBE IT'S CLOSED ALREADY, IF YOU HAVE ANALYSIS.
THE SURVEY CLOSE THE END OF JUNE AND THEN, UM, THE STANFORD GROUP TOOK A FEW WEEKS TO COMPILE ALL THE RESULTS AND WRITE THEIR REPORT.
AND THE SURVEY IS NOW BEING FLOW.
THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT THERE ARE NO LONGER OPPORTUNITIES TO PROVIDE INPUT.
AS I MENTIONED IN ANOTHER BUDGET INPUT SESSION COMING UP ON JULY 30TH, I THOUGHT, I THOUGHT THAT ACTUALLY WENT REALLY, REALLY SMOOTHLY THE WAY WE HANDLED IT ON JULY 23RD, WHICH IS, YOU KNOW, YOU CAN SIGN UP TO SPEAK TO THE CITY COUNCIL AND YOU'LL BE ASSIGNED A TWO HOUR BLOCK OF TIME.
IT'S NOT LIKE YOU HAVE TO SIT THERE ON HOLD FOR 13 HOURS WAITING FOR YOUR NAME TO BE PAUL.
YOU DO MAYBE HAVE TO WAIT FOR TWO HOURS, BUT IT SEEMED LIKE IT WENT VERY EFFECTIVELY.
SO I'D ENCOURAGE ANYBODY WHO WANTS TO PROVIDE INPUT ON THE BUDGET TAXES TO THE CITY COUNCIL TO DO SO ON THE 30TH.
AND LIKE, AND LIKE I'VE SAID, AN ED HAS SAID THE BUDGET CONVERSATION, UNLIKE IN THE PAST, IT DOESN'T REALLY JUST HAPPEN ANNUALLY ANYMORE.
SO WE INTEND TO CONTINUE TO WORK AND TWEAK AND CHANGE THE BUDGET MOVING FORWARD.
SO EVEN IF YOUR CONCEPT OR YOUR CONCERN, UH, EVEN IF, EVEN IF IT'S, IF IT'S GOOD, EVEN IF WE, IF, IF WE THINK IT'S A GREAT ONE, IT, IT MAY NOT BE DONE IN AUGUST, BUT IT MIGHT BE DONE IN OCTOBER.
AND SO DON'T HESITATE TO REACH OUT AND CONTINUE TO PRIVATE, PROVIDE YOUR INPUT.
YOU KNOW, THAT'S, THAT'S PART OF HOW DEMOCRACY WORKS.
SO, SO ALWAYS BE SURE TO REACH OUT.
AND IF THERE ARE FOLKS IN HERE WHO ALREADY IN OTHER DISTRICTS REACH OUT TO YOUR COUNCIL MEMBERS FIRST AND MAKE SURE YOU TELL THEM THAT YOU LIVE IN THE DISTRICT, BECAUSE WE GET A LOT OF EMAILS, BUT THEY DON'T SAY, AND YOU KNOW, IT, THERE'S ONLY SO MANY STAFF A COUNCIL MEMBER HAS.
AND SO THE MORE YOU CAN IDENTIFY WHAT DISTRICT YOU'RE IN THE BETTER.
SO JUST AS A REMINDER, IF ANYONE HAS QUESTIONS, PLEASE PUT THEM IN THE CHAT ON THE SIDE OF THE PAGE HERE.
UH, ONE MORE, HOW OFTEN ARE DEPARTMENT BUDGETS REVIEWED OR AUDITED? SO, UH, THE PHARMA BUDGETS ARE REVIEWED FREQUENTLY.
WE HAVE A CORPORATE BUDGET OFFICE.
I REPORT DIRECTLY TO THE CITY MANAGER.
AND SO, YOU KNOW, THROUGHOUT THE YEAR WE WILL BE PROVIDING OVERSIGHT AND REVIEW TO DEPARTMENT, BUT IT'S, UH, MONITORING THEM AND WORKING THROUGH ISSUES WITH THEM.
WE DO HAVE AN INDEPENDENT CITY AUDITOR THAT IS, THAT IS HIRED BY THE CITY COUNCIL DOES NOT REPORT TO THE CITY MANAGER WHO HAS THE VERBIAGE TO GO IN AND AUDIT DEPARTMENT BOOKS AND OPERATIONS AND PROGRAM.
UM, AND SHE DOES A GREAT JOB WITH THAT.
SHE CREATES AN ANNUAL AUDIT PLAN, UM, THAT ALWAYS ENCOMPASSES LOOKING AT A VARIETY OF DEPARTMENTS.
UM, WE DID PUT MONEY IN THE BUDGET THIS YEAR, UM, TO HAVE OUR OFFICE OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT, DO A NUMBER OF EFFICIENCY REVIEWS.
AND SO THAT PROCESS IS, IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW.
AND, UM, WE'RE LOOKING AT A LOT OF OUR INTERNAL SERVICE DEPARTMENTS, DEPARTMENTS, DEPARTMENTS THAT PROVIDE SERVICES TO, UM, OTHER DEPARTMENTS.
SO, UM, FINANCIAL SERVICES IS BEING LOOKED AT LEAD SERVICES, COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT.
ARE WE GOING TO LOOK FOR WAYS THAT WE CAN IMPROVE EFFICIENCIES? SO, UM, I THINK THE SHORT ANSWER IS OFTEN AND, UH, AND THAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN.
WE DON'T WANT TO GET COMPLACENT AND, AND SIT ON OUR HANDS AND WE ALWAYS WANT TO BE LOOKING FOR WAYS TO IMPROVE AND GET MORE EFFICIENT.
YEAH, LET ME, LET ME JUST SAY, YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW, THERE WAS A, THERE WAS A VOTE, THERE WAS A PROPOSITION ABOUT AUDIT, UH, THAT WAS ON THE BALLOT AND, UH, THE VOTERS VOTED
[01:00:01]
IT DOWN, BUT THERE'S JUST MORE THAN ONE KIND OF AUDIT.AND IN ADDITION TO KIND OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING AUDITS THAT ARE DONE ANNUALLY THROUGH AN OUTSIDE FIRM, THERE ARE, UH, THE, THE REVIEWS AND AUDITS THAT ED STAFF DOES.
AND THE, IN THE BUDGET OFFICE THAT KIND OF SITS ON TOP OF THE WHOLE CITY.
UH, THEN THERE'S THE AUDIT AND FINANCE COMMITTEE AND THE AUDITOR'S OFFICE.
SO IN ADDITION TO THE CITY MANAGER, WHICH WAS HIRED BY THE COUNCIL, THERE'S A CITY AUDITOR THAT IS ALSO HIRED BY THE COUNCIL THAT DOES NOT WORK FOR THE MANAGER.
SO YOU HAVE THIS INDEPENDENT OFFICE THAT WORKS FOR THE COUNCIL THAT THEN SEPARATELY AUDITS WHEN THERE ARE ISSUES OR CONCERNS OR AREAS OF FOCUS THAT THE COUNCIL WANTS TO DEEPER DIVE.
I SERVE ON THE AUDIT AND FINANCE COMMITTEE FOR THE COUNCIL.
AND SO I HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW THOSE AUDITS AND PROVIDE GUIDANCE ON THE OTHER TYPES OF AUDITS THAT, UH, THAT WE CAN DO.
UH, AND THEN ADDITIONALLY, THERE ARE, AS ED MENTIONED, THERE ARE THINGS LIKE EFFICIENCY AUDITS, AND THE COUNCIL HAS ALREADY DIRECTED THE MANAGER TO DO AN EFFICIENCY AUDIT BETWEEN FIRE AND EMS. AND THAT, UH, RFP, I BELIEVE IS GOING TO HIT THE STREETS SOONER THAN LATER, OR MAYBE IT ALREADY IS OUT.
UH, SO, SO IT REALLY IS KIND OF A TAPESTRY OF WORK IN TERMS OF OVERSIGHT.
YOU, YOU'VE GOT KIND OF THE HARDCORE FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT THAT YOU GO OUT AND GET THE AUDIT FIRM ON THE OUTSIDE.
AND THEN YOU'VE GOT THE INTERNAL ANALYSIS MANAGEMENT, ACCOUNTING AUDITS.
YOU'VE GOT THE AUDIT CITY AUDIT.
THERE'S JUST KIND OF A CONSTANT DRUM BEAT OF OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATION.
AND THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT IT'S PERFECT.
IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT WE'RE, THAT WE'RE, THAT WE'RE NOT MISSING SOMETHING.
AND I CERTAINLY WANT TO SEE THE CITY MOVE AWAY FROM FEELING LIKE IT ALWAYS HAS TO BE THE PROVIDER AND INTO A MODE WHERE WE'RE DOING MORE BLOCK GRANTS AND OVERSIGHT.
AND I THINK THAT WOULD HELP STREAMLINE OUR ABILITY TO DO OVERSIGHT IN A MORE REGULAR BASIS, BUT IT'S JUST A LOT OF ONGOING WORK AND I'M WELL POSITIONED TO MAKE SURE THAT WORK GETS DONE.
I'VE GOT A COUPLE MORE QUESTIONS THAT HAVE COME IN HOW THIS MIGHT BE FOR ED.
HOW MUCH OF THE BUDGET IS FOR PENSION EXPENSES? UM, ROUGH ESTIMATE, UM, THE, THE CITY CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE COMBINED CONTRIBUTION TO THE PENSION SYSTEMS ARE UNDER THAN 6,000 AND $70 MILLION.
IT'S OUT OF A $4.20 BUDGET TO KEEP IN MIND.
WE'RE A BIG ORGANIZATION, 15,000 AUTHORIZED POSITIONS.
UM, WE PAY INTO THE PENSION SYSTEMS AS A PERCENTAGE OF OUR SALARY COSTS FOR OUR SALARIED EMPLOYEES.
AND FOR THOSE 50 15,000, YOU KNOW, UH, PERMANENT BENEFIT AND EMPLOYEES THAT, THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE PENSION SYSTEM, UM, IT'S AROUND 160, $170 MILLION.
I COULD LOOK THAT UP ACTUALLY, AS WE'RE TALKING TO ANOTHER QUESTION, YOU CAN SEE THE SPECIFIC AMOUNT ON THE PENSION SYSTEMS ARE A GREAT QUESTION.
THERE'S, THERE'S AUDIT WORK, BEING DONE ON THAT.
THERE'S POSSIBLY SOME LEGISLATIVE FIXES THAT WE'RE GOING TO BE GOING TO THE LEGISLATURE FOR.
UM, YOU KNOW, THERE WERE CHANGES IN THE LEGISLATURE ABOUT HOW, UH, PUBLIC PENSIONS HAVE TO BE EVALUATED.
AND SO THAT'S CHANGED SOME OF THE FINANCIAL CALCULATIONS, WHICH HAS BEEN CHANGED SOME OF THE CONTRIBUTION REQUIREMENTS, AND THAT'S JUST KIND OF THIS WATERFALL OF, OF, UH, DEEPER ANALYSIS AND ULTIMATELY WHAT WILL BE A STRONGER AND MORE RELIABLE PENSION SYSTEM MOVING FORWARD, BUT THERE WILL BE COSTS RELATED TO IT TO ENSURING THESE SYSTEMS AND, AND THEY ARE IMPORTANT BECAUSE THE, THE PUBLIC SERVANTS THAT JOINED THE CITY, UH, OFTEN TAKE A LOWER PAY, TAKE HOME, PAY, AND EXCHANGE THOSE PENSIONS.
AND SO WE DO HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO MAKE SURE THAT THOSE PENSIONS EXIST, WHAT WE ALSO HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY ARE SUSTAINABLE.
AND SO ALL OF THAT WORK IS ACTIVELY OCCURRING.
IT'S NOT EVEN SOMETHING I'M THINKING ABOUT.
I'VE BEEN IN A TON OF MEETINGS ABOUT PENSIONS RECENTLY.
AND YOU JUST, JUST, WHEN YOU THINK LIKE, YOU KNOW, ALL OF THE THINGS YOU HAVE TO WORK ON, THERE'S LIKE TWO MORE FRESH TOWELS YOU HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT.
SO THERE'S JUST A LOT OF STUFF THAT'S CONSTANTLY UNDERWAY AND PENSIONS IS DEFINITELY ON THAT LIST.
THAT WAS A GOOD, I FEEL THE SAME WAY ABOUT PENSIONS.
I'M UP TO MY EYEBALLS IN PENTAGON.
UM, I WAS OFF ON THE FISCAL YEAR 21 PROPOSED BUDGET AS $210.6 MILLION, UM, UH, FUNDING FOR THE, FOR OUR THREE PENSION SYSTEMS. WE HAVE ONE FOR CIVILIANS AND, AND PARAMEDICS, ONE SYSTEM FOR POLICE OFFICERS, ONE FOR FIREFIGHTERS.
AND AGAIN, JUST, I MENTIONED OUT OF A $4.2 BILLION BUDGET.
IT'S ABOUT 5% OF OUR BUDGET GOES TO PAY FOR THE PENSION SYSTEMS, WHICH, AND ED OUT OF THAT $4.2 BILLION BUDGET.
DO YOU RECALL HOW MUCH OF IT IS JUST PERSONNEL? UM, I, I DON'T, IT VARIES A LOT BY FUND BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, OFTEN ENERGY THROWS EVERYTHING OFF WITH THEIR HALF A BILLION DOLLAR FUEL BUDGET THING.
BUT IN THE GENERAL FUND SAY 80% OF OUR BUDGET IS PERSONNEL COSTS, RIGHT? SO THE PENSION COSTS CAN SEEM LIKE A LOT AS AN OUTLIER, BUT WHEN YOU GO BACK AND LOOK AND REALIZE THE VAST MAJORITY OF COSTS IN GOVERNMENT ARE PERSONNEL, AND YOU CAN SEE IT KIND OF FITS IT.
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ALL RIGHT.UM, THEY, THEY SAW THAT A PART OF THE BUDGET IS TO INCREASE SERVICES FOR MENTAL HEALTH.
HOW MUCH OF THAT WOULD INCLUDE SERVING BRAIN AND STROKE INJURY? YEAH, I DON'T KNOW.
I SAW THAT QUESTION BEING, WANTING TO QUESTION THAT THEY COME IN AND I'M LIKE, I KNOW, CHECK WITH OUR HEALTH DEPARTMENT AND FIND OUT, I KNOW THE OVERALL BUDGET OVER THERE FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF $5 MILLION.
BUT HOW MUCH OF THAT SPECIFICALLY FOR THOSE TWO CONDITIONS? I DON'T KNOW.
ONE OF THE, ONE OF THE CHALLENGES FOR THE CITY IS, UM, YOU KNOW, WE, WE, I FIND THAT THE CITY IS THE MOST ACCESSIBLE, WHEREVER EASIEST TO GET TO.
WE, WE DO A LOT OF PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT, OBVIOUSLY MORE, MAYBE IT'S OBVIOUS AS WE HAVE LEARNED MORE PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT THAN JUST ABOUT ANY OTHER CITY IN THE COUNTRY.
BUT AS ED CHARTS SHOWED YOU, WE ARE NOT A MAJORITY OF YOUR TAXES.
THERE ARE OTHER JURISDICTIONS THAT COLLECT YOUR PROPERTY TAXES, THE COUNTY AND CENTRAL HEALTH, IF YOU'RE IN TRAVIS COUNTY, UH, IS A BIG PART OF THAT.
AND WHAT THAT MEANS IS THERE ARE PARTS OF THE HEALTH SYSTEM THAT FALL ON THE CITY, PRIMARILY EMERGENCY RESPONSE.
AND THEN THERE ARE PARTS OF THE HEALTH SYSTEM THAT FALL ON THE COUNTY, WHICH IS MORE INFRASTRUCTURE, HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE, UH, AND CENTRAL HEALTH SPECIFICALLY ABOUT INDIGENT HEALTHCARE.
UH, AND THEN OF COURSE WE HAVE A LOT OF PRIVATE HEALTH PROVIDERS ON PRETTY MUCH ALL OF OUR PROVIDERS ARE PRIVATE HEALTH PROVIDERS, SETON AND, UH, DELL, DELL MEDICAL SCHOOL AND, UH, ST DAVID'S AND ALL THOSE FOLKS, UH, AND SENATOR WATSON, FORMER SENATOR WATSON, UH, WHO IS NOW THE DEAN OF HOBBY SCHOOL DOWN IN HOUSTON.
UH, ONE OF HIS BIG, UH, CONCEPTS WAS TO HAVE, UH, A BIG BRAIN INJURY OR A, UH, HE HAD A PHRASE FOR, IT WAS LIKE HARVARD OR THE BRAIN OR THE MAYO CLINIC OF THE BRAIN, SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
AND HE WANTED TO DO IT WAS ON HIS, ON HIS BIG LIST OF, TO DO'S FOR, FOR THE STATE.
AND TO HAVE THAT BE THE, THE, THE AUSTIN STATE HOSPITAL THAT IS IN AUSTIN, UM, THAT, THAT HAS NOT COME TO FRUITION YET.
ALTHOUGH THERE ARE PLANS I'VE SEEN MASTER PLAN DRAWINGS FOR THAT FACILITY, AND HOPEFULLY THE STATE WILL BE IN A PLACE TO MAKE THOSE SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENTS, BUT I GENERALLY SEE IT AS THE CITY IS RESPONSIBLE FOR EMERGENCY HEALTH RESPONSE, BUT THE L THE LARGER INFRASTRUCTURE AROUND SERVING BRAIN AND STROKE INJURY TO THIS QUESTION IS REALLY MORE OF A STATE SLASH COUNTY FUNCTION.
SO AS YOU, AS YOU ADVOCATE FOR THE ISSUES THAT YOU CARE ABOUT, YOU KNOW, KEEPING ENGAGING WITH MY OFFICE, BUT BE SURE TO TALK TO YOUR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AND YOUR STATE REPS, BECAUSE THEY HAVE DIFFERENT WAYS TO GET STUFF DONE AND DIFFERENT AREAS OF THE SYSTEMS THAT THEY'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR.
WELL, THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE ATTENDEES.
IF YOU'D LIKE TO ADD ANY MORE QUESTIONS TO THE CHAT GOING ONCE GOING TWICE.
UM, I THINK THAT'S ALL THE QUESTIONS WE'VE GOT FOR YOU.
THANK YOU BOTH SO MUCH FOR ANSWERING ALL OF THOSE QUESTIONS.
UH, YOU MAY CONTINUE TO, UH, LOOK AT THESE, SPEAK UP INFORMATION ON, UM, I DON'T HAVE THE SLIDE IN FRONT OF ME NOW.
THERE IT IS AT AUSTIN, TEXAS.GOV/BUDGET TO CONTINUE GETTING MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE BUDGET.
UM, AND AS COUNCIL MEMBER PLAN AGAINST THAT, IF YOU HAVE SPECIFIC QUESTIONS OR, UH, BUDGET SUGGESTIONS, PLEASE DO ALWAYS EMAIL US AT DISTRICT SIX AT AUSTIN, TEXAS.GOV.
UM, A RECORDING OF THIS MEETING WILL BE AVAILABLE HOPEFULLY TOMORROW.
WE'RE VERY, VERY SOON I WILL POST IT ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE, WHICH IF YOU AREN'T ALREADY FOLLOWING YOU SHOULD, UH, AND IT IS, OH, I'M GONNA MESS THIS UP.
I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT OUR EXACT ATX D SIX.ORG, UM, FACEBOOK PROFILE PAGES, BUT YOU PROBABLY COULD FIND IT IF YOU LOOK UP JIMMY'S PAGE.
IT IS BECAUSE, BECAUSE I, I, I, IN MY PRIOR LIFE, I WAS A WEB DEVELOPER AND I DID MARKETING AND BRANDING.
ATX D SIX.ORG IS THE WEBSITE FACEBOOK.COM/ATX D SIX IS THE FACEBOOK PAGE.
WE MADE IT SO EASY THAT I REMEMBERED IT.
UM, SO YEAH, PLEASE DO KEEP IN TOUCH WITH US.
UH, AND IF YOU KNOW, ANYONE WHO, YOU KNOW, WOULD BENEFIT FROM VIEWING THIS TOWN HALL AFTER THE FACT IT WILL BE AVAILABLE, UM, OTHERWISE, UH, ED OR JIMMY, DO YOU HAVE ANY FINAL WORDS YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE? I'LL JUST SAY, YOU KNOW, THIS IS THE FOURTH BUDGET, UH, THAT I HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO WORK ON AND TO VOTE ON, UM, OF THE THREE BUDGETS.
IN MY FIRST THREE YEARS, I ONLY VOTED FOR ONE OF THEM.
IT IS MY CONTINUED COMMITMENT TO DISTRICT SIX, THAT I WILL ONLY SUPPORT FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE DECISIONS THAT THE CITY IS GOING TO MAKE.
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I HAVE VOTED AGAINST TAX INCREASES WHEN I DIDN'T FEEL THEY WERE SUFFICIENTLY WORTH IT.IF THEY WEREN'T SUFFICIENTLY EXPLAINED, OR IF YOU COULDN'T ARTICULATE HOW IT WAS GOING TO MAKE THE CITY BETTER.
UH, THIS ONE, I THINK WE'RE HEADING IN A REALLY GOOD DIRECTION.
I FEEL REALLY GOOD ABOUT THE 3.5% LIMIT, AND THAT THE COUNCIL HAS UNANIMOUSLY CONSENTED TO KEEPING OUR, OUR KIND OF NON-VOTER APPROVED PIECE TO THAT LEVEL.
AND THEN WE WILL BE PUTTING PROJECT CONNECT ON THE BALLOT.
YOU WILL SEE THAT ON YOUR NOVEMBER BALLOT, WHICH WE'LL HAVE, UH, THE OPPORTUNITY TO REALLY MAKE A SIGNIFICANT AND TRANSFORMATIONAL INVESTMENT IN WHAT IT'S ACTUALLY GOING TO TAKE TO ADDRESS MOBILITY IN THIS COMMUNITY.
AND DISTRICT SIX KNOWS IT BEST BECAUSE LIKE MANY OF YOU, I MOVED OUT TO DISTRICT SIX BEFORE ONE OF THE THREE WAS TURNED INTO A HIGHWAY AND AFTER ONE OF THE THREE WAS STARTING TO AT HIGHWAY TRAFFIC DID NOT MAGICALLY GET BETTER.
IN FACT, WHAT, WHAT, WHAT GREW WAS CEDAR PARKING LEANDER AND LIBERTY HILL? CAUSE NOW THERE WAS THIS BIG PIPELINE THAT ALLOWED GROWTH TO HAPPEN IN THESE OUTER AREAS.
AND THEN ALL THAT TRAFFIC APPEARS RIGHT IN OUR OWN BACKYARD.
I'M EXCITED BECAUSE THE DECISIONS THE COUNCIL WILL MAKE ARE THE MOST FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE DECISIONS WE COULD.
AND, AND, AND THE BIG STUFF BEYOND THAT, WE'RE GOING TO PUT TO THE VOTERS.
THIS IS A GREAT YEAR, AND IT'S A GREAT YEAR FOR FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AND, AND GOVERNANCE.
AND, UH, AND I I'M, I'M JUST HAPPY TO SEE THAT THIS IS THE, THE, THE FOURTH BUDGET THAT I GET TO PARTICIPATE IN.
AND, UH, WE'LL HOPEFULLY YOU ALL WILL LIKE IT TOO.
I WAS JUST GONNA SAY, I'LL BE, I'LL BE ECSTATIC AS CAN BE IF WE CAN GET DOWN TO REMEMBER PLAN AGAIN, BOTH THIS YEAR.
THANKS FOR BEING HERE TONIGHT AND BE SAFE.