City Council Budget Adoption Meeting Transcript – 8/13/2025 Title: ATXN-1 (24hr) Channel: 1 - ATXN-1 Recorded On: 8/13/2025 6:00:00AM Original Air Date: 8/13/2025 Transcript Generated by SnapStream ================================== Please note that the following transcript is for reference purposes and does not constitute the official record of actions taken during the meeting. For the official record of actions of the meeting, please refer to the Approved Minutes. [10:00:05 AM] Council members it's 10:00 in the morning on Wednesday, August 13th, 2025, and I will call to order the [10:01:06 AM] and I will call to order the meeting of the Austin city council. This is a council budget meeting. We have a quorum of the Austin city council present. We are meeting in city council chambers, located in city hall at 301 west second street in Austin, Texas. Welcome, everybody. Order of the day. And I'll lay this out. And I laid it out in a message board post last night. But I want to kind of lay it out for everybody. And the council is what we'll do is we're going to start with public hearings. And let me just tell everybody, we have 423 people that have signed up to speak. So we'll be done by like ten, 30 or 11 today. And I mean this morning. So no, obviously with 423 people, we're going to have to work this in a very organized way. And I tease about that. But we're glad that everybody is interested in this. The way we're going to do this is we're going to go first to our public hearings. There are six items that are scheduled [10:02:08 AM] six items that are scheduled that are on the agenda as public hearings. We will take those up where we will open the public hearing. We will hear people that have signed up in that public hearing, and then we will close that public hearing. We will not vote on the related item. However, until we've heard all public comment, we will go through those six items that are public hearings. After that, we will go to speakers that are set up on all of the other items on the agenda. For those that are familiar with the way we run council meetings, generally, the way we'll do that is kind of how we do on the consent agenda. On a typical Thursday, we will hear we'll have the clerk's office call on this agenda item. We will hear speakers on that agenda item. Then we'll go to the next item and we'll we'll do that until we're completed. In that way, once we do that, we will then go to the items that we're going to vote on, and we will start with item number five, which is in fact the [10:03:10 AM] five, which is in fact the budget adoption ordinance. We will follow that with the fee and fine ordinance. And then we'll go through the various other ordinances. But the way I anticipate the day going and members, the professional finance staff is going to bring forward a proposal that is kind of a combination of all the different proposals that will end up being part of the primary motion on the budget. As I explained on the message board last night, I anticipate that they will be completed, that have that completed and be ready to bring that forward to us in an hour, hour and a half. And what we'll do at that point in time, members, is once we I know about that and it's it'll be put in back up to by the way, for everybody that's interested in the public, it will be put up, put in the backup so that you'll be able to see that. But what I'll probably do at that point is pause the public comment, have them lay that out for us. [10:04:12 AM] have them lay that out for us. The professional staff lay that out for us. And we've asked so many questions about all this. It's not going to require that, but just get it laid out for us so that then our staffs can work on any proposed amendments that we may want to be offering when we actually get to that item. I have put on the message board a proposal for how your staff should word the amendments. We need these amendments to be in writing. I'm anticipating we have more than a few, however, that might get defined today. And so in order to make sure we have appropriate record and we have clarity about what it is we're talking about, we need I need to ask you to please put your amendments in writing and, and utilize the language I put in the message board, have your staff utilize that language so that we have clarity about what the what the amendment is. The other thing that I'll point out is that if we are listening to [10:05:13 AM] is that if we are listening to public comment, our the procedures of the council say that we are not to go past 10:00 unless there is a motion to extend the meeting past 10:00. What I have recommended is that if we are listening to speakers, people who have been here all day under those circumstances, and by the way, I'm now talking about 10:00 pm. For those that are keeping score at 10:00 pm. What I anticipate if we're listening to speakers, that what we will do is we will continue to listen to speakers until all of the speakers have been heard. However, if we're at a point where we're in discussion or voting, we will recess the meeting and come back tomorrow at 9:00. It this this council, in the past, we've taken the position that big important matters like the budget, for example, we should not be voting on late at night because people [10:06:14 AM] on late at night because people aren't paying, able to pay as much attention to it. And some people feel like that that's trying to ram something through when you ought to be doing it in the daylight. And I agree with that. So we'll we'll come back at 9:00 tomorrow morning if that's where we are. I think I've covered everything. I'll just ask if there's any questions. Yes, mayor pro tem. >> Thank you. Mayor. Is the 9 A.M. For because we'll be in recess? You know, I would just ask that and we can decide later as we move on towards the day. But any consideration for a 10 A.M. Start time? Just giving us that extra hour, depending on the amendments that fell. >> Through, that's not a bad idea. The reason I said nine was to give us extra time in case we needed it during the day, but but let's let's see where we are and what I would also ask. That's a very good point that causes me to think of as you're ready members, to show your proposed amendments. Let's go [10:07:15 AM] proposed amendments. Let's go ahead and start getting those in the bloodstream right, so that we'll have a better feel as we get later in the day about where we are on those. So yeah, I said 9:00. You make a good point. Let's wait until later in the day and make that decision when maybe we'll all be we'll be done and we won't have to come back at all. That's keep hope alive. All right. With that being said, any other questions? Okay. Then what I'm going to do is we will go to agenda item number one. And that is a public hearing on agenda. Item number one is related to the proposed property or ad valorem tax rate of the city of Austin. With that, unless there's objection with no objection, we will open the public hearing on agenda item number one, the proposed property ad valorem tax rate of [10:08:15 AM] property ad valorem tax rate of the city of Austin. The public hearing is now open, and I will turn to our city clerk to begin calling names. Let me just say also, before she starts calling names, she's going to call two, three, four names in a row, maybe five, I don't know. And if she does that, if your name is called, please come down and pick one of these seats. And you don't need to. If you've got an open microphone, nobody else is talking. Go ahead and begin your testimony by stating your name first for the record, and then go ahead and begin that way. Part of the reason we want to be efficient is with your time, but also for those people that have signed up after you on some other item that are going to be here waiting all day, the more efficient we are in terms of hearing testimony, the better it is for them as well. Your your co-speakers, if you will. So with that, I'll turn to the city clerk's office. >> Thank you mayor. We do have a few remote speakers, so I'll start with remote, please. Kayla. Reece. >> Good morning, mayor and [10:09:16 AM] >> Good morning, mayor and council. My name is Kayla Reece and I am the advocacy manager at Austin parks foundation. I am just calling to speak to the needs of the park department. Parks department, and to express that we know that there's a gap in what the parks department is currently able to provide and what people expect, let alone best practice. And the only way to fill that gap is more funding for the department, the need for parks maintenance and for funding land management are crucial to providing quality of life for us tonight, and we know that people vote for parks. So if any TRE is going to be sold as a parks win, then it actually needs to be substantially about parks and provide substantial funding for the parks department. And we want parks to be a significant part of what is being voted on. I just wanted to share our thoughts on the need for the parks department and express. Thanks for all the council members and mayor for thinking about the parks department, including those needs. Thank you. >> Megan meisenbach. [10:10:17 AM] >> Megan meisenbach. >> Hello, this is Megan meisenbach and I wanted to say that I feel that the budget is overblown in certain areas and where it's really oops. Hello, where. It's really. Important to. Okay, great. Where it's really important to have for the money and we don't have it there. I think the budget needs to be looked at very carefully. There's so many amendments. It's rather confusing to I think everybody. So I'd like you to delay the budget and hone it down some more before it's overblown with silly things. Thank you. >> John Thomas. >> Yes, my name is John tomashevsky and mayor and council, thank you for giving me [10:11:18 AM] council, thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak. Just have a strong concern over the increase in taxes, especially as we start to see a number of significant layoffs. And I, as well as housing availability. If you look at the supply numbers that are there. So I'm all for improving our city. I think that doing a property tax increase will limit as well as further push affordability outside of the city. So respectfully ask that if we look at not increasing the property taxes. Thank you for your time. >> Nancy Jetter. Nancy, are you there? Beverly Luna? >> My name is Beverly Luna. I'm [10:12:22 AM] >> My name is Beverly Luna. I'm with Austin, lost and found pets, and I would certainly support any increase in taxes that would increase the budget of the Austin animal center. And I would note that I'm opposed the Austin animal services cuts for emergency veterinary services in the proposed budget. Budget. These are essential services your constituents have relied on for years, ac staff stated in a response to council member vela that they chose to cut those services because they are not required by law. That is misleading. The laws require the chief animal services officer to pick up all strays running at large within the city of Austin and within Travis county. This practice of using the emergency vet began years ago, when it was apparent that there needed to be a solution for sick or injured dogs and cats that were found outside shelter hours that needed immediate vet care. Three problems were dealt with by this. You did not allow the animal, often someone's escaped pet, to suffer needlessly. The process allowed animal services to comply with the law while maximizing their live outcome rate. And you don't shift the responsibility of animal services to the public and to law enforcement. Are you [10:13:22 AM] law enforcement. Are you increasing the budget of the police to address the additional costs they will get for the suffering animals? Have you told the county that they will need to increase the budget of the sheriff's office to deal with this? Austin animal services does not have vets on staff. After hours. They leave at 4:30 P.M. And generally only work Monday through Friday. If 311 gets a call at 8 P.M. That there's an injured German shepherd blocking a Laine on south Lamar, what is an aco or police going to do? There will be no vet staff at the shelter and no place for them to take the dog. Vet services are the solution to get out of the situation the animal services is in. You should be increasing, not decreasing that budget. And I can tell you that a huge percentage of the population in Austin would support even increased taxes. To increase the budget of Austin animal services, and we certainly don't want to take away from the budget of vet services to add more administrators. That's the last thing they need. They need more vet services. Thank you so much. >> Cathy coco. Cathy, are you [10:14:23 AM] >> Cathy coco. Cathy, are you there? Alan Vaughn? >> Good morning, mayor and council members. My name is Alan Vaughn and I'm here today as a multifamily property owner, a member of the Austin apartment association, and serving as the vice president of north Austin civic association, responsible for the health and welfare of 120 families, and representing thousands of residents of our community within district four. We strongly oppose the proposed tax rate hike in theory, as it would significantly impact the financial viability of the multifamily properties within the Austin area. Over the past couple of years, we faced a challenging rental market with declining rents, increased delinquencies, and higher turnover. Despite these headwinds, we remain committed to providing high quality, affordable housing and work tirelessly to maintain occupancy and manage expenses. An increase [10:15:25 AM] and manage expenses. An increase of this magnitude in property taxes would be extremely difficult to absorb. These rising costs ultimately trickle down and affect our residents who are living paycheck to paycheck, something we work hard to avoid. In addition, the challenges we face with ever growing homeless population and crime result in significant costs to overcome property damage, theft, encampment, and debris that we must endure daily. Given the fact that 48% of Austin residents are renters and 68% of residents live in multifamily properties, I am surprised and disheartened that mayor Watson's office was the only one that reached out to the apartment association prior to this, and asked what the impact of such a rate hike would have on our residents and community. We ask that you reconsider and look for ways in which the city can be more disciplined and stay within budget. The proposed rate increases will do harm to the very people the council professes. They want to help focus on the fundamentals and significantly reduce [10:16:27 AM] significantly reduce discretionary spending that produces little to no results. Thank you for your time. >> Richard Franklin. Richard, are you there? Larry Akers? >> Larry, thank you very much. Council. You're asking voters for their budget priorities and planning to ask us to pay for them accordingly. The problem is that you've already determined these priorities, and they're requiring us to pay for them without a vote. Your cornerstone maneuver was may 22nd, when you overturned your own policy and allowed base cost drivers to appear in a TRE. This allows you to shift your discretionary priorities into the base budget, out of the reach of voters into the TRE of essential items that voters would support. Because we must do that to have a livable city. Then minutes later, [10:17:29 AM] city. Then minutes later, knowing the city faced long term structural deficit he authorized I-35 captain stitch, which would aggravate that deficit to the tune of $1 billion or so to build and forever after require $47 million a year to maintain. You gave us no opportunity to vote on that burden or its worthiness, and tore down a perfectly viable convention school and intend to build a multi-billion dollar new one, again without approval from the voters, as had been sought and given for the original center and its expansion. You've given voters no opportunity to accept or reject a scaled down project connect rail project at no reduction in price and in fact no longer 7.1 billion, but 8.234 billion. The fact it was discreetly reported to the feds, but so far has been withheld from any public announcement. There is no free lunch. We're [10:18:29 AM] There is no free lunch. We're paying for all of this at an unsustainable level. You'd best move all the essential budget items into the base budget, pruning discretionary items to do that and make do with the voter allowed tax rate. Until you do this. And also to cap and stitch the convention center and the reduced rail project, each on ballots for up and down. >> Cathy cocoa. Cathy. Are you there? Nancy Jeter? >> Hi, this is Nancy Jeter. Hello, everyone. I am actually coming to you with the perspective of a resident and homeowner up in the northwest hills area of Austin, Texas. I purchased my home outright with cash in 2020, and what I am [10:19:29 AM] cash in 2020, and what I am concerned about and what I would like to voice my concern about and what I would like to sort of say is that I have paid well over probably $60,000 in property taxes since purchasing my home in 2020 for $775,000. We cannot. I own the house outright, but yet it's like I'm leasing my own home. We absolutely cannot afford another tax hike. A property tax hike on these already overpriced property taxes that they are our our state representative in the Texas house mentioned that there was $126 billion surplus in the state of Texas for property taxes funds, and the governor has actually put together a moratorium in in, I believe it [10:20:30 AM] moratorium in in, I believe it was the year before last that voters got to vote on so that they could actually get some of that money returned to them. The governor is having a special session now in order to try to reduce property taxes. And then in the state of Texas, because they're already over pale. How can I own my home if I'm simply leasing it at a rate I've already spent 10% of additional monies to own a home I already own? This doesn't make any sense. And the more that you do that, the less affordable this place is to live in the current market. I can't even sell my house. This is a problem. Every time you make homes less affordable by. Raising property tax. >> Thank you. Time has expired, Richard Franklin. Richard, are you there? Cole weaver? >> Good morning. My name is Cole [10:21:37 AM] >> Good morning. My name is Cole weaver. I am with united workers of integral care. I the first point I want to make is that. The in terms of like the tax rate election, the lowest like the lower tax rate, I feel was put the people that are in house that are housed at rife people, people that have housing vouchers. So and there's a lot of and I work at integral care. So there are a lot of people that I work with that are struggling with chronic disabilities and untreated illnesses. One of them even has cancer, and there are others that are already chronically unhoused and are just fighting to survive and get housing. I'm honestly tired of being unable to help people, especially black people, recover with the mental health because they are [10:22:37 AM] health because they are regularly traumatized by being in the streets and witnessing violence and chaos. I would say continue to invest in Escott means will mean protecting black and brown people struggling with mental health from police brutality and criminal justice involvement. And honestly, if you want, you know, considering that there is like concerns about homeless people being criminalized by the order, I think we as a city should prioritize protecting everybody, including people, the unhoused, the disabled, the people with mental health challenges. Thank you. >> Bruce Greiner. >> Good morning. >> This is. >> Bruce Greiner. >> Mayor and city council. >> My wife and I need and want. [10:23:39 AM] >> My wife and I need and want. >> A new. >> Car, but it just doesn't fit within our budget. >> These are the same. Constraints felt by. >> Countless taxpayers across the city. Who in their right mind. >> Thinks it's okay. >> For. >> Council to raise taxes. >> By 19% when everyone else must live within a family budget? The answer. Is to prioritize funding on core municipal services as authorized under Texas state code. Police. Fire. Ambulance. Wildfire abatement. City utilities, roads, parks, and libraries. It's not the role of city government to fund services that previously have been funded by state or federal tax dollars, like covid funding, the city should focus on these essential services that support all residents, not programs that are nice to have or benefit only a few. It's unconscionable that the city has had a ladder truck mothballed for over two years because no funding was allocated to staff. It all at a time when the city is adding numerous [10:24:39 AM] the city is adding numerous multiple commercial and residential towers, the council is also considering adding yet another fee to our utility bill to fund parks. This is just another hidden tax increase. Utility bills should be based on actual usage. The council should look for ways to prioritize spending without any increase in tax rates. We're already being hit with increases from all the other taxing jurisdictions, and it's unrealistic to ask city of Austin residents to pay even more in taxes, as well as renters who will see it more increases corresponding increases in their rental payments. In summary, when is enough enough? It's unrealistic to expect taxpayers to pick up the difference when other funding is reduced. Austin leaders must learn to prioritize spending based on a cost benefit basis. Council needs to manage money like we manage our household budgets. >> Thank you. Time. >> Allocate dollars for [10:25:40 AM] >> Allocate dollars for important needs. >> Jennifer Robichaud. >> Good morning city council, this is Jen Robichaud. I want to start by acknowledging the hard work invested in these budget discussions. I know you and your staff dedicate months of this process. It is impractical for the average resident to grasp the full scope of the city's revenue and spending. Yet this year, I've seen austinites become intensely engaged. With the budget process. Improve budget transparency has given us a chance to voice our concerns, and I see a glimmer that the many austinites demanding fiscally responsible leadership are being heard. Mayor Watson, you've tempered the enthusiasm of your more Progressive colleagues. Council member duchen has engaged district ten and the city at large, using data to prioritize essential services. I appreciate his focus on funding what's critical. However, these essential services should have been the first line items in the baseline budget, allowing over seven and [10:26:40 AM] budget, allowing over seven and a half cents wiggle room to raise property taxes suggests greater concern for fitting your projects into the budget than for the city's financial health. It signals to taxpayers that our money is yours for the taking. We are tired of constant tax increases, which compound year over year with no clear improvement in our lives or city services centers. Programs often benefit a select few, while essential services vital to all austinites remain underfunded. Used as leverage to extract more tax dollars. To move forward, we must rely less on property taxes and fees and more on sales tax revenue and helping businesses thrive. I urge you to prioritize financial restraint, fiscal responsibility fund essential services first and respect the financial burdens of Austin residents. Thank you for your time. >> That's all the remote speakers we have at this time. So I will be switching to in [10:27:41 AM] So I will be switching to in person. And as the mayor mentioned, I'm going to call several names at a time. Please come up to the podium when you hear your name, and don't forget to speak your name into the record before you start. Orlowski Shaw brydan Summers. Robin. Rather. Robin, are you here? You have time donated by Susan Spataro. Susan, are you here? Thank you. Four minutes when you're ready. Chris flores, Kim Mccorkle. >> Hello. My name is Orlowski Shaw, and I'm the president of the united workers of integral care. We are here today in a moment that will define whether Austin continues to be the city. We claim to be. A place that takes care of its people, leads on Progressive policy, and ensures that every resident can live safely and freely. A tax rate election is not just an option this year, it's a necessity. Setting the rate between 5 and $0.07 is the only way to ensure that vital city services are not cut, and that our most vulnerable residents do not fall through the cracks. As at the state and federal levels, we are seeing an alarming [10:28:41 AM] we are seeing an alarming retreat from responsibility. Rights are being stripped away, safety nets are being dismantled and we are watching the playbook of authoritarianism unfold. Austin must stand strong against that tide. Our services at integral care and across the social service continuum are in jeopardy and are at risk for closure. We must prove that Austin lives up to its values and put a strong TRE on the ballot. One that acts as a real safety net improves the quality of life for all austinites. This is how we keep shelter beds open, expand housing, maintain mental health crisis response, protect our parks and strengthen our infrastructure. It's how we show the country a real example of community in Austin. We care for one another. Our union will do everything in our power to educate austinites about what's at stake and to campaign for this increase. We know our neighbors want to protect their community, and they just need the chance to vote for it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good morning. One second. She has four minutes. >> Oh thank you mayor. Good morning everybody I'm robin rather I live in d-9. I'm [10:29:42 AM] rather I live in d-9. I'm speaking as a taxpayer today and not on behalf of any group. The actions today that you all take will directly affect the lives of real people all over the city, especially those with the least resources. And I pray that every single move you make today lifts up those that need it most. I'm speaking today to ask you to take the time to make sure you've cut every single thing that is not directly, directly affecting our most urgent issues. I'm asking you to invest in people and in nature, not in concrete. Increasing taxes has already made Austin ridiculously unaffordable, increasing them again, like you're considering today just puts a mountain of salt on the wounds. Council member duchen has it right, and he's had the guts to call it like it is. A tax increase right now isn't necessary and very likely won't pass. People here are getting hit from all sides. A major tax increase now without cutting [10:30:44 AM] increase now without cutting more into what we don't need at all, isn't right and won't work. You all want to break. You all want to blame trump in Abbott for the need for this tax increase. And what they've done is cruel and evil. You all are not. But at the same time, I'm worried that voters are going to blame you just as much, if not more, if you don't cut the wasteful concrete projects you've approved but can and should go on and roll back. This council is not known for its frugality. Y'all. Y'all are more of a build baby build kind of group, but you can change that today. And I'm talking about the convention center. Put it on the ballot and let people vote on whether we want to spend billions on replacing it and using up all our valuable hot taxes on a dying industry. I'm talking about cap and stitch. I'm talking about the shrunken project connect. I'm talking about Waterloo park. That isn't a park at all. I'm talking about live nation's absurd deal with [10:31:44 AM] live nation's absurd deal with the city where they get billions off zilker park and give us very little back in spendable dollars. Thank you for not moving forward on the $200 million zilker vision plan. Thank you for putting that on pause. Thank you for walking that back. Keep going. You can fix I know it's hard to pull the plug on projects you were excited about, but but you can and do and should do it. These massive billion dollar projects were controversial and wasteful when we were flush, and now they're totally unsustainable. Inexcusable, and almost embarrassing. You've made it far easier to put up block after block of luxury condos in the middle of quiet neighborhoods. This has resulted in almost zero affordable housing and further gentrification and displacement. You've talked about climate, but invested very little. We've spent millions on homeless, and we didn't have the cool plan that we have now. We need to [10:32:46 AM] that we have now. We need to invest in that plan, but we got to cut and make up and acknowledge for things that we wanted to do, but now can't. Please understand. I appreciate how much funding you've put in for park maintenance, but where's the transparency? We need to understand how did we get so far behind in the first place? Why are you letting non-profits like apf, ttc, and Waterloo fleece you? Why haven't we audited them and understood? Why can't we direct the funds they have to the priorities we need instead of sticking it to the taxpayers? I'll just close by saying the concrete projects are a sea of heat island effect, and they're going to burn us up both financially and physically. All these million dollar projects are symbols of wasted money, wasted trust, and wasted chances to do the right thing. Thank you so much. Let's cut the concrete and get on with the cib. Thank you. >> Good morning. Elected people. [10:33:53 AM] >> Good morning. Elected people. My name is Chris flores. I am a resident of district ten. I asked today as you consider next year's budget is that you limit the property tax increase to the amount of the state's cap, plus a couple of cents needed to keep the same budget as this year, but adjusted upward for inflation. Please do not reduce overtime for police because our city is 400 policemen short. Likewise, please do not reduce the number of firefighters on a truck because it risks their lives. Please proceed most frugally knowing a property tax increase will raise rents for the working classes and drive us to leave Austin for the suburbs. I ask you to curtail future spending on office buildings. We don't need trailheads and boardwalks we don't need. Please stop spending to match federal and state gifts. Could you please find a way to undo or [10:34:53 AM] please find a way to undo or rescind some of your big spends this year, like cap and stitch on I-35? I close with this reminder. Our budget is a moral document. I hope you consider how your decisions impact the lives of the workers, the poor, and your public servants. Thank you. >> Good morning. My name is Kim Mccorkle, 1944 families with children do not have a home, and only a fraction of them are in shelters. Thank you, council members, for this time to speak about our homeless neighbors and the need for family shelters and all in Austin, which would greatly benefit from the proposed TRE. Again, I'm Kim and I work with homemade Austin, the outreach and development director, as well as representing half our homeless advocacy project. This statistic is back from October of 2024. [10:35:55 AM] is back from October of 2024. It's a fresh number. If there's anywhere we should start, it should be with our young people. Kids are sleeping in cars. Since the shelters are full, the waiting list goes on forever. Currently, there's $2 million in the budget for community based shelters. If we could please allocate some of that to family shelters, we could maybe get 50 families off the street and stability for our children. We hear stories every day. A single mother with a four year old child is currently unhoused, and they have assistance for a hotel for two days. Then they're back on the street, another family where a mother missed work so much she was terminated. Her son had a place to go until he got kicked out. They're now both on the street or a young mother became homeless and staying in her car with a one month old child. At minimum. Our children should come first. Please make them top priority and we appreciate you listening and for your consideration. [10:36:56 AM] your consideration. >> Continuing on, Steve Gerson, Walter morrow, Sophia Barbato, Susana Almanza, Monica Guzman, Monica, are you here? Yes, I see you. Roy Whaley is donated time. And Doris Adams. Doris, are you here? Okay, I just see four minutes for Monica then. >> Hi, my name is Steve Gerson, district seven. And I have an idea how to fully fund the budget without any tax increase in 2020, voters finally approved a light rail plan that had real merit 5.8 billion, specifically for 27 miles of rail to all parts of the city. Underground trains downtown. But two years later, atp announced that the same amount of money will only allow for ten miles of rail. There's transportation solutions available today. I'm talking [10:37:56 AM] available today. I'm talking about on demand microtransit that we're just not available in 2020. When project connect was laid out, we've had discussions with capmetro, the city environmental board and parks commission have both voted in favor of this. The phase a rail system that goes from 38th street to oltorf to halfway to the airport on Riverside is silly and it's useless. The only thing you can say in its defense is, hey, we got to start somewhere, let's do this. But right now, the construction costs for phase a is $8.2 billion, way up from the original 5.8 billion estimated in 2020. For the complete 27 mile system, it feels like you're trying to manipulate us by building this starter system and then coming back to us later and saying, hey, we've invested all this money into it, let's finish it. That's wrong. At this rate, the total cost for the original proposal could easily top $20 billion. I mean, the city budget that we're discussing here is $6.3 billion for the year. Instead of building project connect rail with 20 billion, we could [10:38:57 AM] with 20 billion, we could totally fund three years of expenditures. With the bonus that on demand transit gives us a better public transit system compared to rail. Even if the feds were supposed to supply half of that, which is unlikely, 10 billion saved from canceling the rail project would go a long way to funding the city with no more tax increases. Please put this issue in front of voters again. Tell us how much the rail system will cost, and convince us that this project is still worthwhile. Thank you. >> Good morning, mayor Watson. Mayor pro tem Fuentes, council members. I'm Monica Guzman, district four resident and co vice president of north Austin civic association. You heard from the other vp remotely. And basically a lot of people in the district, in the city as a whole, are struggling. You've heard that you're going to keep hearing that all day long. And [10:39:58 AM] hearing that all day long. And through this whole process. While I personally am not hurting, I do know what it is. I have been in those shoes, as you heard Alan say, people are delinquent. While rents may be going down, it's not going down for the people who are at the lower end of the socioeconomic. Stratum, and they're having to decide what bill to pay or how late can they pay their rent. I have family members that are struggling with that right now. People are still being evicted, and while the city is facing a humongous deficit, you know, that is unfortunate. I understand the reality of having to do a tax rate election and really hope that council is able to make this happen without having to get to that point. However, if there is an election in November, then we want assurances that the ballot language will clearly state that the priorities will be basic needs, critical services and [10:40:58 AM] needs, critical services and programs as was deferred by or referred by mayor Watson on the council message board. Even I was struggling keeping up with all that last night, but we need to make sure that the money is there, preferably from the budget, not discretionary funding for cap and stitch and the convention center. Those are items that need to be in the hands of the voters. It is your responsibility as elected officials and accountable to the entire city, not just the district you represent. You are accountable for making sure taking care of the city, of the constituency, and not just the people that live here, but they come into town because they work here. They had to move out because they couldn't afford it. Every day more and more people are moving out. We need to make sure that you are truly thinking of the least of us, because when you take care of the least of us, everybody benefits. And while I truly support our uniformed officers, especially [10:42:00 AM] uniformed officers, especially the ems, community health paramedics, our firefighters, the police department has their money. They don't need more. They can they can move things around. Instead, invest in programs that the police officers are not trained or equipped to handle for the homeless, rental assistance and other kinds of programs. The family stabilization grant. Now, in the last of my comments as policy director of Garza, go, Austin. Vamos, Austin. Again, we're not going to just say yes, we support a TRE or no, we don't. It's much more nuanced. We need to make sure that early childhood providers, home based family, friend network, those that partner with aid, that they are addressed because they don't get enough money. They are the workforce behind the workforce. They take care of the children of city staff, including first responders. So [10:43:00 AM] including first responders. So if you want to make sure staff is taken care of, take care of the people who take care of their children. We also need sorry, I'm having to wing it this morning, but I think that pretty much wraps it up. Just prioritize the least of us in every way. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Darlene Lewis, Chris Gannon, Jordan Morehead, Adrian Macias, Pedro Hernandez Jr. Valerie Menard if your name's been called, please make your way down. I don't I'm not seeing any movement, so I'm going to keep calling. No way. Elias Sharon Blythe, Lisa. Barden, Eric. Stanley. Joe. Catherine. Quinn. Paul. Dietz. Jay. Kennedy. >> Your name's been called. [10:44:03 AM] >> Your name's been called. Please come forward. Miss Blythe. We'll start with you, and we'll work our way down the list. >> Sharon Blythe I'm a resident of district six. >> We have. >> Been following the budget discussion and the notices on the message boards. And quite frankly, no one in this city understands exactly what you're doing. I don't think you all even understand. You don't even know where you're going. This has been a zoo since you started it, and I think you need to get your act straight, figure out what you're really doing, and not put all that garbage out on their website, especially your agenda today. It was completely confusing to everyone, and you all should be ashamed of yourselves for doing what you're [10:45:04 AM] yourselves for doing what you're doing now. There is no reason why you can't listen to the people of this city, not just the advocates of the homeless, but actually the homeowners in this city that are going to be run out of this city because of your tax increases. Please listen to these people that you're probably never been hearing from before, that we do not need a tax increase. And get within your budget and make sure that we're not run out of this city. Thank you. >> Good morning. I'm Joe Catherine Quinn, president and CEO of caritas of Austin. Mayor Watson mayor pro tem Fuentes and council, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. Our position has been and continues to be that we support a fully funded homeless strategy office plan, even if it requires a tax [10:46:05 AM] plan, even if it requires a tax rate election. And the higher the rate, the higher the risk. As you've been hearing from many speakers today, the homeless response system already faces a number of risks. Financially. The progress we've made as a city using one time covid era funds federal funds is at risk. Either we fund the homeless strategy office plan or we scale back to pre arpa levels. There are risks of both state and federal intervention. This could come in the form of preempting the entire TRE mandates and adversely affect our budget or damage to us as service providers. Federally, we face funding freezes, changing regulations, new contract terms and executive orders. We are looking very closely to what is happening in Washington, DC this week. We have reviewed every publicly available plan for a TRE. We urge you to adopt a plan that fully funds the homeless [10:47:10 AM] that fully funds the homeless strategy office and stays below $0.05. Thank you for your public service, and I look forward to working with each and every one of you to end homelessness in Austin, Texas. >> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> Mayor. Council, thanks for having me. This is my first time speaking to city council. I moved here a year ago and I don't have entrenched views on the tax system. I've been here for a year. I live in district three. Taxpayer. What I've noticed living in different cities in America is in Austin. Here we have a very special community. I think that's what has made Austin what it is. And what I've noticed in the last year is a lot of small businesses, services, and residents cannot afford to live here. It's the small businesses that made Austin what it is and a destination city for others. They can't come here, they can't stay alive. And what we get is [10:48:11 AM] stay alive. And what we get is concentrations of capital, nationalized chains, and ultra rich people that just don't care about taxes. And I think it's forming a new caste system here, and it's crowding out the soul of what made Austin. Austin. So just as a person who's lived here for a year, that's what I see. So I just ask that you guys prioritize your budget. I think other people have have voiced that. And be very careful about keeping the soul of Austin. Thank you. >> Sir. Would you mind just stating your name really quickly? >> My name is Paul Dietz. >> Thank you. >> Please, mayor. >> Council, my name is Darlene Lewis and I represent the Williamson county children's advocacy center. We've been serving the Williamson county portion of Austin for over 28 years. In the interruption of child abuse prevention and also part of the investigation, we worked directly with our law enforcement partners, department of family and protective services, as well as our [10:49:12 AM] services, as well as our prosecutor's office, in providing forensic interviews for children who have undergone both physical and sexual abuse, as well as witness violent crimes such as homicides and domestic violence. Part of our platform is we provide holistic services to families and children within the Austin Williamson county area, and we're seeking support from the city of Austin for that portion of the investigation so that we can interrupt child abuse within that area. Also, throughout our our holistic services, we also provide medical exams on site. We are a 24 hour facility providing emergency cases for our partners in the investigation of child abuse. We appreciate any support that we could that you could provide for us. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Lisa Barton, and I'm here today as the executive chair of one voice central Texas, a coalition of over 80 local nonprofits that form the backbone of Austin's health and human services network. Every day, our organizations keep [10:50:13 AM] day, our organizations keep families fed, housed, healthy and safe, and we do it with limited resources. We appreciate that the city manager's proposed budget maintains social service funding for next year. However, we are deeply concerned that the planned 2027 budget includes a 22.5% cut to Austin public health social service contracts, a loss of $6.2 million. This reduction would disproportionately impact a sector that is already under significant strain at the federal level. The nonprofit sector is facing both growing skepticism about its value and ongoing cuts and instability in funding. Because of the uncertainty in the economy, nonprofits are seeing reductions in corporate and individual giving as well. These city contracts fund essential services such as school based mentoring, mental health care, food access, early childhood and older adult programs, domestic violence prevention, prenatal care, immigrant services, HIV, sti treatment, arts, and more. A 22.5% cut to social service contracts is more than just numbers. It's meals lost, shelters closed and care denied. [10:51:14 AM] shelters closed and care denied. Austin public health and nonprofits are the city's safety net, delivering high impact programs with rigorous accountability. Cutting this funding will leave holes in prevention and intervention services that thousands of residents rely on every day. We need you to commit to sustained or increased funding. Any tax rate increase must protect these social service contracts because when the safety net unravels, it's our neighbors who fall together. We have the power to prevent that. >> Thank you all. >> Steve Amos, Carrie. Stanley, Michaela. Saint. Julian Caleb. White, Elaine. Lofton, Matthew. Perry. Sammy. >> We'll start with you, please. [10:52:15 AM] >> We'll start with you, please. Thank you. Say your name, please. For the record. >> My name is Michelle saint Julian. Good morning, mayor and council members. I'm a former registered nurse who spent the last 16 years in the emergency room. I didn't leave because I stopped caring. I left because I realized healing doesn't start in the er. It starts in the community. I joined the harvest trauma recovery center and African American youth harvest, and I asked for financial support of organizations like these, with or without the TRE, because every victim of violence, every attempted suicide, every child that is safe surrendered. They were once just a neighbor in need. In the er. We had a saying street them and treat them because so many people weren't there for a medical emergency. They just needed a blanket, a sandwich or someone to listen and see them for who they are. People. I've seen firsthand that we were in a pandemic long before covid. The real crisis began when we stopped funding the services that keep people from falling through the cracks. I'm asking you to add the harvest trauma [10:53:15 AM] you to add the harvest trauma recovery center as a dedicated line item in this year's budget. This isn't just funding a program, it's funding prevention, dignity and life saving intervention. Before someone's only option is a stretcher ride to the E.R. We can't keep waiting until the ambulance arrives with another preventable tragedy. Let's invest now where it makes the greatest difference on the ground in the community before it's too late. Yes, parks are nice. We all love our pets and things of that nature, but what matters is the people we make up this city. We make up this state. Thank you. >> Good morning. Members of the council. My name is madhumitha periyasamy and I'm a data coordinator of the harvest trauma recovery center, a branch of the African American youth harvest foundation. Before getting caught up in a traditional corporate path, I made a promise to myself to contribute to an organization whose mission is rooted in integrity and compassion. I found that in the African [10:54:17 AM] found that in the African American youth harvest foundation and the harvest trauma recovery center, this organization is not just an example of community service. It's an example of human service. Here, people are treated with dignity, without judgment, and are provided critical resources during some of the most difficult moments of their lives. I come from a background of stability, raised in a two parent household with all my basic needs met, but as I stepped into adulthood and the wider world, it became starkly clear to me just how many individuals don't have access to even a fraction of the support I once thought was standard. It's an eye opening and heartbreaking truth. Working with aaf and TRC has changed me. It has shown me the depth of need in our communities and the immense healing that can happen when people are met with empathy, not bureaucracy, and when they're heard, not overlooked. That's why I'm here today. I respectfully urge you to continue supporting and funding aaf and TRC. The work done here creates real, measurable impact [10:55:18 AM] creates real, measurable impact and more importantly, it gives people hope. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Good morning. Elaine Lofton with African American youth harvest foundation mayor, council members and fellow Austin community members. Imagine waking up each day reliving the trauma of violence, loss and fear without a safe space or guidance to help you heal. This is the reality for many survivors in our city. I ask you to stand with them by funding the harvest trauma recovery center, because healing strengthens our entire community. Hcdc offers a lifeline. No police report required. Connecting survivors to counseling, case management, housing support, medical care, food, and more. Nationally, trcs help reduce PTSD symptoms by up to 38% and depression by more [10:56:20 AM] to 38% and depression by more than half. Clients are more likely to return to work, cooperate with law enforcement, and rebuild their lives. Here in Texas, 1 in 10 victims never received support, and nearly 40% have been victims of crime in the past decade. Without intervention, victims of violent crime are four times more likely to be victimized again. Breaks this cycle, with or without a tax increase. I'm requesting aaf programs become a line item in the budget. Your support means safety, belonging and hope. It means Austin becomes a city that heals, lifting survivors into restoration and resilience. Let's invest in this proven, cost effective, life changing work and build a stronger, more compassionate Austin. Thank you. >> Thank you. Wright. >> Good morning Caleb white [10:57:21 AM] >> Good morning Caleb white speaking on behalf of public citizens Texas office. Thank you all for your work on the budget. I am here to support a robust tax rate election. It is a difficult decision to ask austinites to pay more in taxes. However, we are going to get what we pay for and we've seen from the various lists that you all have put together for proposed spending, that the items that will be potentially left out are absolutely critical for the health, survival and vitality of our city. These are not optional. If we choose to keep household budgets affordable at the cost of providing needed services, at the cost of actually addressing climate change, we are not actually keeping them affordable. We are only keeping a tax rate low. And we heard just now that sending the ambulance is not the right first approach. The same is true when [10:58:22 AM] approach. The same is true when it comes to climate change. We must take responsibility for reducing our emissions to mitigate the harm and also funding adequate resilience in our community. We have seen the harm that is caused by climate change, the deaths, the property damage, the very real pain and expense. There is no avoiding it, but there is a path to mitigating it and that does require spending. And I appreciate that some of you have already taken steps to propose some additional spending to uphold the commitments of the Austin climate equity plan, and I hope that all of you will join in supporting those by supporting a tax rate election that is more in the 7 to 8 cent range. I understand that that is difficult, but I do think that we will get what we pay for. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Carrie Stanley, I'm [10:59:24 AM] >> Hi, I'm Carrie Stanley, I'm the CEO of the Williamson county children's advocacy center. I appreciate this opportunity to speak to you. I appreciate all that our city leaders do, and specifically, we really appreciate our partnership with the Austin police department. The advocacy advocacy center serves children 0 to 18 adults with disabilities and all of their families. We serve them with all of our complete. >> Stop the clock, please. You okay? Okay. It was compelling testimony. >> Very. Yeah. We serve all these children and families with all of our completely free wraparound services. The part of Austin that is in Williamson county accounts for approximately 10% of our clients coming in. That is nearly as many clients coming in from other other big cities in Williamson county. I'm here to ask you to support the advocacy center with and with that, all the professional services that [11:00:25 AM] the professional services that we include, we it is everything from medical forensic interviews, long term case management, therapy, K through 12 education and all the support staff to make that happen. And again, all of those services are free to our community. We are a public, private nonprofit written into the family code. We have mou with dps and law enforcement. And again, this includes APD. The children we serve have been victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse, exploitation, domestic violence and other violent crimes. Our staff work 24 over seven on these cases and the vast majority are sexual abuse cases or some form of exploitation. I would remind you that we provide vital services that the police and families count on. We provide professional staff and services, and we simply cannot meet the growing need without support from the city. Federal and state grants make up less than 30% of our budget. We've got to raise all of the rest for these vital services that law enforcement depends on daily. Thank you so much for [11:01:26 AM] Thank you so much for prioritizing the safety of our children and doing all that you can for them. Thank you. >> Thank you all. >> I'm going to call the next group Terrence Hopkins, Deandre wheeler, teilani Lewis, Willie Malloy, Reece Armstrong. Tyrone Jones. >> Please begin. >> How's it going, guys? My name is Terrence Winston Hopkins, and I stand on behalf of the African American youth harvest foundation. Harvest recovery center. When we started off at November 1st, 2023, there was a need required by the state for us to meet 120 clients. We oversee that need by 896 clients to show that there is a need within for our services and our. And there's a saying that says, what's a testimony without a trial, without trials and tribulations that we go through and we experience in life, and most of our clients, we have different trials that they [11:02:28 AM] different trials that they experience. But the testimonies that they tell from the harvest, our trauma recovery center has been financially. More and more than I can even say. I do want to say thank you guys so much for your your continuous efforts that you do with us. And we do ask that you guys continue to fund our services to African American farm foundation, so we can continue to meet the needs of the people. And thank you guys so much for your time. >> Thank you, thank you. >> How's it going? I'm Deandre wheeler and thank thank you council members for this time. I come as a mentor and also as a mentee of the African American youth harvest foundation, being raised here and grew up here in Austin, Texas. And just seeing the impact that the African American youth harvest foundation had, not only on the community but on me as an individual, and it kind of made me pour back into go and to see how I can do better inside my community. And if we look into [11:03:28 AM] community. And if we look into to the time that we're in now, and the way we're going with our youth is where we're going to be with our organizations like this, or where we going to be without a building to where not only are we serving the kids, but we're also serving the holistic family. So we just ask that you support us in any way that you can, and adding us in a line budget to where these things can be sustained, and the longevity support to not only youth but to our community. >> Good morning. My name is thulani Lewis and I'm a case manager with the African American youth harvest foundation, working in partnership with the TRC. Every day I connect individuals and families with critical resources, housing support, job opportunities, food assistance and mentorship. I am often the person they come to when they feel they have nowhere else to turn. I've had clients walk in my office believing we are their last chance. They are working hard to be better and do better, to keep a roof over their head, [11:04:30 AM] to keep a roof over their head, to provide for their children, to rebuild their lives. But it's not easy navigating a system that often feels like it's built against them. When we have the resources, I get to witness life changing moments. A parent moving into a stable house, a teen discovering their potential, a family finally able to take a breath. But when we don't, I'm forced to tell them there's nothing else that we can do today. And I can see the light go out of their eyes. As if it's their last hope has been taken away from them. This tax rate increase isn't just about budgets. It's about whether I can keep saying yes, we can help instead of I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do. It's about giving people an Austin a fair chance to overcome challenges they did not create. I'm asking for you to vote in favor of the tax rate increase, not just for organizations like ours, but for people holding on to hope with everything they have. Thank you for listening. >> Thank you. >> Good morning, council members. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. My name is Tyrone Jones, and I'm here to [11:05:32 AM] Tyrone Jones, and I'm here to urge continued funding and support for the harvest trauma recovery center. Every day we serve youth and families in our community that are struggling with the effects of violence, poverty and generational trauma. Our trauma recovery center provides trauma informed care that is not only helpful, but is very essential for long term healing and breaking cycles of harm. Since launching our trauma recovery center, we have helped hundreds of individuals access to mental health services, case management, and crisis intervention. Many of these individuals would have just fallen through the cracks if it wasn't for the help of our trauma recovery center. So you see, council, we don't just treat trauma, but we restore hope. We rebuild lives, and we strengthen entire communities. As a matter of fact, the work that we do actually reduces the burdens of other emergency service and the justice system by intervening early and addressing root causes of [11:06:33 AM] addressing root causes of trauma. So continued funding ensures that we can keep showing up for families and our communities that need us the most. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Simmons, Kelly Hopkins, Michael Lofton, Yvonne Williams, Nikki Carrington. Calvin Kelly. >> All right. >> Why don't we start here and we'll work our way down the row. Thank you sir. >> Greetings everybody. My name is Tracy Simmons, and I'm with the trauma teaching and training center. I'm actually a wraparound one of the 30 plus nonprofits in the African American youth harvest foundation's building. John Maxwell talks about the law of the buy in. The reason I am here is to get your buy in to fund or make us a line item with the services that we offer to the [11:07:34 AM] services that we offer to the type of clients that we are serving. What I'm going to do is three things real quickly within my time limit. I'm going to I'm going to describe what is mental health. I'm going to tell you the root cause and the primary predictor of mental health. And then I'm going to tell you what the primary and number one tool is to assisting people with mental health. Real quick, I want everybody to think of the word mental health. If you don't mind, I'm going to have to stand up. This is what mental health is. Either you are mentally healthy, you have mental challenges, or you have a mental illness. These are the clients that everybody's been talking that these are the clients we serve. That was number one. Number two, I'm going to tell you the root. >> I'm sorry. >> For our record. We really need to talk to you. >> Okay. Number two, my apologies. Number two, I'm going to tell you the root cause to mental health issues is what happens to a child between the ages of zero and three. If that brain doesn't develop, it's [11:08:35 AM] brain doesn't develop, it's going to determine how that child grows up to be either mentally healthy, how that child was raised 0 to 3 if they had a lot of neglect or trauma, is going to determine if they become have mental challenges. And once again, how that child was raised between the ages of zero and three will determine if that child has a mental illness. That's number two. Number three, the solution is training and coaching. My time is up, but I want to be repetitive. Is training and coaching by giving them the knowledge, the skills and ability to address their issues at the lowest level. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good morning, city council. My name is Kelly Hopkins and I work for the African American youth harvest foundation as the data coordinator and executive assistant, I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak about the harvest trauma recovery center. Today. I want to highlight the critical importance of the harvest trauma recovery center, a place where healing begins for individuals who are experiencing some of [11:09:36 AM] who are experiencing some of life's most difficult moments. Working here at the foundation has opened my eyes to a broader perspective on life. I've witnessed just how many individuals are silently navigating some form of trauma. Everyone deserves a voice and someone they can trust to talk to every day. People in our community are silently carrying the weight of their trauma, whether from gun violence, abuse, loss, or other painful experiences. These individuals often feel invisible, unsupported, and unsure of where to turn to. That's where our center steps in. The harvest trauma recovery center offers more than just a safe space. We provide professional counseling, case management, crisis intervention, and most importantly, hope. We don't just treat symptoms, we support the whole person. Whether someone is navigating the aftermath of trauma or still living through it, they are met with compassion, dignity, and care. This work is deeply personal and urgently needed. With proper funding, we can expand our services, reach more individuals [11:10:38 AM] services, reach more individuals in crisis and ensure no one walks their healing journey alone. Investing in the harvest trauma recovery center is investing in the heart of our community. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good morning. >> Council members. >> My name is Nikki Carrington and I am a clinician at the harvest trauma recovery center. And I just want to first say that I've been at the trauma center since it first opened on November 1st, 2023, and in my time there, I have grown as a person and as a clinician. And the reason why that's important to me, because there are many clinicians that do not look like me. And so with the clientele that we serve, the community that we serve, there are clinicians that don't look like our clients. So that's important for us to continue to be able to develop clinicians who do look like our clientele, who do look like our community. And I believe I feel like you guys [11:11:39 AM] believe I feel like you guys should really continue to fund the harvest trauma community center because we our staff does serve people who look just like us. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Greetings. Mayor Watson city council. Council pro tem Fuentes. First and foremost, I want to say that I am very happy to be here today. I really want to take my hat off to some of my staff that spoke, because you can tell it's coming from their heart. It's not just from a paycheck. I also want to say this here. When I look across the dais, we are serving individuals in each one of your districts. We are Sargent individuals of all ethnicities, all genders. And I say this to say we're asking for your support, whether we have the tax increase or not. We really want to be considered as a line item in the budget. We also want the harvest foundation resource center to be a line item in the budget. The reason being is because we have 32 other nonprofits in our building. We [11:12:41 AM] nonprofits in our building. We realize we could not do it all, and there was no need for us to try and duplicate the services. So we brought in other nonprofits that can help meet the needs of the community. We have over a thousand plus folks a month coming inside our facility for some type of services, whether they come into the trauma recovery center or they're coming into community care clinic, whether they're coming into whether they're coming into our stem technology, all of those great things. You know, I know it's hard for us to really to share with you all, you know, in two minutes what we're doing. I would like for each one of you to come out and take a tour and see what we're doing. Take a look at the data. We need your help. I would also ask that you all consider identifying external partners to help us buy the building that we're in. We've been a community based nonprofit for the past 20 years. We've been operating from grant to grant to grant. I am asking for you all to help us secure this here landmark, this resource center, so we can be [11:13:41 AM] resource center, so we can be here long after the budget. We need to be a hub in the community. Also, we're having an event this coming Saturday. We're having over 1000 to 1500 folks to be there, come out and walk around. Thank you very much, sir. >> Sir. Sir, can you just state. >> Mr. Lofton? Yes. >> That's what I just needed to know your name. >> Yes. Just state your name. For the record. >> I am sorry. Michael Lofton, founder and executive director for the harvest foundation. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Continuing on, Brad Massengill. >> Take it over there in the clerk's office. >> Robin Schneider. Michelle Wilson, Jessica Walbridge, Carol Guthrie, and Taylor Terry. >> Mr. Mayor? >> Yes. Council member. >> While we queue up that next round of speakers, I'd like to take a moment of personal privilege and just acknowledge Mr. Lofton and all the folks that came to speak on behalf of [11:14:42 AM] that came to speak on behalf of the harvest foundation. I just wanted to, you know, I often point out how lonely it is in that room for a person who looks like me, if you know what I mean. Oftentimes, 95% of the folks in that room who look like me work for the city. So I want to take the opportunity, when given it, to acknowledge the folks in the room who look like me. It's nice to see y'all at city hall and in chambers. Thank y'all for being there today. >> Thank you. >> So would you please. >> Good morning. My name is Michelle Wilson. I'm a mother. And also I'm a patient of the harvest trauma recovery center. When I came here in 2023, I was lost. I went to the harvest recovery center, and I've been going there ever since. I go there for counseling. My son was in there, but unfortunately my son was murdered this year, January the 18th. It's been hard, but I still I still go to the harvest trauma recovery [11:15:43 AM] the harvest trauma recovery center. I don't care what time of the day it is. I can pick up the phone and call. I have no family here, so they are my family. They keep me going. It's been tough, but with them, I'm still standing. My son had a mental health issue. The system failed me. I put him in three. He's gone. He was murdered downtown Austin. So I'm his voice now. I gotta be his voice. So the harvest trauma recovery center, they're helping me. They're supportive of me because it's just me now. No family here, but we need the funds so I can continue going to them for my treatment. Because I go at least twice a week. It helps. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> My name is. [11:16:53 AM] >> My name is. >> Robin Schneider. I'm a resident of district three and. You know, sitting through all the testimony, I'm just struck by the amazing work being done by community groups in this city and by integral care and, and so many other agencies that make up a fabric of care that is meeting some needs. But obviously there is a long way to go. And I think we really need to prioritize the funding that is going to meet the needs of the people who need it the most. And our long term future. As kiba white said. And I think robin rather said, climate change is impacting us all, but it impacts those with [11:17:54 AM] all, but it impacts those with the least, the most. We need to maintain the family stabilization funds, we need to maintain the harvest youth foundation and the work that they're doing. We need to have legal services for my immigrant friends, dear friends of mine, and so many people in this community who make this city run, who are in fear every day now that they are going to be captured or need legal help that they cannot afford, that is critical. I just think we need to prioritize these things, get rid of the things that are not essential for people's daily lives, and really focus on the things that are going to hopefully help people like my colleague here who spoke and who can save people from the tragedies that befell her son. >> Thank you. [11:18:57 AM] >> Thank you. >> Good morning, mayor, representative and city council members. I'm Taylor Terry. I am a youth development coordinator and mentor at African American youth harvest foundation, and I'm here today before you, not just as a lead mentor of queens to be a mother, but as someone who has seen what has happened when hope is fed and when it is starved. Our girls are brilliant. They are resilient. But dreams don't grow on empty stomachs. Hunger changes your brain. It alters your body. When you're hungry, you can't plan for the future. You're just trying to survive that moment. That's why queens to be is more than mentoring. We feed families. We provide clothes, hygiene products, and every survival need. I tell my girls, when you look good, you feel good. And when you feel good, you show up different. But here's our truth. As minorities, [11:19:58 AM] here's our truth. As minorities, we are forced to live in survival mode. We don't have life at the palm of our hands. We don't get to live with breeze and glee and we don't walk a red carpet. Privileges others are born into. We have to fight. Fight every single day for every single one. Funding us is not charity, it's equity. It's breaking cycles. It's saying, yes, these young queens deserve the same access, the same chances and the same dignity as anyone else. So I'm asking you, you, you and you all to hear our cry. But don't just keep it alive. Give us what we need to thrive. Give them what they need to strive. Because when a girl realizes she matters, she carries herself differently. She dreams bigger. And that spark, [11:20:59 AM] dreams bigger. And that spark, that spark is worth every single dollar you invest. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Just a reminder, if your name has already been called, you can please go ahead and make your way down to the podium and just queue up. I'm going to call the next group Ben sotheby and Ben, I see you. You have time donated by Nathan for. Okay, Nathan is here. So four minutes for Ben. Sonia burns, Chris Paige, Francisco leal and Jeffrey Bowen. >> Your name has been called. Please come forward. Miss Almanza. >> Good morning, mayor and city council members. I'm Susana Almanza from all city of Austin. Residents will feel the impact of increased taxes, electric rates, water rates. But the poor and the poor working poor would doubly feel the increase of [11:21:59 AM] doubly feel the increase of these rates. Whether they're homeowners or renters, it's the councils past decisions that have caused a budget crisis. For instance, $1.45 billion for a new convention center that is not needed and a $47 million cap in stitch, which is not needed. Rescinding these funds would solve the budget crisis for that opposes a TRE. It's a scam to tell Austin residents if they want basic social and or essential services, they need to vote for higher tax rates. This scam reminds me of a saying that states the forest was shrinking by the trees, but the trees kept voting for the ax. For the ax was a clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood, he was one of them. Thank you. >> Please. [11:23:03 AM] >> Please. >> Good afternoon council. >> My name is Valerie Menard and I'm in district one, and I was here to speak on items one, two, three, five, nine and ten. But I'm just going to use my time for one. And then that'll be the last time you see me. But I'm here. Also, to echo Susana's sentiments, to oppose these items and to remind you, as she said, that you've got funding from that cap and stitch, you're facing a big boondoggle of 1.4 billion for that plus 15 million a year in maintenance. And that's the kicker, because we have not increased funding for our parks for maintenance. But you're going to dedicate 50 million, even though the federal government has given you a way out and said, we're not going to help with this, why would you stick with this when you know that we need funding and you have all these beautiful people that just spoke to you today begging for money, they should not have been put in a position to come and beg for money. The I also wanted to ask you, do you understand the world we're [11:24:04 AM] understand the world we're living in today, that we have a felon in the white house who is a professional grifter, who is using tariffs to strong arm other countries, claiming and lying that those funds are coming to this country. They're not. No, no country pays for a tariff. It's American businesses and American consumers that pay for those. So we have this that we're dealing with this prospect of increasing cost of everything from groceries to cars. And then you want to us to vote to give ourselves a tax increase. When you've got funding that you can you can use to continue to fund these programs, don't use the people's plan. Don't don't hold the people's plan hostage when you have other ways. You have to redo the math. What happened to making things better in Austin? You were all ran on saying you were going to make the quality of life better in this town. This does not do that. You're adding more burdens to us. How can you do that during these times of fear that that we're surrounded with? Thank you. >> There we go. Hi, my name is [11:25:13 AM] >> There we go. Hi, my name is Ben suddaby. I'm a proud member of afscme 1624, a union that represents workers who have dedicated their lives to public service, both here at the city and at Travis county. I'm here to speak in strong support of a TRE that reflects Austin. I mean that in the sense that through my work and through my activity in my union, I see the hard and dedicated work that the folks at here at city of Austin do. I don't work for you, but I urge you to take care of these essential workers, these people whose whose work makes sure that our city runs and continues to be the vibrant, beautiful city that people love. And people have mentioned today, they've moved here because they love Austin. I'm also here to mention and give some context on what we're talking about. I want everyone, whether you're for it or against it, to remember that what we're actually talking [11:26:13 AM] what we're actually talking about is a small sliver of a small wedge of your property tax bill. I looked at my bill from last year. The rate passed by all was only only one less than one quarter of my bill last year, 24.1%. So that's the small pie wedge. And the difference of a few cents was a tiny increase on that. Two weeks ago. I contextualized that with a receipt that I got a lot of laughs on that no receipt today, but rerunning the numbers, it's all around that same same rate, you know, going at what I was advocating, you know, a full, you know, $0.07, seven, one five maybe, maybe on the more lower side, 6.75 it worked out to the cost of about 30 bucks. 35 bucks. You know, something that once a month I could forego to make sure we continue staffing essential services, making sure that our our city remains [11:27:14 AM] that our our city remains healthy, our libraries are staffed, that there are people who can be lifeguards and literally save lives and afford to live in this city. I also realize the context that as someone who owns a home and pays my property taxes through my monthly mortgage escrow Wright that I am doing better than most of my neighbors here in Austin. That is a reality, and we have to stare at it right in the face and say, am I willing to vote and pass something that's pennies on the hundred dollars of value to make sure that my neighbors who are who are doing worse than I am can receive services, people whose lives depend on it, the folks who work here for you at the city of Austin do important work. We think about the vital programs that they sustain, things that, you know, help close gaps in public health, positions that help serve vulnerable populations, stabilize families, [11:28:16 AM] populations, stabilize families, treat mental health, all kinds of routine care for people who otherwise would not be getting it. So I ask you as a council, to don't go. Don't buy into the false austerity. It's unfortunate that the state and the federal government have put us as local governments into these positions, right? Cutting funding at the federal level, false austerity with revenue caps. You know, had those caps not been there, you all would have had the authority to put these things. Now that they've put that in place, now we have to go through all this and put it before the voters. But I know that my fellow union siblings, and we've heard from other unions and other community members, will go out and talk to our neighbors. We will let them know the essential things that this will go for. You've done it. Excellent work in making sure there is no fat to trim in this. I've looked over the message board. There's been a lot of back and forth. I appreciate your work on this. >> Yes, sir. [11:29:19 AM] >> Yes, sir. >> Good morning. >> Thank you mayor, I appreciate it. It seems to be part of the topic this morning is about struggle. Well, yeah, struggle appears to be the main point. Just a couple of days ago, I got an email from a neighborhood friend that was talking about she was getting prepared for her tax appointment with Travis county, and she was listening to one of the conversations, she said, and she sent this to me, said an old man whose house was valued pretty high, was trying to get a reduction. He said he didn't have a job and relied on 7 to $800 a month to social security, and he couldn't afford the needed repairs. He wanted to stay in the house with his wife and not have to live on the street. They voted no change. That's just a sample of what's going to happen if we start looking at this. If we don't start looking at our spending habits and trying to be responsible, there are people that are impacted by the decisions that are made or not made. In this case, the fact [11:30:19 AM] made. In this case, the fact that we still want to continue to blame other entities for your spending habits, that really needs to start being back on the responsibility that you withhold. As for just recently, I just we just heard it was a tiny increase. A tiny increase for some is a major increase for others. Where is that that line defined? I suggest that if people are capable of wanting to have that tax increase, then write an extra check, make it out to the city of Austin or whatever program you want to. I would imagine y'all would would be gladly to accept that check. So don't assume that everybody is in the same financial position that some of the rest of you are that are demanding a higher taxes. Just be aware that this is a city of many with and many without. That is a fact that needs to be weighed. And listening is not being accomplished. When you say that [11:31:21 AM] accomplished. When you say that your constituents, I'm ready to hear from them and not taking their comments. Thank you. >> Sir, did you say your name? >> I did, Jeffrey Bowen. Okay. >> I know it, but I wanted to make sure. >> Sorry. >> Yeah. >> Thank you mayor. Continuing on, Joel Manso, Sean Oliver, Kaitlyn Franck, Zach Faddis. Amy Deluna, Jessica bunting and Josh Houston. >> Good morning. My name is Sean Oliver. I work for life anew and I'm happy to appear before the council and thank you for the things that you've done and the things that you're going to do. We're at a crossroads. We can either accept a reduction in essential services that keep Austin safe, healthy and [11:32:21 AM] Austin safe, healthy and thriving, or we can make a small shared investment and maintain the quality of life we all value. A modest property tax adjustment isn't about politics. It's about preserving the things that make our city strong and reliable. Our infrastructure has been proven to work through community violence prevention services, such as atx piece, that prevent violence, reduce emergency service costs, and save lives by sustaining these and other community programs, we can keep costs lower over the long run and avoid the much higher financial and social price of preventable crisis. In conclusion, by acting now, we close the gap left by federal [11:33:21 AM] close the gap left by federal cuts and protect the initiatives that work. I support this measure because it's not only responsible, but a good choice for Austin and our future. I don't know that you have been put in a position to make a perfect decision, but I believe based upon integrity and my involvement with you all, that you will make the best decision. And I want to alleviate any pressure or tension you may feel as an individual human. On our best days, we still will make mistakes, but the best we can do is offer our best. And you were put in a position to do that. >> Thank you sir, why don't we go down to the start with you and then we'll go this direction? Thank you. >> Good morning, city council. My name is Joel Mansell. I'm a born and raised austinite. I'm also a proud landscape technician for the Austin [11:34:23 AM] technician for the Austin watershed protection, and a proud executive board member for acme 1624. My crew as a landscape technician, protects our community, protects our flood Zones, prevents more flooding, protects our roadways. I support and I hope you support the TRE moving forward to protect and fund essential employees. We are out there in the heat. We're out there in the ice. We're out there in the rain. I urge you to work to fund our work projects, restore services, and provide essential pay for essential work. Austin works show workers show up when it matters most, and now it's time for the budget to show up for them. Thank you. >> Thank you. Please go ahead. >> Hello, my name is Amy Deluna. I'm a resident of district nine. I'm here to speak specifically in support of cmll's budget [11:35:23 AM] in support of cmll's budget amendment for sidewalk maintenance and CM lane's budget amendment for new sidewalks. Pedestrians are some of the most vulnerable, vulnerable road users in the city. Based on data from the city's vision zero dashboard. As of the end of July, pedestrian fatalities make up more than one third of all traffic fatalities in Austin. While there are several factors behind that statistic, there is no denying that building and maintaining sidewalks are important to pedestrian safety. Sidewalks are necessary for Austin to meet its sustainability goals, vision zero goals, and for accessibility. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good morning, city council. My name is Kaitlyn Franck and I'm a trusted messenger at life anew. I just wanted to start by thanking you guys for not only your collaboration, but your coalition. Because it is because of your investment and your time and your energy that I'm sitting here today. Over the past two years, I was homeless. I had [11:36:23 AM] years, I was homeless. I had lost my baby mother. I was a single father, no friends, no family, and it was hard for me. That was until I was presented with opportunities and a new way of thinking and a new way of life presented to me by life anew, not only life anew. Through the trauma center. I go there often to feed myself and my family through life works. I have been through there to get my housing. So it's through your guys's collaboration that I'm sitting here today, and I just want to say thank you. And without you guys, not only would I not know where to go tomorrow, but I probably wouldn't be here today. >> Thank you. Good luck to you. Thank you very much. >> My name is Jessica bunting and my husband is a firefighter with Austin fire department. The proposed budget calls for an $8.3 million decrease in funding [11:37:26 AM] $8.3 million decrease in funding to AFD. Through a reduction of firefighter staffing. Under the proposal, if 25% of the department were absent, engine staffing would be permitted to drop from four person crews to three person. A three person crew could risk the lives of firefighters and the citizens they have sworn to protect with the structure. Fire. There is an osha safety policy called 2 in 2 eight two out, which states at least two firefighters must be outside for every two firefighters inside. That means the citizens of Austin would have to wait for two crews to arrive before any firefighters would enter. Following osha regulations, all AFD policies require a four person crew. All staff are trained for four person scenarios. This proposal would put our firefighters into situations they have not trained for. Some have pointed out that AFD absentee rate from last year, but what they failed to mention is that includes [11:38:27 AM] mention is that includes previously approved and earned paid time off. What that says to me is adequate staffing is the issue. However, when your firefighters have to go into arbitration to fight for raises, while neighboring cities have starting raises of up to $5,000 higher, such as San Marcos fire department, it's no wonder AFD is understaffed. Furthermore, the city seems to have plenty of funding for things like building a $1.6 billion convention center and installing four caps over I-35 at a whopping cost of $104 million. The budget you all are considering is a simple decision. In my opinion. Your voters, your votes will let your constituents know what's more important to you city projects or saving lives. >> Thank you. >> Mayor. All speakers for item one have been called. >> Thank you very much members. As you just heard, all speakers on the public hearing for agenda item number one, which is the [11:39:29 AM] item number one, which is the proposed property or ad valorem tax rate of the city of Austin, has been called. Without objection, we will close the public hearing on item number one. The public hearing is now closed. Without objection, we will open the public hearing on agenda item number two, which is the proposed rate and fee changes for Austin water. The public hearing is now open and I will turn to the city clerk. >> Thank you for item number two remotely Jennifer Robichaud. >> Oh. >> Good morning, city council, this is Jennifer Robichaud. Thank you for the opportunity to speak about the proposed rate and changes for Austin water. From what I've seen in the budget details, the fiscal year 2026 budget calls for a total revenue bump, which translates to 9.6% increase in typical residential monthly bill. That means almost ten extra dollars a month for most of us. My main [11:40:32 AM] month for most of us. My main concern is how often unrelated to water service, for example, our current bills already include smaller surcharges like the 5% or so, the five cent per 1000 gallons of reserve fund fee, or the 30 cent and 15 cent community benefit charges for 1000 gallons for programs like customer assistance and water conservation initiatives, these add up over time and quietly increase the overall burden on residents. Instead, I'd like to suggest a different approach. These are. Our water bills should directly relate to Austin water operations like water treatment, infrastructure maintenance and customer service programs like community benefits, which aren't core water services, should be funded through the general fund, drawing from a broader tax base rather than tacking them on to utility bills. This keeps water rates straightforward and fair, ensuring that we're only paying for our water service and what [11:41:32 AM] for our water service and what we actually need. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> That's the only speaker I have for item two. So I'm going to switch to in person. Walter moreau, Sophia Barbato, Adrian Macias, Valerie Menard I don't see any movement, so I'm going to keep going. Pedro Hernandez, junior. No. Elias. Sharon Blythe. Kaiba. White. >> If your name's been called, please come forward. Miss Blythe, are you going to speak on this item? Okay, mayor. >> That's all the speakers for item two. >> Okay, members, you've heard that there are no more speakers for the public hearing for agenda item number two, which is the proposed rate and fee changes for Austin water. So without objection, we will close the public hearing on agenda item number two. The public hearing is closed for agenda item number two. And we will now [11:42:32 AM] item number two. And we will now open the public hearing unless there's objection for agenda item number three, the proposed rate and fee changes for Austin energy. Without objection, the public hearing is open. We've now opened the public hearing on agenda item number three. >> Thank you, mayor. Remotely, I have Jennifer Robichaud. >> Mr. City council, this is Jennifer Robichaud again and I appreciate the opportunity to address the proposed rate and fee changes for Austin energy. While the average Austin energy bill is projected to decrease slightly. Several fee increases could disproportionately increase the tax burden on costs and energy conscious Austin residents. The base customer charge for residential services going up $1 per month, which is an extra $12 a year for every household just to stay connected. The tiered energy charges are creeping up to here. 1 in 2 are increasing. A typical [11:43:33 AM] 1 in 2 are increasing. A typical thousand kilowatt hour household will pay nearly $10 more a year for low energy consumption. In addition, the community benefit charge is doubling in order to support customer assistance programs for that thousand kilowatt hour household. That's nearly $40 extra a year. Other fees and tariffs are also rising, adding to the cumulative effect these base fees, rate increases and unrelated fees charged by the kilowatt hour disproportionately affect households that strive to keep costs low through energy conscious behaviors. Instead, I'd like to propose a different approach for Austin energy fees on our electric bills should be directly tied to Austin energy's operations. Things like power generation, grid maintenance, and customer support programs like community benefit, which aren't core electric services, should be funded through the general fund, pulling from a wider tax base instead of adding them to utility bills. This keeps electricity clear and fair, ensuring we only pay for [11:44:34 AM] fair, ensuring we only pay for what our energy service truly requires. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Was the only remote speaker I have at the moment, so I am going to return to in person Walter morrow, Sophia Barbato, Adrian Macias, Valerie Menard, Pedro Hernandez Jr, Noel Elias, Sharon Blythe, and kaiba white. >> If your name has been called, please come forward. Miss Blythe, are you going to speak on this item? She's indicating she won't. Miss white, please come forward if you want to speak. If there's anybody else whose name has been called on this item, this public hearing, please come forward. >> Hello again. Kaiba white speaking on behalf of public citizens Texas office, I'm coming to speak to you on this item primarily because of a concern about the increase in the fixed customer charge for residential customers. Some of you will recall from the Austin energy rate case that concluded [11:45:36 AM] energy rate case that concluded in 2022, that the increase in the fixed customer charge was a very hotly contested item. It was one that the independent consumer advocate that the city hired to represent residential customers, including low income customers, opposed, and that almost all of the other parties to the rate case also opposed. At that time, Austin energy was proposing an increase from 10 to $25 a month, and they had their justifications for it in terms of rate or in terms of revenue stability. And they pointed out that customers don't pay that fee. However, there were a lot of other compelling arguments on the other side against increasing that fee, and that includes a discouragement of energy conservation, because the more of your bill that is baked into a fixed fee, the less financial benefit you get from conserving energy. Also, you have to consider all of the lower income customers who are not getting discounts because [11:46:37 AM] not getting discounts because they are perhaps just one little step above the eligibility. So when you looked at all the data, there was actually still an inequitable impact and increasing that fee. So a compromise was reached. The council adopted of increasing it to $15 over the course of three years. Now, Austin energy is asking you through the budget process, which has far less opportunity for really digging into the details to essentially get it to that $25 over the course of the next 5 to 6 years. I'm asking you to reject that and take this up in a full rate case where all of the pertinent information can be discussed. Thank you. >> Mayor. All speakers for item three have been called members. >> You just heard that all of the speakers that signed up to speak at the public hearing for agenda item number three have been called. Without objection, we will close the public hearing on item number three. The public [11:47:38 AM] on item number three. The public hearing is now closed. Without objection, we will open the public hearing for agenda item number four, which is the proposed fee, fines and other charges for the city of Austin. Hearing. No objection. The public hearing on item number four is open. >> Remote. I have Jennifer Robichaud. >> Good morning, city council, this is Jen Robichaud. Thank you for the opportunity to speak here. I'd like to share some thoughts on the proposed fee waivers for smart housing and childcare facilities. I appreciate the intent behind these initiatives. The smart housing program aims to boost affordable housing for low and moderate income residents, and fee waivers for child care facilities help caregivers keep costs low. I get why this might seem like the solution, but I'm concerned that these waivers benefit only a small fraction of residents. While the costs don't just vanish, the waived fees will be passed on to all of us [11:48:40 AM] will be passed on to all of us through other taxes or fees. As residents and taxpayers, we're already burdened with high system that works for everyone and not just targeted groups. Let's consider the bigger picture here. If housing fees are too steep, that's a challenge we all share homeowners, developers, child care centers, and renters alike. I would like to see the city council explore a balanced approach, one that keeps costs manageable across the board, rather than insulating specific programs. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Leah Marie krzyzaniak. >> Hi. >> This. >> Is Leah Marie Shryock. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. >> As a city of Austin lifeguard. The prospect of charging for the certification. And not not giving a hiring [11:49:46 AM] And not not giving a hiring stipend for new lifeguards is a significant, significant financial burden on people becoming a lifeguard because. A lot of the people that are becoming lifeguards are, you know, it's their first job or they're not doing well enough in their full time job to afford. The cost of living. So I think that. Charging fees for this. Would be better. It would be better not to charge fees for this in order to encourage more lifeguards to sign up and make it easier to become certified. Thank you. >> That's all the remote [11:50:47 AM] >> That's all the remote speakers I have. So I am going to move over to in person for item four. Scott Cobb, Walter morrow, Sophia Barbato, Adriana guarita, Carla. Chris Gannon, Sharon Blythe, Nicole. How, Glen Coleman, Zach Faddis, Amy Deluna. >> If your name has been called, please come forward. Miss Blythe, are you going to speak on this item? She indicates she's not going to. Please feel free to begin. >> Thank you mayor and council. I'll be very brief. Thank council member chito and Laine for supporting us on item four. I'm Glen Coleman, I'm with the Austin infill coalition. I'm just going to sit down briefly to thank you guys for looking at some of these fees, allowing us to form a stakeholder group. [11:51:47 AM] to form a stakeholder group. Hitting the pause button on some of the fees have been recommended to you, and exploring some new ways that we look at at encouraging residential development instead of prohibiting it. I wish you the best of luck with this session. And again, on behalf of the Austin infill coalition, thank you for your time and support item. >> Thank you for being here, Mr. Cobb. Hello, my name is Scott Cobb and I want to thank the previous speaker. Made a good point. I think there are some fees that need to be removed. There's a $5 to take a swim training class in order to be able to teach kids to swim. I don't think the city should be charging its own employees a fee for a class taught by other employees in order to do a service to the public, so that needs to be cut out. The lifeguard training fee of $100 needs to be cut out. It goes to training people to train new guards. Also, there was a an [11:52:48 AM] guards. Also, there was a an amendment earlier that has now been removed, I think, to replace continue the $400 stipend for people who complete the lifeguard course and work 80 hours. That is not a bonus. That is, to pay for the 40 hours of labor that you take to take that course. So if you they can if I don't know if they are planning to take it out or not, but it needs to stay in there that $400. Otherwise it is free labor that you're asking people in the community to do for 40 hours without pay, the $400 stipend after they work 80 hours makes it partially paid in 2023, Vanessa Fuentes submitted a question. And can we make paid training? And the answer was yes we can. We can put people on payroll. But they did not do that as part. Why they did not do that. But what they did do was offer $400. If you finish, [11:53:50 AM] was offer $400. If you finish, if you work 80 hours, that $400 does not cover the entire 40 hours. If you put people on payroll when they're actually working, that would be $800. I was in the army. I went to basic training. They paid me for that training. Every job you work, you train, you should be paid. Thank you. >> Mayor. All speakers for item four have been called. >> As you've heard, members. Everyone that has that signed up for the public hearing on agenda item number four, the proposed fee, fines and other charges for the city of Austin have been called. Without objection, we will close the public hearing on item number four. The public hearing is now closed on item number four. Without objection, we'll open the public hearing for agenda item number three. The proposed rate and fee changes for Austin resource recovery. There being no objection, the public hearing on item number 30 is now opened. >> Thank you for item 30. I have [11:54:53 AM] >> Thank you for item 30. I have Walter morrow, Sophia Barbato, Sharon Blythe and Caleb white. >> If your name has been called and you want to speak, please come forward, miss white. Miss Blythe, I'm assuming you don't want to. Okay. >> Hello. Caleb white, on behalf of public citizens Texas office, I'm speaking on this item because I noticed a proposed reduction in the clean community fee for commercial customers. And I would encourage you not to reduce that fee. There is, in fact, in fact, a need for additional funding from that fee. There are multiple programs that rely on that funding, but among them is litter abatement. And while here in the downtown area, there is robust litter abatement, there is very weak litter abatement in other parts of our city and it is very needed. I live on the east side and I would say that that is an [11:55:55 AM] and I would say that that is an area, especially along east Riverside, that is in dire need of additional attention. And I will remind all of you that when we're talking about litter, we are not just talking about beautifying our city. Although certainly litter abatement does that. We are also talking about protecting our health now and in the future. We now have plastic in our food, in our water, in our air. These plastics degrade. They become microplastics. They become nanoplastics. They are now being found in every organ in the body, and they are proven now to affect our health, to cause cardiac events, to cause other serious health problems, likely including things like fertility issues. So this is something that we can do here at the local level to get what is, frankly, a global problem better under control. And it really needs to start at the source, obviously, reducing our use of single use plastics would be ideal, but at the very least, we need to get them out of our [11:56:57 AM] need to get them out of our environment as quickly as possible. And this clean community fee goes directly to funding the crews that do that work. And I will note that there are some organizations in town, like hungry hill, that are putting people who are in need of employment and reintegration into the workforce doing just that work. So please do not reduce that fee. Thank you. >> Mayor. All speakers for item 30 have been called members. >> All speakers for item number 30 for the public hearing on item number 30, which is the proposed rate and fee changes for Austin resource recovery have been called. Without objection, we will close the public hearing on item number 30. The public hearing is now closed on item number 30. That will take us to item number 31. And without objection, we will open the public hearing for agenda item number 31, which is the proposed drainage charge rate change for the watershed protection department. There being no objection, the public hearing is now open. >> For item 31. I have Walter morrow, Sophia Barbato, Roy [11:57:58 AM] morrow, Sophia Barbato, Roy Whaley, Sharon Blythe. >> Mr. Whaley is waving at me and it's nice to see you. Oh, oh, oh, you don't want to speak, I get it. Okay. Yeah. I understand Mr. Whaley's waiving his opportunity to speak here. Miss Blythe, I assume you don't want to speak. She does not want to speak. Is there anyone whose name was called that would like to speak on this item? Which is item number 31, related to drainage charge rate changes? I don't see anyone. Members. That means everyone that's been that signed up to speak on item number 31, which is the public hearing, as I indicated, on the drainage charge rate change for the watershed protection department has been called. Without objection, we will close the public hearing on item number 31, the public hearing. Without objection. The public hearing is now closed. We will now begin taking public comments for all other items on the council agenda that were those items that were not included in designated public hearing items. [11:59:00 AM] designated public hearing items. These remaining items are items five through 27, and we will treat those as I indicated earlier, the way we typically do a consent agenda. We will start with item number five and start making our way through each item for people that have signed up. So item number five is where we'll start. And I'll turn to the city clerk. Thank you. >> Thank you mayor. Our first speaker remotely has requested Spanish interpretation. So they will receive four minutes orally wrote us. >> Senora Rodriguez. >> Buenos dias. >> MI nombre es. >> Estoy aqui para el programa de estabilizacion. >> Este programa para como lo ha. >> Sido para me. >> Good morning. My name. >> Is Jerrel Rojas. >> I'm here to support the. >> Family stabilization program. >> This program has. >> Been a blessing. >> For many families. Including my own. >> The tiempos. Dificiles [12:00:04 PM] >> The tiempos. Dificiles estamos viviendo tiempos dificiles donde la economia critical basic. Incrementando todo por ciento de cuatro hijos de Una mujer muy trabajadora médico dos trabajos. El suelo suficiente. >> We are. >> Living in very difficult times. The economy is at a critical. >> Point, and we. >> All know how much the prices of basic food. Items have increased almost 100%. I'm the mom of the four beautiful children. I'm a very hard working woman. My occupation is cleaning houses and even with two jobs, my salary is not enough to cover all my expenses. Continue. Por lo tanto, por lo tanto me gustaria Castillo apoyando este programa. De Esperanza gratitude para muchas families. Muchas gracias. This is why I would like you to continue supporting this [12:01:05 PM] continue supporting this program, because it's an icon of hope and gratitude for many people. Thank you very much. Muchas gracias, senora Rojas. >> I have one other speaker that's requested translation services, lesbia Ramos. >> Senora Ramos. Buenas tardes. Si, si. Buenas tardes. MI nombre es lesbia Ramos. Bueno, Bueno, quiero gracias por el por el espacio Y la oportunidad. Verdad? Bueno para. >> Me up. >> A para para MI a asi es Una Buena maravillosa. Ayuda me ayuda a as a solvent a solvent. La gran parte de parte de ayuda. >> Con. >> Un par de otros. Good [12:02:06 PM] >> Un par de otros. Good morning. My name is lesbia Ramos. First of all, I want to thank you for this space and for the opportunity, this wonderful opportunity to up together. This is a wonderful help for me and for my two children, because it helps me to cover my rent and also to cover other bill payments. Continue. Okay. Trabajar part time. Tengo mis hijos también. Gracias a. La ayuda. >> De. >> La seguridad de seguridad Y no, no tengo miedo. Okay, por la parte de la Renta, mientras es estuvimos con el apoyo. A mucho me cansancio mental verdad Esta siendo de Una Manera de ayuda. [12:03:06 PM] siendo de Una Manera de ayuda. Podemos también puedo Tener mas tiempo para pasar con mis hijos. A Familia sin preocupaciones financieras, pues muchas gracias. I'm a single mother and I have to work part time so I can take care of my children at home. This is why this help makes me feel safe. I'm not afraid of being evicted or having to pay fines for paying a rent late. Since I had this support, my mental stress has been reduced and I don't feel so exhausted mentally and we have been able to have better times with my children and family without having so many financial worries. And all of this is thanks to up together. Thank you very much. Gracias, senora Ramos. Gracias. Thank you and blessings to you. >> Leanne Marie krzyzaniak. Leah. Marie, are you there? [12:04:15 PM] Leah. Marie, are you there? Jennifer Robichaud. >> Good morning, city council, this is Jen Robichaud. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today about the fiscal year 2026 budget. I appreciate the hard work that goes into this, and I know we all want what's best for Austin. Looking at the budget, I think most Austin residents can agree that essential services like first responders and utilities should be our top priority. Fully funded through the general fund. After that, the city should ensure that free public services like streets, libraries and parks are funded. Then we can afford to fund social services like public health clinics and fee based programs. And only after that should the city consider any other items. I also think many residents are concerned about how much the city spends on consultants and nonprofits. Instead, we should prioritize assigning city of [12:05:16 PM] prioritize assigning city of Austin employees to projects and community roles. This allows for greater transparency and keeps our money local. The bottom line is essential public programs those providing housing, health care, fire protection, youth programs and animal care. These should be part of the baseline of our budget. Pushing a tax rate election this year feels unresponsive to the community's concerns. When we could revise this budget to reflect these priorities. First, I've heard from many residents who feel the same. We want a budget that puts the residents who live and work here first, not ones that strains our own budgets. With a tax increase, you all have the chance to show your commitment to keeping Austin affordable by voting no on this budget and rethinking our city's core priorities. Thank you for your time. >> Barbara grant. Bonita. >> Good afternoon. Good [12:06:16 PM] >> Good afternoon. Good afternoon, mayor and council members. My name is Barbara grant. Bonita and I serve as the director of the Austin Travis county success bicycle coalition. Our coalition represents over 140 organizations working together to ensure every child in our community enters kindergarten, healthy, supported, and ready to succeed and thrive. First, we want to thank the city for your strong and sustained investments in early childhood, including the social service contracts that strengthen family stability, providing fee waivers around licensing requirements for childcare programs, supporting family based childcare and growing their quality and capacity, and so much more. These investments have really made measurable impacts on children's health, school readiness, and long term success. Today, we ask you to prioritize a few things. First, we're asking to prioritize funding for pre-k start up classrooms, specifically to expand access by providing an additional $42,266 to maintain the number of eight pre-k [12:07:17 PM] the number of eight pre-k classrooms that are able to open annually. Research is clear here. High quality pre-k is one of the most effective tools we have to close opportunity gaps before they start. Startup funding allows districts and childcare providers to open new classrooms quickly and cover the cost of materials, so children can begin benefiting immediately. We also urge you to sustain support for family connect, which provides every family of a newborn with a free home visit for from a registered nurse in just a few visits. Family receive health checks for both baby and parent connections to community resources and early identification of any challenges. Reducing emergency room visits, improving health outcomes, and helping parents feel more confident in their role. Finally, we support the resolution that ensures the child care fee waiver program is open to new child care centers, not just those that are expanding. To ensure we are removing barriers for child care centers that open in child care deserts by making these [12:08:17 PM] deserts by making these targeted. >> Thank you. Your time has expired. >> We can meet urgent needs. >> Thank you. Lia Marie krzyzaniak. Lia Marie, are you there? Taniqua Brewster. >> Good morning. Or good afternoon? >> Rather. >> My name is Denise. >> And can you all hear me? >> We can hear you? Yes. >> Okay. >> I'm sorry. >> Good afternoon, mayor. >> And. >> Council members. >> My name. >> Is taniqua. >> I'm with district one and I just. Want to speak in favor of the making sure that the. >> Family stabilization grant is put into budget. And I understand that it may cost some to some, some people, but the it helps families a lot. It helps [12:09:20 PM] helps families a lot. It helps my family. It helps families that participate in the program. Not only does it help stabilize families and help families. >> To be. >> Sustained, but it actually helps them become more self-sufficient, and that's the less burden on the community as a whole, the city as a whole. So it is important that we look at this and make sure that when we look at the budget, we make sure that the family stabilization grant is placed in there and understand how it really does help the social programs that are needed for our city to continue. It's not affordable right now. Some families are barely getting by before having the assistance that they had. We would like to help more families, but it can only help those that that have been helped in the past. How is that showing a more Progressive Austin? Thank you. >> Brittany Watson. Brittany, are you there? Barbara [12:10:22 PM] are you there? Barbara Macarthur. Hi. >> My name is Barbara Macarthur and I live in. District seven. >> I spent. >> A lot of time studying the. >> Budget. >> But I really didn't have time in the 1300 pages confounded me. What I do see is we're spending much more per capita than we were even a few years ago. While our population is not growing, what I do see is we're spending per capita almost 2 to 3 times as much as San Antonio, who also own their utilities. And what I do see is you're putting you're letting people know that to get basic services, social services, to get enough firemen on a fire truck that they have to support a TRE, rather than saying, asking people the question like, would you rather put millions of dollars into cap and stitch in a [12:11:23 PM] dollars into cap and stitch in a convention center? Or would you rather put it on those services? Lastly, I would like to beg for support for recycled reads, even if you want to move it to another part of town. It is a great resource for people who don't have enough money to purchase books for their children and teachers who need books for their classrooms. Every time I've been there, it is crowded and full. When I served on the library committee many years ago, what you did with books is you put them in a dumpster when they went out of circulation. Having one place to distribute the books is very, very important. And I beg you to look at renting another facility someplace else. It's $100,000, and a uniform facility is a lot more better than a dispersed. Thank you. >> Alicia Perez Hodge. >> So I just a couple of comments. Thank you, Lincoln [12:12:23 PM] comments. Thank you, Lincoln district, for, you know, as an organization, as a board, we have a lot of work to do to help, you know, meet budget goals, you know. >> Brittany Watson. Brittany, are you there? Okay. That's all the remote speakers I have this time. So let me move to in person. >> I'm calling Alicia Perez Hodge one more time. I don't think she heard her name. >> Yes, we will put her through, but I did unmute her line. So yeah, we'll call her again though. Orlowski Shaw brydan Summers, Scott cob, Jocelyn Maxwell, Raymond Montes. >> If your name has been called [12:13:28 PM] >> If your name has been called and there's an empty chair, please come forward. Miss Shaw, please. >> Thank you. Hello, my name is Orlowski Shaw and I, the president of the united workers of integral care. I would first like to speak on two specific amendments before you that reflect exactly the kind of compassionate and practical investments that the city of Austin should make. First, mayor pro tem Fuentes amendment to ensure funding for local tenant based vouchers for all 140 residents who are losing their emergency housing vouchers due to their premature sunset in 2026. These individuals have been stably housed for 2 to 4 years. They've done everything right build stability, maintain housing and now, through no fault of their own, they face losing everything. Housing vouchers were created for exactly this reason to protect those who simply cannot earn enough to keep a roof over their heads, we must ensure that these neighbors keep their housing, and that those currently on our streets have a path to stability. Second, council member alter and vela's amendments to ensure funding to continue 24 over seven M court. Last year, the city recognized the necessity of having mental health professionals available at all hours as part of the 911 [12:14:29 PM] at all hours as part of the 911 response system, with a one time, six month funding. When Austin created the fourth 911 option, you promised residents that we would no longer be met with law enforcement when experiencing a mental health emergency. Instead, they would be met with trained mental health responders. That promise must be kept. This is what real public safety looks like meeting emergencies with the right expertise, the right compassion and the right tools. We must ensure amendments that fully fund the zo plan and ensure that there are no cuts to the homeless, survivor or homeless service providers such as integral care, so we can continue to expand and grow evidence based care to ensure safety and care for everyone. I would like to humbly thank these council members for their leadership and commitment to the health, well-being and safety of every Austin resident and ask that all council members support and vote for these amendments. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good afternoon, mayor and council. I'm Brian Summers, president of afscme local 1624, representing the thousands of our members that our city of Austin employees. This has been quite an experience this year. It's been a lot going through [12:15:29 PM] It's been a lot going through this budget process, but we have been reminded that we have some shared values and we appreciate that. I want to start by thanking you for first prioritizing pay raises in this budget and in the coming budgets. We see that in the proposals that have been released, and the civilian workforce does feel appreciated. We also appreciate the prioritization of our Progressive cola that we have put forward. Acme has been advocating for that for years, and council picking that up shows your commitment to having a workforce that's actually composed of austinites. So thank you. We're also pleased to support some other initiatives that have emerged in this process. For the workers out there that have to go in during bad weather, they're putting themselves at risk and they're making sure that the city is running. And so we want to make sure we're taking care of them. For the frontline workers out there, the ones that are serving customers face to face are out in the community. What I really mean is the workers that cannot telework. We've known that there has been inequity since covid, and this seems like the time that we can rectify that. And we hope that you will do that by giving them more pay in the [12:16:31 PM] giving them more pay in the budget as well. But finally, I just want to say to you, we have been committed to making sure there is security for our members and their jobs, whether these jobs are at risk in this budget cycle, or if the programs that they work at work on are at risk in future budget cycles. We know that there is a through line, a tie to their jobs. We've demonstrated our advocacy on this issue when we came to the to support Austin public health in the rally we had outside due to the federal funding cuts, and we've been consistent that there can be no layoffs in the city. And so please think about how all of those programs are are tied to a person's for them and their family. So let's get this done together. We're excited to work with you. Ask me, we will be standing by your side as we go around the city and remind everybody why we've got to fight together. Thank you. >> Job. >> Hello, my name is Scott Cobb, and as I was sitting in the back, I thought back of my English major years and I thought of a line from Shakespeare. Macbeth, by the [12:17:32 PM] Shakespeare. Macbeth, by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes today. The wicked is not one person. It's not Macbeth. It's the attitude that the lowest paid workers, the ones making the minimum wage, deserve less. Less of a pay increase, less bnefits, less job protection, no appeals process, and to treat them like they can be disposable and fired on the spot. Something wicked is there. I want to compare two employees. One makes 2163. They're a temporary employee, one makes 2163. They're a regular employee. They both get a raise to 2205. The regular employee also gets $2,000 lump sum. That makes their raise 6.39%. The temporary 1.94%. Something fundamentally unfair [12:18:34 PM] Something fundamentally unfair about treating people who you need to be on those lifeguard stands, at those parks, at those rec centers, picking up those trash cans in zilker park, but not treating them equally. In the past, you've done a good job. You gave us a 4% raise for the last three years, the same as the regular employees. Like Macbeth. You started off the play a hero. By the end, the workers are losing faith that you value their labor. So I ask you to keep in mind the words of Maya Angelou. She used to say all the time in talk shows, do the best you can until you know better than when you know better, do better. Now you know better, do better. >> I believe we have Alicia Perez Hodge back, so I'm going to try. >> Yes, yes. [12:19:37 PM] >> Yes, yes. >> Thank you. >> Good afternoon. >> Mayor and council, this is Alicia Perez. Hodge. I am the district director for. >> Lulac. >> The league of united Latin American citizens district 12. And also co-founder of able. I'm here to speak on three items. The first is the 8 million plus that is being cut from the fire department and salaries. That is a lot of money to cut from them when you're with a much bigger budget and police, you're cutting 9 million. So that is a great concern. And that is also tied then to I believe and numbers six. That is an repealing an ordinance that would require for firefighters to an apparatus truck as opposed to three. And I think the city [12:20:38 PM] to three. And I think the city manager is recommending go to three. I would say, please don't do that. There is osha requirement, as you heard previously, and if you do not have the four firefighters at the scene, they will not allow two of them to go inside. And if you have to wait for another truck, that means minutes and people could lose their lives. So please reconsider repealing that ordinance and putting the money back in in the fire department. The other issue is we support any assistance to immigrants. They work, they pay taxes. They are an integral part of our workforce and are important. A lot of them have children that are U.S. Citizens and we want to protect them. So please support proposals to help immigrants, because if you're helping families, you're helping United States citizens, in all likelihood because a lot of the [12:21:39 PM] likelihood because a lot of the children. >> Thank you. Time has expired. >> The last thing is the emergency vet care, please. >> Okay, I switch back to in-person speakers again. We're on item five still. Jesus. Chulita. Lauria. Walter. Morro. Sophia Barbato, Richard Bondi, Hans. Maverick, Adrian Macias. Valerie. Menard, Pedro Hernandez, Jr. Noé Elias and Megan king. Namor. >> If your name has been called, please come forward and have a seat. Thank you sir. Please begin when you're ready. >> Good morning. Good afternoon. Mayor Watson, mayor pro tem Fuentes, council members, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Hans maverick. I am a resident of district ten, and I am a policy and research organizer with grassroots leadership here in Austin. What we care about is [12:22:40 PM] Austin. What we care about is making sure that the city is responsive to everyone's needs, including people who come into contact with law enforcement. We want to make sure that people are not held in custody without probable cause, and even where probable cause exists, that the person in custody is able to be released as quickly as possible. We also care about spending our city resources efficiently and in ways that put people back on track and help them support themselves and their families. That's why so many people have repeatedly raised concerns about what appears to be a net increase of $2.5 million in the APD budget for council at first appearance and magistration services. It is unclear exactly what the police department is supposed to do with that money, and why it is not going instead to the municipal courts. This is a concern because presently police officers sometimes delay submitting probable cause affidavits, which delays the arrestees magistration and, if they are eligible, their release [12:23:41 PM] they are eligible, their release on bond. I'm aware that because of house bill 1900, which passed the Texas legislature in 2021, once money goes into the police department's budget, it is very difficult to get it out. I see that council member Siegel has offered an amendment titled Travis county central booking Isla amendment to the budget to transfer money from the police budget to the general fund. I would like you to pass that amendment because that will fund initiatives that address the root causes of law enforcement encounters and thereby keep people from suffering the trauma of undue incarceration. So they continue to support themselves and their families. Thank you for this, for your attention to this critical issue. >> Thank you. >> Hello. My name is. >> Megan king. >> I'm the. >> Policy and outreach planner for preservation Austin. >> I'm here. >> Today to express. >> Our organization's support. >> For. >> Mayor pro tem Fuentes amendment. >> To create. >> Two. >> New ftes for the historic preservation office. [12:24:42 PM] preservation office. >> And fund a comprehensive. >> Study of preservation preservation incentives. A request. >> Totaling approximately $440,000. >> The two. >> Ftes would fulfill necessary. >> Code mandated. >> Review work and. >> Support implementation. >> Of the. >> City's equity. >> Based preservation plan. >> The additional funding. >> For an analysis of preservation incentives. Would evaluate. >> Austin's current and. >> Potential preservation incentives. >> Including the landmark tax. Exemption and. >> Transfer of development rights, and create a. Comprehensive suite of opportunities to promote preservation. In the. >> Fall of. >> Last year, council adopted adopted the equity based. >> Preservation plan in. >> Its 107 recommendations. >> We know that this dais values preservation and. >> Wants to see. >> Better outcomes for. >> Austin's historic. >> And cultural resources. >> The plan recommends increasing. >> Historic preservation office staffing to. >> Engage the community. Identify gaps. And priorities, and proactively. Promote historic designation. >> A 2017. >> Audit noted that. Austin's historic preservation office. >> Had one of the lowest. >> Staffing levels for historic preservation. Among comparable cities. Historic preservation. >> Office currently has six [12:25:42 PM] >> Office currently has six ftes, with the highest ratio. >> Of staff. >> To caseload among peer. >> Cities. >> With the. >> Pace. Of development and. >> Demolition, our experienced. >> City experiences, most. >> Of this. >> Limited staff time is spent on permit review and case management, leaving. >> Little time for. Proactive outreach. >> And education that is desperately needed. We'd like to thank mayor pro tem Fuentes for her leadership. >> On this item, as. >> Well as council members. >> Velazquez and Ellis for their support. Preservation Austin. >> Asks that you join them. >> In funding. >> This amendment, which would have significant. Impacts for the preservation of our city's. >> History and culture. >> Thank you for your time and your service. >> To the city. >> Of Austin. >> Thank you. >> Monica Guzman and Monica's time donated by Roy Whaley. Are you still. Roy is here. And robin Schneider. I see six minutes for Monica. And then Shelly Lieberman, Sharon Blythe, Regina cyphers, Loretta Valencia, and Jay Kennedy. >> Good afternoon, mayor and [12:26:47 PM] >> Good afternoon, mayor and council. I'm Monica Guzman, policy director at Garza. Go, Austin. Vamos, Austin. Thank you for including the 75,000 sustained funding for the building comprehensive networks bessy in partnership with homegrown to support strategies for home based childcare in the base budget. With the tax rate not yet approved based on the now six tier scenarios, we urge you to ensure funding at minimum 1.3 million for the family stabilization grant, an economic investment in the lives of over 80 households, providing their ability to stabilize and improve their quality of life. 5 million for the equity division of the office of equity and inclusion, especially fully funding the undoing racism workshops. 733,000 sorry, hard number to say 733 and $69,000 for implementation of climate resilience and disaster preparedness commitments with a dedicated community health worker strike team. And we also understand there is funding in place for critically needed immigration legal services and [12:27:48 PM] immigration legal services and urge you to ensure it to it is approved. We thank mayor pro tem Fuentes for prioritizing pre-k start up costs, though we want to emphasize the importance of those aid pre-k funding, including including pre-k partnership funding. Currently, pre-k partnerships are collaborations between aid and high quality community based child care centers or head start programs. These partnerships expand access to high quality pre-k education and childcare options for eligible three and four year old children. Children receive their pre-k instruction at the community based center and can also receive before and after school care there, ensuring continuity of care and education. This arrangement is particularly beneficial for families with working parents who need a full day of childcare. In addition to improving student outcomes and school readiness. Readiness. Pre-k partnerships allow schools and community based childcare to share resources, expertise, and best practices. Pre-k partnerships are a vital strategy for expanding access to [12:28:48 PM] strategy for expanding access to high quality early learning experiences and promoting positive child outcomes, both in the short and long term. By fostering collaboration and leveraging the strengths of both public and private providers, these partnerships can create a more robust and equitable system of early care and education, ultimately benefiting children, families, and communities. Finally, while the communities of south Austin and this is regarding the neighborhood partnering program, while the communities of south Austin have dedicated many years over a decade of organizing to projects sometimes supported by the npp, and the program itself has supported a few direct inputs to these projects. We feel strongly that the greatest changes have been driven by champions in the actual departments, allocating funds and staff time and committing to working together. Our ask is not to restore funding to npp at this time, but to take a close look at what's missing across the board and demand that just expectations and metrics are set to address [12:29:50 PM] and metrics are set to address longstanding gaps in Austin's majority nonwhite neighborhoods. Who is tracking the fairness and disparity of outcomes when projects are prioritized, and who in the community is engaged to inform their progress? It's real community planning that got us these big wins, like the east Williamson creek project, where the water runs in this drastic time of cuts. We have chosen not to prioritize mnps insertion into the base or TRE budget proposals. That said, the community will be holding this council accountable for inter-departmental collaboration and authentic community engagement and prioritization of underinvested areas. Thank you. >> Miss Blythe. We'll start with you after miss Guzman. >> I'm Sharon Blythe, resident of district six. I think that since you're going to give a 4% raise to all your employees [12:30:51 PM] raise to all your employees except the uniformed people, you ought to very, very understand that you should exempt yourselves, the city council and highly paid employees of the city from that 4%. You don't you don't need it. You have enough money in your salaries and your extracurricular activities to afford to live here. And you need to not get yourself a raise that is self-serving. And you need to think about that. And I would appreciate it if my council member would make that motion to exempt y'all from that 4% raise. Thank you. >> Please. >> Hi. Good afternoon. It's afternoon now. >> Yes it is. Mayor and city council. My name is Regina cyphers. >> I work. For Austin area urban league, and what. >> I'm doing. >> Right now I'm. Assigned to. >> The housing. >> Navigation. And with that [12:31:51 PM] >> Navigation. And with that said, I am housing the homeless community that's out at south bridge that we do manage for the city. And I found it that the family stabilization grant has been really beneficial in this area, whereas we have most of our homeless clients, they do have some type of either they don't have any income or they do, but it's so minimum the SSI, they receive monthly, it's minimum and it cannot house them. But the family stabilization grant has been beneficial to us with partnering with certain apartment complexes that would let them utilize that $1,000 they get a month. It has been great. So if you have been passing that bill, I appreciate if you continue to pass it because it's made my job easier to house those individuals that receive $551 from SSI, or I do [12:32:52 PM] receive $551 from SSI, or I do have some that's disabled. As you do know, they are disabled. We bring them from the field, from under the bridges, from wherever we can find them. And we do try to house them, but they do not have enough funding and you want us to house them. So please pass that bill. Do not interfere with that. It is helping me house them, partner with other apartment complexes and that's all I have to say. That's what I came to say today. To let you know that if you pass it, you're helping us get them out of south bridge. And I'm pretty sure as well as north bridge. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. >> Good afternoon, mayor and city council. My name is Shelley Lieberman. I'm a resident of district four, and I've been a volunteer at Austin animal center for over five years. I'm requesting you support council member lane's amendment number two and its accompanying resolution to reinstate funding for emergency veterinarian services for lost and injured animals. Ark's mission is to provide a public service and [12:33:53 PM] provide a public service and safety net for lost and homeless animals in the community, eliminating funding for emergency vet services for sick and injured strays is in direct conflict with that mission. The service does not go above and beyond. It literally is the mission. Completely eliminating the service will put 100% of the burden on the public to care for sick and injured animals outside the open hours of ark. The public already takes on enough of the burden. That is a responsibility by caring for healthy animals that are refused intake at ac due to lack of space. The fact that eliminating this funding will not affect our 95% live release goal should not be a reason to support it. Leaving animals to suffer and die on the streets because they aren't technically owned by the city yet, and therefore would not affect our 95 live release rate, is contrary to how most residents of Austin want animals to be treated and quite frankly, is inhumane. It is ark's mission to take care of stray animals, regardless of whether they make it into the shelter system. We already turn away enough healthy strays in order to maintain a 95 live percent release rate. We should not do the same for sick and injured. Please support council member lane's amendment [12:34:54 PM] council member lane's amendment number two and its accompanying resolution to restore this funding. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Continue on. >> Item number five. >> We have Carey santana with. >> Time donated. >> By Darlene Lewis, Carey and Darlene, are you here? If they. >> Are, they are. >> Okay. So Carey will have four minutes. We'll have Dorris Adams, lumumba, Webb, Caleb white, Brad Massingill. >> If your name is called, please come forward. Thank you. Please feel free to begin. >> Thanks. Hi. Carrie Stanley with the Williamson county children's advocacy center. And thank you, Darlene, for donating your time and really want to thank council member Laine for her support and the recognition of the vital, vital services that we are providing to ultimately strengthen Austin children and families. I want to highlight a couple of our services, our forensic interviews that are crucial in [12:35:54 PM] interviews that are crucial in abuse cases. They provide a legally sound and developmentally appropriate way to gather information from victims, particularly children, about potentially abusive situations. These interviews are conducted by trained professionals aimed to obtain accurate and reliable accounts of the abuse while minimizing trauma to the victims. This information is vital for investigation, prosecution, and ensuring the child's safety and well-being. At the same time. We've got nurses on staff and they provide specialized medical care. They collect evidence, they offer crucial emotional and physical support to survivors. Our model, the entire model that we work in, works to be efficient and effective, bringing trauma focused services together both to support the investigation and the family. We believe only a model like ours can do it in this way, and this fiscally responsible way, in order to assist us in continuing to meet the needs, we need more bilingual staff. We need to make sure we are eliminating barriers for families and for our law enforcement and dps partners. We [12:36:54 PM] enforcement and dps partners. We need to continue to look at ways to work more upstream while we continue to provide our essential services. That I highlighted above, there is so much more we could do in the prevention and healing space. We've got exciting initiatives that could have some real impact on child abuse victims. However, again, we need the support to be able to move forward on those. We are focused on child safety and well-being. When a child child abuse hurts minds, bodies and futures if it's left untreated. And so we are really seeking to continue to do more in this space. We will always see children walking in our doors and we will provide our crisis services. But again, there is so much more we could do and we need the support to do that. Only 1 in 10 children will ever speak up about their abuse. It's the education that we provide to the community that increases those numbers and has an impact on that statistic. 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys in the U.S. Are estimated to experience child sexual abuse. So none of the other abuses that [12:37:56 PM] So none of the other abuses that that I covered earlier and that we work on at the advocacy center, just sexual abuse. It's a massive number of children that are affected. Child sexual abuse, 1 billion children globally experience sexual violence. So to give you just a little more. Impact or information on this, across the us serve more than 370,000 kids each year. Locally, we are interviewing about 1000 children annually. And again, the Austin part is about 10% of the children that we are seeing, and we are assisting our partners, APD, in all of these investigations. They've brought just over 70 children, I think, so far this year. But what is not represented here is, besides those 70 children that come in for forensic interviews, is all of the wraparound services that we're providing to family members. Again, our assistance with dps and law enforcement. I know I don't need to explain to you guys that besides the expected outcomes from abuse, like lack of progress in school, substance abuse, missed work, [12:38:56 PM] substance abuse, missed work, obesity, sexually transmitted infections, diabetes, heart disease, depression, suicide, and other stress related diseases that there is a real economic cost to the city, the county, our country with untreated child abuse. So healing and thriving is completely possible. Trauma symptoms are reduced to healthy ranges through the services available at the cac, and that is proven again and again through our mental health services. And I and I want to also just say that abuse does not discriminate. It literally affects children from every background. All socio socioeconomic groups or sexual orientations and races, ethnicities, ethnicities and religions. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Councilman. >> City members. My name is Leon Webb. I'm a resident of Austin. I was born here in Austin and I lived most of my life here. I went from being a small business owner of web empire LLC to almost being homeless. Last year, I received a 12 month. [12:39:58 PM] year, I received a 12 month. >> Grant from the. >> Family stabilization program and the and the up together program. And my times of hardship. And even though I was not homeless, it prevented me from being homeless. So now I'm back in the community, thriving, doing what I'm supposed to do. I ask council that y'all continue to support and finance these programs so that people like myself can continue to be in office tonight. That's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hello, cable white, on behalf of public citizens Texas office, I'm going to speak directly to some of the proposals that I know y'all are considering as part of your your different scenarios and amendments, specifically funding for the climate, the office of climate action and resilience. You've probably seen the council member alter's amendment number five, to add a couple staff to that. I strongly encourage you to support that as you move forward with the budget. I did also have a lot of hope for, including in [12:40:59 PM] a lot of hope for, including in the budget, some funding for that climate revolving fund, and that is essential to actually upgrading the city buildings to be more energy efficient and reduce cost. However, I do think that if it is a choice between providing those staff or a very minimal amount into that fund, I would choose the staff. And that is because it does seem that there is probably another option to fund that climate revolving fund using debt, because those investments will actually save money and could therefore repay the debt and still start that fund for allowing for other energy efficiency and solar investments on city buildings in the future. And these are, of course, investments that are ultimately going to save our city money and allow our buildings to function in a more, you know, practical way. So I would like to see both of those in the budget. I do encourage you to include both the staff and that revolving fund. But I'm [12:42:01 PM] and that revolving fund. But I'm just saying if you have to choose, I would get the staff in place and then maybe use debt in the coming months to establish the fund. Thank you. >> Thank you all. >> Continue on item five. We have Taylor, Nicolo haydn, black walker, Chris Paige, Jeffrey Bowen, Victoria. Cody, Walter, tunnel Wilson, Francisco Mejia. If your name's been called, please make your way to an open mic. >> Okay? >> Please go ahead. >> Good morning. >> Mayor and council members. My name is Taylor Nicolo and I'm here on behalf of the Austin chamber of commerce. Austin's affordability crisis is hitting everyone residents, families and local businesses that employ them. Over the past decade, property tax bills in central [12:43:02 PM] property tax bills in central Texas have gone up almost 68%, with a 13% increase last year alone. Austin businesses face an outsized share of these rising fiscal pressures, and our organization is concerned that further property tax increases could lead to economic contraction, job losses, and a difficulty in attracting and retaining talent. When taxes get too high, it doesn't just hurt the bottom line of our small businesses. It impacts jobs, it impacts investments and our ability to keep talent in our community. Local businesses are already experiencing economic headwinds with higher interest rates, slower growth and uncertain trade conditions. Adding more tax pressure now could slow things down even further. That's why here at the chamber, we believe that the best path forward is to stick with the city manager's proposal, which already hits a 3.5 state, 3.5% state cap, and look for other ways to close this gap with a 233 million reserve balance and a countless city positions that have gone [12:44:03 PM] city positions that have gone unfilled for months, the city could try to consider tapping into our reserve balance and pausing non-essential hiring to help advance a fiscally responsible budget. Austin's business community is dynamic and resilient, but we're not immune to economic challenges. The decisions that you make here will shape whether Austin remains a place where people and businesses can truly thrive. Thank you for the chance to speak. >> Thank you. Please. >> Thank you. >> I'm repping my. >> Shirt and library hoodie today, but I claim to speak on no one's behalf but my own. I've worked at the library. >> For. >> Three and. >> A half years now, and. >> I feel like our jobs are pretty similar. To be honest. Council members. >> The public. >> Can and will approach you and offer their hottest take on the wildest things, no matter their level of understanding or your level of power over it. >> Any time, day. >> Or night. 8 A.M. 8 P.M. At the library. >> We're talking taxes. >> We're talking banned books. We're talking government corruption. I say to them, whoa, whoa, slow down. I can give you a. [12:45:05 PM] a. >> Book about what you're talking about. >> I can. >> Recommend mental. >> Health resources nearby if they're funded and not at capacity. However, I'm sorry. >> I cannot. >> Guarantee the letter I'm helping you print right now will make it to Mr. Elon Musk. Please do not mistake what I am saying now as the very thing that I am criticizing. >> I don't know how to do your job. Heck, I don't know which agenda item I needed to sign up to speak on this today. What I do know. >> Is you. >> Must. Be clear with the public and implement any TRE progressively to aid those who cannot. Afford housing safety housing at all. Food security I have a collection of things homeless. >> People have. >> Given me at the library. Because they appreciate. >> What I do. >> They find a way to give. Many, many homeowners offered to pay $0.25 to support the library as I check them out, people are happy to give to the services that help them live every day and the ones that make Austin. Austin. I tell those people it is a privilege to have property to pay taxes on. I do not envy your job council members. It seems very thankless in the light of working at the library where people yell at me, but they also bake me cookies. I envy your metal detector, [12:46:05 PM] envy your metal detector, though. I envy your housing situation, whatever it may be. A gun was pulled on a library employee earlier this week, and they showed up as they showed up to help serve their community. I look forward to serving this community every day and I have a privilege to go to work, but I do not feel safe a feeling I'm sure a lot of people who have spoken here today share, and a lot of people in our community share. I have moved four times in the four years that I have had the privilege of housing in Austin, and if anybody is worried about a 4% raise for city employees affecting their housing, I will personally give half of what I make at the city every, every month. >> And don't go into what you were talking about. Yeah, thank you very much. And thank you for your service. >> Pay me. >> Oh come on man. >> Good afternoon. >> Mayor and council members. >> My name is Victoria coyote. I'm here today to urge your support for critical amendments that fund Austin's sidewalk infrastructure, which is foundational to accessibility [12:47:06 PM] foundational to accessibility and safe mobility for all residents. Speaking for and representing only myself as the new marketing director for on the move, a student organization at UT Austin promoting disability justice and accessibility advocacy. Better sidewalk infrastructure must be part of the accessible futures we seek to create. Sidewalks are more than just pavement. They are a lifeline for people with disabilities, seniors, families with strollers, and anyone who depends on safe, reliable access to their communities. Accessible sidewalks with continuous, well-maintained pathways and clear mode separation are one of the most effective tools we have to reduce injuries and fatalities on our streets. They ensure that everyone can move safely with fewer barriers. I strongly support council member Ellis's amendment to increase sidewalk maintenance funding. Right now, we fund only about a quarter of what's needed to properly maintain our network. I also urge you to support council member lane's amendment for $10 million in gap financing to for new sidewalk construction. Compared to other infrastructure [12:48:07 PM] Compared to other infrastructure projects, sidewalks can be built quickly and cost effectively. Delaying now risks losing skilled contractors, which will make future projects more expensive and slow to restart. Austin is a beautiful city, but it's also one with thousands of miles of missing sidewalks. This stands as a legacy of underinvestment that disproportionately impacts people with disabilities and other mobility challenges. Sidewalks are not only a matter of safety, but a vital part of making our city equitable, sustainable and climate resilient. Please fund what we know works to ensure Austin is more accessible and safe for everyone. Thank you. >> Thank you. Mr. Bowen. Good. >> My name is Jeffrey Bowen. I'm in district eight and I will not be flipping you off. So first I want to tell Mr. Broadnax and his budget staff. Thank you [12:49:07 PM] his budget staff. Thank you again for providing a budget that actually had a lot of information in it and actually provided more questions than answers in some regards, but it was much more transparent than what we've seen in the past. Again, I know I thanked him once before, but I want to make sure that that's that's also done again. We are also having this issue about the spending per capita. As the number of our population has dropped, we are spending more per. So I really request that we start looking more at what the performance and the accountability. What are the performance metrics that are being done? Are the different organizations or or funding items that we're doing? Are they meeting the performance that has been that is expected of them? If they don't have any performance that's been laid out for them, why not? That needs to be addressed. What are those established goals? I noticed that on for me being a [12:50:08 PM] that on for me being a construction guy, the city building maintenance is massively important to me only because if we don't maintain our buildings, it cost us more in the long run. I don't want to see those type of items be cut because they can cost us in the long run. And safety. Safety should not be neglected or missed. That without saying those people, everybody should be safe where they're at, even those at the library. And I would also like to see that we get more evaluations on our contracts as to what we're providing contract or or getting requests for services on. Are those companies capable of doing that? Are they not being under investigation in some cases, make sure that there's actual evaluation of those type of things. Thank you sir. >> Thank you, Mr. Cohen. >> Continuing on item. >> One second, I want to I want to do a little where are y'all in terms of wanting to or being [12:51:09 PM] in terms of wanting to or being prepared to make a presentation? >> Thank you, thank you, thank you. >> Mayor Kerri Lang. >> Budget director of. >> Budget and. >> Organizational excellence. >> We are. >> Prepared to. Discuss the memo that was. Sent to. >> Mayor and council a few minutes ago. Yes. >> I'll tell you what we're going to do. Members, members, if there's not an objection, what I would suggest we do is ask for another round of speakers, which will give before we call miss Lang up and have her lay out what has been sent. As I understand, it's been sent to all of our offices. It's in the backup. So everybody has this. Now what? That another round of speakers would allow is for our various staff people to get prepared so that they can also listen to this presentation and where they might be out of [12:52:11 PM] and where they might be out of the building or something like that. That gives us a little bit of time to get them gathered, and then we'll have a presentation right after the next, next round of 4 or 5 speakers. Does that make sense to everybody? Okay. Your name had been previously called who's called. >> In this round? >> Well, that's what I said. >> That's why I'm. >> Up here okay. Yeah I know okay. >> So the city. >> Of Austin has taken the values of its constituents hostage, frankly, to an extorted TRE with no guardrails during the most unaffordable period in Austin's history. The budgeting cycle is uniquely defined by officials disassociating themselves from the consequences of their policies and pitting economically vulnerable unhoused residents, first responders, unions and grassroots leaders against each other. Fighting for crumbs. Since 2020, the city of Austin has had $7.66 billion of expenditure in its general fund. This year, it's 100 million more [12:53:12 PM] This year, it's 100 million more than last year. Included within some of those general funds were 770.2 million transferred from utilities, which are essentially a de facto tax, which is a loophole run around around the 3.5% revenue cap. City of Austin is sliding to a point where its reserves are risking a potential downgrade in its credit and increase in its borrowing costs. You are not blindsided. This year, sb two was passed and took effect on January 1st of 2020, so you can't bemoan the cost of emergency services which you agreed to. The cost of hb 1900 became law and took effect on September 1st, 2021. So you can't plead ignorance on that either. The city has engaged in gross misinformation to the public, including a statement from council member Fuentes and alter and maybe others. The property tax is on average, on the average home are $60 lower today than a decade ago. It's about $1,700 more for the [12:54:13 PM] about $1,700 more for the average home. Currently. We have seen so much misinformation being deployed about many things, but the hotel occupancy tax is crucial to. You can spend up to 15% of that for tourism promotion, including preservation and the arts. You haven't collected 13 years of hotel occupancy back tax from strs. >> Thank you sir. >> And I'll be back. Thanks. >> We only have five more speakers. >> I'll go ahead and go through those five speakers and then please call them. And then we'll have a presentation from staff and members. What I'm going to recommend, unless somebody has a strong objection, is that we hear from those five speakers. We get a very brief presentation from staff, and then we recess for we'll see what time it is when we do that, but we'll recess so that the members might visit with their staff members. Before we go into the rest of [12:55:15 PM] Before we go into the rest of the comments, so that maybe that it will allow for a more efficient process later in the day. Okay. Good deal. All right. If you'll call the last speakers on item number five. >> Sean Oliver, Tanya Michener, Michael Salazar, Zenobia, Joseph. Gaby. Libretti. >> Hello. My name is Sean Oliver. Good afternoon. Because of your leadership, Austin has become a city. Other cities have looked at. When it looks at compassionate investments that save lives, the funding for community violence intervention programing, such as atx, is just a small part of the public safety budget. Yet the returns are truly significas who are on the verge, or who had already made up in their minds to commit acts of violence, but through direct intervention with our team, they chose another path. We also have [12:56:16 PM] chose another path. We also have been told that simply having a piece present at various events and in different apartment complexes and schools, violence have been violence has been prevented. Our city is leading modeling and sharing effective community violence intervention strategies with others all across the nation. When we go to various trainings and programing, oftentimes it's not just to learn, we go there to learn, but we're also asked best practices that we have implemented. And with fidelity, we're able to truly say that the city council has enabled us to make vast improvements and efforts in intervention, prevention and education concerning violence prevention. Thank you for your vision and for championing this vital work. >> Thank you. Yes. >> Good afternoon, mayor. >> And council. >> My name is Tanya. >> Michener and I work. [12:57:17 PM] >> Michener and I work. >> For life anew. >> At peace. First, I want to sincerely thank this council for your investment in. Life anew and at peace. Your belief in our mission and our willingness to find this work means our teams and can continue providing community violence intervention, trust and helping to. >> Make Austin. >> A safer for everyone. I'd like to share a brief story. Recently, I worked with a student whose family was deeply impacted by gun violence. She couldn't be here today, but her journey has left a lasting impact through the work of life anew at peace and other organizations like ours. She found her voice. She went on to serve at a panel at the gun violence summit, speaking out with courage and resilience. Watching her grow in her own voice reminded me of my own story. When I was a child, my mom shot my dad in the moment and the years that followed, there was no life anew, no peace, no community violence [12:58:17 PM] peace, no community violence intervention program at my school or in my community. I had to navigate the trauma on my own. That's why this work that we do now matters so deeply. Because of your support, children today don't have to walk through the pain alone. They have people and resources to help them heal, to encourage them, and to show them the path forward. So on behalf of life anew, at peace and the people we serve every day, I want to thank you for believing in this work, for funding it, and for standing with us in the fight to make our community safer. >> Thank you very much. >> Good morning, mayor, council members and community. My name is Michael Salazar the second, and I'm a trusted messenger and a violence interrupter with life anew and at peace. We are for the city and for the community of Austin, Texas. We thank you for your investment in atx peace and community violence intervention prevention work. When our when our program first received funding to address gun violence in our community, we [12:59:18 PM] violence in our community, we knew we were being given more than a budget. We were being given hope. Each dollar meant more than just supplies, transportation, or staffing. It meant a seat at the table for someone who had been overlooked. It meant a chance for a young person to feel heard. For a grieving family to feel supported, and for a neighborhood to begin healing, it says, I see you and I care to the community. This last budget cycle has allowed us to continue to educate and deepen our relationships with communities, mobilize these communities, respond to crisis calls, connect with individuals at risk, educating them with new ways to cope with their trauma, and create safe spaces where conversations could replace conflict. We watched the walls of trauma come down. Young people put their guard down long enough to imagine a different future. The families that we're supporting in these, in the losses of loved ones from gun violence from last year to this very moment, have not participated in retaliatory acts, which is a direct impact to the communities they belong to because of the support given due to the budget provided, and [1:00:20 PM] due to the budget provided, and we are all grateful for that. The need in the community is great and our need to continue to support the communities of Austin. Are is our heart's desire. An increase in budget will allow us to continue, grow and strengthen these communities. We can support more families, expand our team, increase our presence in the most impacted neighborhoods, and strengthen the programs that are currently changing lives. I'm asking you to continue to help us restore trust into these communities and rebuild in the brokenness within these these communities by choosing to continue and increase the budget for community violence intervention and prevention. Love conquers and wins all things. >> Thank you sir. Thank you for your work. >> Hi, my. >> Name is. Gabby libretti and I'm the capacity. >> Building manager. >> For Texas harm. >> Reduction alliance. >> And a district for resident. Today I. >> Offer a. >> Translation turning these. Budget numbers into meaning. >> When we. >> Lose. >> Someone to overdose, one life is lost. >> But countless. >> Lives are hurt. If you've lost someone too soon, you know [1:01:21 PM] lost someone too soon, you know hearts ache in a way. >> That never. >> Quite goes away. Just last month. >> Texas harm reduction. >> Alliance recorded. 31 overdose reversals. >> With the naloxone. >> We distributed 31 people. >> Still breathing, 31 loved ones. >> Still here. >> Last year that number was 379 people. >> I've had the pleasure of. >> Working for. For four years. >> Now, and in. >> That time, I'm proud to know my team has saved hundreds. >> Of lives, more than saving lives. I've also. >> Had the pleasure of watching our team transform them. Over the years, I've seen peers housed, working while. >> Fed. >> Recovering in incredible ways. I've seen the victory of a connection to mental health care. Someone regained their mind. I've seen the. Success of an. >> Id that unlocked. >> The door to. >> Employment, HIV. >> And hep C treatment. >> That brought people. >> Back their health. >> This is what. >> Funding harm reduction does. >> In short. >> It is money well spent. We are also. Hoping today that the. Council considers the TRE with harm reduction expanded. In it. We know with this funding we could be open seven days. >> A week and serve an additional. 250 people. >> Every month. Every life touched is a life that matters. [1:02:22 PM] touched is a life that matters. Harm reduction saved my life. I would not. >> Be. >> Here today. Without people that believed in and supported my recovery. The peers I worked with, all with lived experience, know all roads out of the darkest. >> Places. >> And we will always go back to show others the way out. >> Thank you very much. If your name's been called miss Joseph, you're welcome to speak. If anybody else's name has been called, please come forward. >> Thank you. Mayor, council. >> Mayor. >> Can you bend the rules today. >> Miss Joseph? You know the rules. And you asked me that every time we're going to follow the rules. >> Okay, so let me just read into the record. I want to remind you that on April 28th, 2025, when you had your joint audit and public health committee meeting, you said, quote, that's not how the rules work, but I'm going to allow it. Please go ahead. I'm going to bend the rules because that's not the way it's supposed to [1:03:22 PM] not the way it's supposed to operate, but we're going to do it for you. So please go ahead. You have three minutes. So in other words, you are actually engaging in viewpoint discrimination because when Chaz actually came before you chase, right, you actually permitted him and you bended the rules for him, but you're not doing it for me to show you my slides today. As you are well aware, my comments, as they always are, are in the context of title six of the civil rights act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin. I want to tell you specifically that while I certainly respect council member lane's amendment for $10 million back to voters from November 8th, 2016, specifically, council passed on August 18th, 2020. That contract specified $65 million for safety, and it also specifies vision zero. I want you to remember that it was 2016 that council passed vision zero. [1:04:23 PM] that council passed vision zero. It is disingenuous if you look at your 2023. Transit enhancement infrastructure report, it specifies monies for allendale station and it says high crash rate doesn't matter na3 point $3 million. You have more funding in the Braker Laine area and $0 allocated for north Lamar. So no, I don't appreciate this budget. I don't support it. Page 515 actually specifies the sidewalks. >> Thank you ma'am. >> You're welcome. >> Mayor. All speakers for item five have been called. >> Great. Thank you very much. And thanks to everybody who took the time to be here and speak or remotely speak. Members I want to do is I want to ask our financial staff to come forward so they can make a brief presentation about what is now been disseminated to all of us. And as I as they comes forward, let me let me remind everybody of a couple things. One is that in an effort to begin making [1:05:25 PM] in an effort to begin making sure that we're socializing and treating this budget as one budget and not just two sub parts, what we'll do today is assuming we get to it today or we'll do it tomorrow morning. Is that a the primary motion that we will have on the budget will be a motion. And I'll lay it out. A motion to adopt as the 2025 2026 budget of the city of Austin. The city manager's budget proposal is filed by the city manager on July 11th, 2025, and is presented to the mayor and city council by the city manager at the July 15th, 2025 city council meeting. With the addition of the document labeled budget additions one. Budget additions, one will be the document that miss Lang is getting ready that has been [1:06:25 PM] getting ready that has been disseminated to all of our offices, and that is now in the backup for the public to see. And that miss Lang is getting ready to tell us a little bit about that will be budget addition one. I anticipate there will be proposed amendments to budget addition one. I may be surprised, but I doubt it. And so what I'm asking everybody to do is please. And what we'll do is we'll take a brief break here in a second, a brief recess, so that we can all talk with our staffs. But as she lays this out, I think you'll you've probably already seen the way it's set up. So a budget amendment can be made. And if you'll look at last night's message board post, you will see proposals for the best way for us to get the budget amendments, if at least as they apply to budget addition one, which is this document, we're going to talk about ways to do that. So, [1:07:26 PM] talk about ways to do that. So, for example, as she walks, I'll just pull out a one. I'll just make up a line here. Well my ask her a question about that here in just a second, because I thought we were going to have lines on that. But why don't you make your presentation and then I'll ask you, okay. >> Thank you mayor. >> So we sent a. >> Memo out a few minutes ago. >> To. >> Talk through. >> The scenario, the. Final scenario or analysis of the scenarios that were presented by the various council members. And what. >> Staff did was look. >> At the areas where there. >> Was consensus. >> Of six or more council members. >> To. >> Include those items. >> Into the package that. >> Are the document that says budget additions. One. As we mentioned in the. >> Memo. [1:08:26 PM] >> Memo. >> These items have the areas that were agreed upon or apparently agreed upon by by the council members. And I guess let me start with, mayor, to speak to your question about. >> How to. >> Reference the item. >> I just realized what you'd done. So good. Okay. It's better. >> Okay. >> We have the reference number so you can say which ones you want to change. If there are any amendments or changes to those items. >> Can I say this back to you to make sure we're on the same page and everybody's on the same page. So if I'm gonna say it, I'm gonna say it the way I think it works. But please, please correct me. So, for example, I'm in the example I G yesterday, I thought there would be a line number, but the way they've done that is they've given the item a number. So for example, I moved to amend the way I would suggest that we do this is and I'm just going to start with the fur with the first homelessness and housing item, I moved to amend [1:09:28 PM] housing item, I moved to amend line homelessness and housing one. Of budget additions, one referring to. And then you'll see a description restore housing trust funds staff recommendation fy 27. Now they're they're looking at each other like they don't like that. Tell me tell me what you don't like about that so we can try to get I just want to get us to a routine. >> Correct. So there is a there are two documents that you all received. The one that you're reading from is the detailed document that shows all of the items, including the items that were not included in the consensus document, the budget addition. One document shows the summary of items that were agreed upon. [1:10:29 PM] agreed upon. >> All right. Good. >> And so that that will be, if what I assume would be the base part of the base motion. So you would be changing, for example, homeless and housing and homelessness. Seven with whatever the change you have to that item. >> All right everybody see that. Yeah. All right. The, the they have they've got an item that looks like this. That they're referring to as budget additions. One which is consistent with what we had talked about yesterday. Budget addition one has all of the items that would add up to what the total number and a 4.6 cent increase. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> So if you want to make a change to that specific line item, what you would do is you would make reference to that [1:11:30 PM] would make reference to that line item. Y'all play with the language that I put out because it makes it a little bit different, but it would be your written motion and the motion that will will take at the time we do the amendment will be I move to amend and then say housing and homelessness zero seven of budget additions, one referring to. And then please type out what the references to by replacing it with. And then you would put in whatever is the number or the, the language that you would want to do that make sense or close enough that we can maybe muddle through. The second would be just an amount change. I move to amend housing and homelessness. Oh seven of budget additions one referring to street outreach, and then put the language there by replacing [1:12:31 PM] the language there by replacing the amount of money in this item of $2 million with an amount equal to. And then you'd put whatever is the other number you'd want to do or something like that. Everybody got that. The third possibility is you would move to amend housing and homelessness. Seven of budget additions, one referring to and then make reference to that by removing the line item. If that's something you would want to do now. There are what that also means. Members is there are things you may want that aren't in budget edition number one, you may have proposed amendments that are not in budget edition one. The language that I would suggest you use that in the written documents, so that we'll have that in writing is that. I [1:13:31 PM] have that in writing is that. I move to amend budget additions one by adding and then put the name the name where it would go. Housing and homelessness, safety, you know, that sort of thing. And a description of it. And the number that way we will have that and can add that in. Does that make sense? Yes. Mayor pro tem. >> Yes, that makes sense, mayor. And I. >> Because I. >> Think what you're saying is. >> We'll just. >> Need to know for the amendments that are not. Listed on this budget edition one spreadsheet and not included in this budget edition, one amendment. And it's an addition. We would just need to know the category in which we want to add. >> It to, and, and we'll be able to figure that we'll all be able to do that generally. And when you lay out the when you lay out the proposed amendment, you'll [1:14:32 PM] the proposed amendment, you'll lay out where you think it ought to go. Okay. Very good. But I want to be very clear. So I'm gonna I'm gonna ask this question of miss Lang, what they have prepared for us to have as a target for proposed amendments. The document labeled fy 2025 2026 budget additions. One is what they have put together as somewhat of a consensus document. It leads to the numbers that they have at the bottom of this other page. And a, a revenue amount. And in terms of number of pennies to 5/100 of a penny at 4.60. But what that assures is that there. And that's exactly what we asked them to do. What that assures, though, is you all may have items that you want to add in, and therefore you'll need to make that as a motion, a motion that would add those numbers. [1:15:34 PM] that would add those numbers. And you need to try to have you need to have that in writing. Got it. Okay, miss Lang, I apologize. I'm interrupting you, but I'm trying to get us so that we can maybe be more efficient later today. >> That is fine. And so as we look at the document, I won't go through every single line item, but I just want to point out the major points that we discussed in the memo, primarily with the homeless strategy and operations plan. Most of the elements of the plan are included in the document. In the in the calculation, there is the emergency shelter capacity beyond fiscal year 26 that did not get the full funding of the plan, as in as as director as is seen in the in the document as well as the prevention, diversion and landlord agreement that did not have a full consensus of six or more. Then [1:16:35 PM] consensus of six or more. Then when you look at the housing trust fund, with the housing trust fund, there was additional revenue that was recognized through the certified tax roll. That $5.25 million that allowed for the up coming amendment of the funds for the marshaling yard to be moved to the general fund. This allowed for $5.25 million to be available in the housing trust fund. A staff amendment will come forward to appropriate 2 million of that to assist with funding, as well as the 12.4 4.5 million that is in the scenario to cover vouchers and the current programing in the housing trust fund. There were several conversations or several pieces of scenarios for emergency medical services and talking to the chief and staff on the programs and services that we believe are intended [1:17:36 PM] that we believe are intended with with your scenarios that we are including the collaborative care and mental health single response units, a bls unit in fiscal year 27, a basic life support unit in fiscal year 27 and 26 and 27, and for additional communication staff as well as command staff. And so the dollars that you see there are a mix of us understanding what your agreements or what your what your priorities were, as well as conversing with staff to make sure we had the appropriate dollar amount, the appropriate positions to support those programs. And then there are a few other items that we made adjustments to, including the public health core grants, the parkland maintenance staff that is based on working with staff on the number of positions needed and the full dollar amount for that for that program, as well as moving fire [1:18:36 PM] program, as well as moving fire overtime. There were a couple of different options for fire overtime that was listed. And so we looked at the $6 million and used it, moving that over to one time, and then the sidewalk maintenance that was included in the scenarios that is funded by the transportation user fee. And so that will require a amendment to the transportation and public works and the tough and it should not be in the general fund scenario. The final financial stability. Looking at that for the medium term with these scenarios, with this calculation, we are in policy, our financial policies, with our reserve funds, and we are balanced through fiscal year 29. >> Members. I'll ask if we have some quick questions. And then what I would suggest is that we recess until 150, so that the members of the council will have an opportunity to talk with their staff and prepare for [1:19:37 PM] their staff and prepare for later today. Commissioner, councilmember Ellis. >> You said, commissioner. >> I don't know why I said that. >> I had a question. >> About let me get to the spreadsheet, the. Environment and culture. >> Zero for the. >> Parkland maintenance. >> That you just referenced. >> That's part. >> Of. >> Reaching the gold standard. I wanted to make sure I think that should be parks and. >> Recreation maintenance. >> Just. So it's separate from. >> Park. >> Land maintenance. >> Which is more of. Help me with my. Words here. I know it's not even that late in the day, but I. >> Just wanted to make sure it was less about TRE trimming because I know there's some other pots of money we have to be able to accomplish. >> That, even though. >> That. >> Could be. >> A feasible use. >> But to make. >> Sure that it also. >> Was useful. >> To rec centers that were. >> Having maintenance requirements as well. >> Can you speak to that, or is that a non-substantive change? >> I think that's a non-substantive change because I believe parks and recreation has [1:20:38 PM] believe parks and recreation has grounds maintenance across their across their facilities and in parkland as well. And so those are primarily grounds maintenance positions. And with the number of positions that we're included, I believe the department will have the flexibility and understanding to move those in areas that's needed, whether it is parkland or if it is land around the recreation centers to support. >> Okay. And I know there was a presentation that has come. To the parks and recreation board as well, the climate and water committee. And so I'll just dig into that file if I can find it and just make sure everything's buttoned up before we make any final blessings. But thank you. >> Thanks. Councilmember. Mayor pro tem. >> Thank you. Colleagues. >> As we take a recess to review. >> City staff's alternative motion that is before us. I'd also like to draw your attention to an alternative that we would like to propose. I'm joined by councilmember Ryan alter, councilman Jose Velasquez, and councilmember chito vela. We have taken. The Terry scenario proposed by. Other colleagues on [1:21:38 PM] proposed by. Other colleagues on the dais, and we've added some modifications and additions in an effort to combine both of our proposals. And so we'd like to point your attention to the message board post. With this alternative motion, it would fully fund the zo plan. It includes 96% of the items in the August 11th five cent proposal. >> It also. >> Adds an additional 8.1 million to fy 26 of the cost of the five cent TRE, and contains a reserve balance of 17.46 percentage in fy 26. This is just another option for us to consider as a way to have an efficient way for. >> Us to. >> Have a kind of a shared, more consensus oriented TRE proposal. And so I wanted to draw your attention to get feedback from our colleagues here on the dais. >> Well, and I won't speak for everybody, but I think when that was offered up, there were members of another quorum that didn't want that to be the [1:22:40 PM] didn't want that to be the starting point. And so what we then did is put put it to our staff to come up with a starting point. And that's what they've done here. So that amendments to that would be what we would have as a target. Since there was diversity, if you will, among the starting points, I turn to councilmember Ellis, who I think posted on the message board, and council member Siegel, who also posted on the message board in response to that last night. Thank you. Do you want to say anything about that? >> Yeah. >> Just since I. >> It seems like there may be a different conversation about. >> A new proposal. >> That is separate. >> From the one that came. >> Around 9 P.M. Last night. So I. >> Just want to I feel. >> Like staff has had the ability to discuss with each of the sub quorums and all council members about what it is that their highest priorities are, and so I think it's easier for conversational procedure for us to be to work off of a document where someone has been [1:23:40 PM] document where someone has been able to figure out where there's consensus. Otherwise, we're bringing, you know, if I could say we should have ours be the base I'm sure you all would have an opinion about how easy that is to amend or not. >> And in effect, is your sub quorums proposal as the base motion. But it incorporates many of our priorities. It's items that we have looked at and considered in our thinking. We agree with many of the items in your proposal, so it combines both of the sub quorums, shared mutual interest as a way to consolidate. But you know, just consideration. As we're. >> In recess, just. >> Take a look at it. Let us know what you think. We certainly are open to modification. >> Let's do that. >> I haven't been able. >> To look. >> At it. I must admit, I didn't know that that had happened. When did it get posted? >> Just 30 minutes ago. >> Oh well, that's why I didn't know it happened. I've been sitting here. Okay. And what we, I thought we had worked out was that staff would spend this large amount of time today getting us to this point, not to then have a new proposal come in, but everybody look at it and we'll come back. Do you want to [1:24:42 PM] we'll come back. Do you want to add anything? No. Okay. Members with that. What I'm going to do is it's 124. So what let's what let's do let's say is let's recess until I'm sorry. Let's recess until 2:00. And if there's without objection, the Austin city council is in recess until 2:00, at which point we will come and take up item number six for public comment. It is 124 on August 13th. Good afternoon everybody. It's [2:00:26 PM] Good afternoon everybody. It's 2:00 on Wednesday, August 13th, 2025, and I'll call back to order the Austin city council after a brief recess. Members, what I would suggest we do and a couple of you have suggested part of this, but the first suggestion I've got is when you look at what is now labeled. It's now labeled as budget addition one, the item prepared by staff as you as you and your staff prepare proposed amendments to that. When you think you have the amendment in pretty good shape, it would be great if you would go ahead and post that and make it available to our financial staff because I'm guessing, again, I could be wrong. It would be the first time today, but it could happen that what will occur is that somebody will have conflicting or overlapping amendments to [2:01:28 PM] or overlapping amendments to something, and this would allow them to pull those aside so that when we start calling up amendments, I'll know those in advance and might be able to better coordinate it. So go ahead and post it as a as an amendment and go ahead and get it to the financial staff so that they can help help us in organizing that. The second thing I would say, and by the way, you're making the amendment to budget addition one. The second thing I'll indicate is that when I don't know when we'll finish the public comment on all the other items, but when we finish the public comment on all the other items, the recommendation is that we take a brief recess at that point as well, which will allow for people to get back with their staff or sub quorums to get together. But we'll we'll take a brief break and maybe even eat [2:02:29 PM] brief break and maybe even eat supper, depending upon what time it is. But so just anticipate that that might happen, not might happen. That will happen as we get a little bit closer to that. Okay. With that, I'll turn to the city clerk and ask the city clerk to start us off on item number six. >> Thank you, mayor, for item six. I have Walter morrow, Sophia Barbato, Sharon Blythe. >> Or any of those people here. Doesn't look like it. >> Okay, let me go to item seven. Walter morrow, Sophia Barbato, Sharon Blythe. >> I don't think they got here in between 6 and 7. >> Same for item eight. Walter morrow, Sophia Barbato, and Sharon Blythe. Okay, moving on to item nine, and I might have remote. Monica Guzman. Walter [2:03:29 PM] remote. Monica Guzman. Walter morrow, Sophia Barbato. Adrian Macias, Valerie Menard, Pedro Hernandez, junior. Noé. Elias, Sharon Blythe, Doris Adams, Brad Massingill, robin Schneider, Chris Paige. >> Mr. Paige, do you wish to say anything? >> And Jeffrey Bowen. >> Mr. Bowen, if you'll come forward to. >> Okay. I guess I the main [2:04:40 PM] >> Okay. I guess I the main attraction at this point in the game. So Jeffrey Bowen, district eight, in regards to item nine, ratifying the property tax increase reflected in the budget. To me, this is really about the entire property tax increase, even the proposed tax increase. And I would like to. Which brings me right to the TRE. I need to read in for the record that I'm a registered mayor, Watson and council members. I'm a registered voter and property owner in the city of Austin. I have reviewed the ballot language, which is according with this ratification and proposed on the agenda item number ten, which is next, particularly the language about the purpose of the tax increase. This ballot language misleads voters in several ways, and I hereby present you with this demand that you comply with the applicable laws to adopt appropriate and honest ballot [2:05:41 PM] appropriate and honest ballot language that is definite and certain. Most importantly, your your proposed ballot language gives the voters the wrong impression that this tax increase is a fund only expenditures in the fiscal year 2025 2026 budget, as approved or amended by the city council, when in fact this tax increase will continue automatically in the subsequent years, perhaps forever. The ballot. This ballot should explicitly say the tax increase will continue for future fiscal years, and likely increasing the amount in future years, so voters can fully understand the measures long term financial impact. The legislature adopted legislation with over two thirds vote in both legislative chambers, requiring ballots for tax rate elections to be put on the top of the proposition. The words this is a tax increase. Your proposed language violates the [2:06:41 PM] proposed language violates the law by putting that language before the proposition, not inside or at the top of the proposition. Thank you. >> Paige Chris Paige I oppose the ratification because I oppose the process by which the budget was defined. I've mentioned several of the facts leading to that position previously. One that I didn't get to was the use of hotel occupancy tax and how it's been collected. So, for example, in 2023, there were $223 million in hotel occupancy tax collected. You can spend 15% of that on arts and preservation that's authorized by statute. All it has to do is meet the secondary test of proving that it puts heads in beds for hotels. But now that you have arbitrarily described homes and neighborhoods, str specifically as many unstaffed hotels, I'm curious and kind of puzzled as to why none of the hotel [2:07:42 PM] to why none of the hotel occupancy tax can be spent in neighborhoods on preservation in the arts. Additionally, there's 13 years of uncollected back taxes, which the state has a mutual interest in seeing collected. You should be working with the state comptroller and seeing that that happens. And the relevance to the budget here is that if you have that hotel occupancy tax, the additional uncollected hotel occupancy tax available for the arts and for preservation, then you would free up general funds and the other portions of the budget. I'm sure that you would find more than 30 or 35 million, whatever it is that you're short this year. And I also don't find any the projected, I guess, economic measures from 2027 on to 20 2030 to be accurate in the forecast, you know, that you guys use to define the scope or the scale of the TRE. It's just a blanket 600 million growth in [2:08:42 PM] a blanket 600 million growth in revenue every year. But you guys don't have a crystal ball. Nobody knows what's going to be happening in 2030. So we should minimize the TRE. We should, you know, ratify the rate. That's something that people can afford and that drives up unaffordability. >> Thank you sir. >> Moving on to item ten brydan Summers, Monica Guzman. Is Monica here? Okay, I don't see her yet. Walter morrow, Sophia Barbato, Savannah Lee, Savannah, are you here? You have time donated by robin Schneider. Robin, are you here? >> I don't see her. >> Okay, then Savannah will have two minutes. Adrian Macias, Valerie Menard, Pedro Hernandez, junior. >> Hey, all. My name is Savannah Lee. I'm a resident of district [2:09:44 PM] Lee. I'm a resident of district one, and I'm here with equity action supporting the community investment budget and a TRE. I know we've all been here for weeks parsing out the numbers and the needs of our communities, and I know we're coming to the end of that process. So I wanted to take this time to discuss what we have to lose if we don't fully fund seb priorities, and why Austin has to be the place that stands strong in the face of authoritarianism. This week, Donald Trump, while referencing our nation's capital, declared that the homeless have to move out immediately. This comes after millions of dollars in cuts to federal programing regarding eviction prevention programs, rapid rehousing and more. In short, the federal government has removed nearly all resources for unhoused folks and then deployed the national Guard to make them leave. I've made the case here that Austin must be the place to create a financial stopgap for this crisis, but I want to take today to share that we must also be an ideological pillar to stand in the face of a compassionless, cruel and fascist government. Austin can be the place that does not accept a militarized police force snatching folks off the street and instead put them [2:10:45 PM] the street and instead put them in homes. Austin can be the place that does not accept watching as folks experience overdose, while criminalizing people who use drugs, and instead provides harm reduction services that save lives, Austin can be the place that refuses to accept the idea that families who need help to pay rent or utilities are a drain on the system, and are instead people who need a hand up in the darkest moments of their lives. We don't have to stand by and watch as authoritarian authoritarianism overtakes us. In fact, it's a moral imperative that we don't. The first election I was ever able to vote in was in 2016, and since then there have been lots of moments of alarm bells ringing, a lot of warnings that if we weren't careful, we'd lose our rights while all of our supports were stripped from us and we were left destitute. Even I at first was careful with this way of thinking. Because I'm a social worker, I'm wired for hopes. But here we are. It's time this budget in full, not separated into three priorities in the base budget, can be our way of saying that this is unacceptable, that we protect our people. Thank you. >> Continuing on with item ten. [2:11:48 PM] >> Continuing on with item ten. No. Elias. Mel leblanc. Sharon. Blythe. Sharon, are you here? >> I did not see her. >> Okay. Jay. Kennedy. Carrie. Stan. Stan! El Cara, are you here? Okay. You said you don't want to speak. Okay. >> Thank you very much. Please go ahead. >> Okay. Good afternoon. Council. My name is Mel blanc. I'm a resident of district one, and I'm here today representing vocal Texas. In the past two weeks, you've heard from many of our members and from the community investment budget coalition. I hope you remember everybody's stories today as you make these difficult decisions. I want to start by saying, I wish we did not have to have the TRE election. Yes, we can blame the state and federal government for some of this, but the city bears responsibility to because of poor financial choices like an overinflated police budget. We are now forced as taxpayers to make a choice on whether to fund housing and services or to go without them. We have been [2:12:49 PM] go without them. We have been calling for a seven cent tax rate election. We understand that there are now proposals landing at $0.05, but the proposals don't include everything our community desperately needs. We are especially concerned about the funding to replenish the housing trust fund and the housing voucher program, and the 5% proposals. While one of the proposals gets closer to where we need, none of the proposals go far enough to fully fund housing needs that ensure we address homelessness through prevention, permanent supportive housing and family stabilization grants and more. We're also deeply concerned with the 7% cut to the police oversight office. The trump administration just released an executive order that promotes arresting and arrests and institutionalization of homelessness. What's happening in D.C. Right now is unfathomable. And if history are, the history of violence in our in our country doesn't sway you enough to stop these cuts, then consider where our country is going. We need pathways to make sure there is oversight in Austin of police and honestly, everywhere in our country. And the last few weeks, you've heard [2:13:50 PM] the last few weeks, you've heard directly from impacted people, from vocal and other places and services that are already facing millions of cuts, while programs like medicaid, snap and other programs are being slashed. So some of you have said that the city can't fill every gap. But the reality is that we need to try and we need to be creative. Also, the housing department needs to. The road to expansion needs to be considered. Thank you. >> Thank you, miss Guzman. >> Good afternoon. I'm Monica Guzman, policy director of Garza. Go, Austin. Austin. >> Monica, just one second. You did have some time donated. I just want to see if Roy Whaley and Doris Adams are here. >> Roy Whaley is there. >> Okay. And Doris. >> Nash, I know she's not okay. Had to leave already. >> Have four minutes, miss Guzman. >> Thank you. Okay. I can breathe a little. Yes. So again, Monica Guzman, policy director of Garza. Go, Austin. Vamos. Austin. As I said already earlier, you know, we understand the need for, you know, possible [2:14:51 PM] the need for, you know, possible need for a tax rate election. And if there is one, hopefully it's not much beyond the 3.5 that y'all are allowed to do. But regardless of what it is, again, prioritize the basic needs. The critical needs. While we do need our uniformed, excuse me, sworn officers, the police department is not equipped or trained to handle a lot of things that they get called for, unfortunately. But the community health paramedics and ems, they can respond to non-emergency calls. They are trained to respond to calls regarding the homeless. I personally did a ride along with one of them last year and can see what a difference they make, making sure that ambulances are available for those emergency calls instead of an ambulance being tied up with going to someone's home to help them change their oxygen tank, or open a bottle of medicine. Invest in the chippers, I [2:15:52 PM] Invest in the chippers, I believe, is how they they refer to themselves when I did the ride along. Invest in the fire department. We need the four on the engine, especially in the densified areas is in district four, the northern end. The rundberg area. We have plenty. And it's not just commercial apartments. We have duplexes, fourplexes one unit on fire. You have multiple units and lives at risk. Please maintain the four on the engine. It is really needed. And again you know, prioritize the immigration, legal services and mental health services as well. With the current political climate. Washington, DC clawing back money, we need to make sure there are resources for the immigrant families, for the people experiencing homelessness. Yesterday, the north Austin target shooting that is within walking distance of my home, less than a quarter of a mile away. It is unfortunate of people who were [2:16:54 PM] unfortunate of people who were injured, people who were killed, especially a four year old. And that means not just one system. Multiple systems failed. Everybody. The person who was responsible for it has a history. And while the police were called, they respond to it after the fact, invest in the services to address people like that. Make sure they have mental health services, facilities, whatever is needed. So it's one less person on the street who puts everybody else at risk. And the also the family stabilization grant. Like I said, it's hard keeping up with how y'all are, having to juggle the trees again. That makes a world of difference, because people who don't get that, especially if it's not funded again, you will have more people seeking assistance, whether it's through a food pantry or the emergency rental assistance, and there's not enough to go around. [2:17:55 PM] there's not enough to go around. Those are safety net programs that are needed. But the family stabilization grant provides economic support. It allows them to make adjustments as needed, get caught up on rent, buy their groceries, pay for their medical supplies, their medication. I remember last year at this point, one of those residents was in an interview, I believe, with mayor pro tem Fuentes, talking about what a difference it made for her because she was able to address health issues. Those are the real differences. So please prioritize those most in need, those with critical needs, the ones that are police, firefighters and ems are not trained to handle. >> Thank you, miss Blythe. >> I'm Sharon Blythe, I'm in district six. >> I'm sorry for interrupting, but you also have time donated by Susan. She's here four minutes. >> Thank you. Okay. A little bit of my background. When I was 42 [2:18:57 PM] of my background. When I was 42 years old, I lost my husband to cancer. I had a 15 year old and a 12 year old child. I raised those children through high school, through college. Never asked for $1 of public assistance. I made it. A lot of these other folks can make it too, if they really put their minds to it. There are there are reasons why they're not doing it, but I think it's a lot of it is because of not trying. And I'm kind of offended that you're going to try to raise my taxes through this. Tra when I can't really afford my house right now. And you all are taking that 4% raise yourselves. That's that's ludicrous. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Have one question, though. We don't know what y'all are doing today because you're just all of a sudden just started changing things up. We have never had an [2:19:57 PM] things up. We have never had an opportunity to review what you're changing, but what percentage of increase are you proposing over the no new revenue tax? What is it? What are you going to. The way I read the posting, you're going to go to 7 or 8% above what we're paying now. And I'd just like to know I know your faces are just blank here, but I would like to know, to answer that question, that you know the answer to that question. Where are you headed? We don't know from this. All of a sudden, this meeting that we've never even seen the data, we've never had an opportunity to review it. And that is not open government. That is that is not transparency. And maybe you did it behind closed doors. I don't know, but the public sure doesn't know it. So I like an answer to that right now. Anybody can answer me that, ma'am. >> Tonight we will hopefully tonight. Maybe it'll be [2:20:58 PM] tonight. Maybe it'll be tomorrow. We will vote on a specific motion where we're required to put exactly the answer to your question into that right now. We don't have that. We don't even have a motion out there on what that would be, but that we will be required to have a motion that has that specific amount and will be required to vote on it by a roll call, vote. >> Before the public has an opportunity to even even analyze it or or. >> That's what we've been that's what we've been doing for some time now, S, is working through different aspects of that budget. >> Yeah. But you're you're talking like everybody understands what you're doing. They don't it's hard to know what you're doing if you're not writing it down on a message board or whatever. I know you put out a spreadsheet today that I was trying to review and follow Kerri Lang, but I couldn't even follow her her her jogging, jogging about it. And you all just seem to know that you think that people understand it. In my city council person sitting there Krista Laine just [2:22:00 PM] sitting there Krista Laine just not asking any questions, not even addressing me as her constituent. And that's shameful. Krista that's shameful. Thank you very much. I'll look forward to your answer, but it's going to be way too late. >> Continuing on, Brad Massengill, Peter hunt bensouda. Kimberly Levinson, Chris Paige. Guatimac. Torin. >> Afternoon council members. My name is Peter hunt. I'm a resident of district ten. Thank you for the opportunity to speak this afternoon. I want to start by first thanking council member Siegel for bringing the amendment, the budget, the revenue neutral amendment regarding the allocation of funds for booking in the interlocal agreement, and also to council members vela alter [2:23:00 PM] to council members vela alter qadri and mayor pro tem Fuentes for supporting this amendment. We think this is just good sort of fiscal policy. It's not adding or taking any money from the budget, it's just moving it to a place that's more sensible. In the case of this particular amendment, that would be toward general funds and non-departmental allocations, and I would encourage all other council members to support this amendment as well, regardless of how the TRE ends up. I also wanted to say that I was pleased to see various of these initial budgets, these proposals listing more funding for the office of police oversight. In the last couple of weeks, I've been volunteering at the state legislature, trying to advocate at the state level for more support for that sort of initiative. And I think it's important that the good work that the city has already done to ensure transparency and accountability for police officers here in the city does not get eroded by further budget cuts. So seeing the funding remain for those apo positions is a good thing and I'm pretty happy about it. I also just wanted to mention scenes for [2:24:01 PM] wanted to mention scenes for speaking on item ten that I had some concerns just about how, at least for this agenda item, the language of the proposal was framed. I think in keeping with what this council has admirably done to try to advocate for a sort of one budget framework, it's important that any language that gets put on the ballot or put forward about this TRE is fairly representative of the proportionality of the budget that is getting funded and does not seek to pick out pick out specific items as sort of exceptional or going to be funded necessarily by a TRE, but that the language encompasses the entire budget. Thank you very much. >> Hello. My name is Ben suddaby, resident of district four, proud member of the union. But speaking on behalf of myself and as a proud member of afscme 1624 I talk to a lot of people who work with administration of the elections, right. And also people who work at the city forecasting forward. And sometimes, you know, it's years and years ahead. And one thing that I wanted to highlight, and [2:25:02 PM] that I wanted to highlight, and since we're talking on item ten, is that cadence, I know that the state has put us in this bad spot and that we have to go to the to the voters for something that previously would have been just within the authority of a council running the business of, of a city. And if we think about the cadence, how often are we going to be going to the voters for this? I want you to think about that when you're setting the tax rate today, don't don't lowball it and put us back here in just a couple short years. Right? I think in a way that lets us establish a rate that will put us on good, solid footing and not have to go through this exercise in, in a short time. I think the cadence that has been talked about has been for years. With the decision you'll be making today, hopefully today, maybe tomorrow, the rate that you set, we're talking about people's jobs. [2:26:03 PM] talking about people's jobs. We're talking about essential services. And you'll hear a lot of people today. And, you know, in the later on today talking about essential things they want funded. I also ask those people to think about what what are they willing to cut for people who are completely against the concept of taxation? Those folks, I really want them to dwell on what what services that are provided by the hardworking people of the city of Austin. What services are going to cut? It's going to be your library. It's going to be the clinic down in the neighborhood. >> Chris Paige. I think it's crucial that the city be truly incentivized to be more productive with its dollars, and not in some kind of weird doge way. I'm totally against that. You know, hack and slash. But you have $1.5 billion that you're budgeting this year, $1.5 [2:27:05 PM] you're budgeting this year, $1.5 billion. That's $100 million more than last year. We didn't expect arpa funds years ago. We just got them. And frankly, that was $188 million that we were not expecting. And we outperformed almost every peer economy, you know, peer in terms of scale. We should not be pushing this up for something that guarantees for years we're going to be flush. We should push it up for the minimum amount of time, so that we truly incentivize our city to be productive with our tax dollars, and to ensure that our employees are paid, that the homeless are housed, housed, that our city services are adequate, that our infrastructure is robust, all of those things. But with $1.5 billion, I think we could have done that this year. We shouldn't be moving for this TRE. And sb two is not a surprise to us. That was passed [2:28:09 PM] surprise to us. That was passed years ago, years ago, and I've heard it specifically described by people, you know, frankly, manager Broadnax described us as spending as though we were on a sugar high. And that's true. It's absolutely true. And simultaneously, I will tell you from the ground, every resident is less satisfied. I've seen almost every resident grow greatly less satisfied in recent years as our budget has ballooned. We need to incentivize better city operations. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I have a remote caller for item ten, a tia Johnson. >> Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Paige Johnson. I'm here on behalf of the Austin area urban league. The city budget is more than numbers. It's a statement of our values. And Austin and Austin has a responsibility to care for its most vulnerable residents. Federal cuts, the loss of arpa funds and costly [2:29:10 PM] loss of arpa funds and costly decisions like police contracts have left a budget that squeezes essential community services while locking in millions for law enforcement. As Texas experiences rising rates of homelessness and increasing severe weather events, consistent, inclusive and life saving shelter. While inclement weather shelters are critical stop Gates, they are often overwhelmed and inconsistent, and availability and quality. Many operate under differing policies and standards, leading to inequitable treatment and service provisions for vulnerable populations. We need a budget that invests in the true backbone of public safety, housing, health care, climate resilience and community care, which would mean fully restoring social service contracts, the housing trust fund, immigration legal services funding, inclement weather shelters, homelessness services, and flood prevention and protecting transparency by keeping police oversight strong and refusing to move court funding. Under APD, the police contract should not come to the expense of equality [2:30:11 PM] come to the expense of equality and public safety, and we urge you to make binding commitment that no additional funds beyond the contract would go to APD, and that every available dollar be directed toward urgent community needs. Invest in people first. Austin has positioned itself as a sanctuary city, meaning it protects every resident, especially those most vulnerable to climate disasters, displacement, and systemic inequities. We cannot let this budget walk back the progress our communities have fought for. Please build a budget that reflects the values of our people, are served, and go to the voters if needed to fund it. Thank you. >> Moving on to item 11, Walter Monroe, Sophia Barbato, Sharon Blythe. >> Miss Blythe, you want to talk on this one? All right. She's saying no. >> Okay. Moving on to item 12. Walter Monroe, Sophia Barbato, Sharon Blythe, and Jeffrey Bowen. >> Miss Blythe, Mr. Bowen, you [2:31:12 PM] >> Miss Blythe, Mr. Bowen, you want to speak? Mr. Bowen is coming forward, miss Blythe, in case she doesn't want to. >> Jeffrey Bowen I live in district eight. In regards to item 12. Manager to develop a public dashboard to report on performance of services providers contracted to achieve homeless strategy office plan. Thank you. The question I have for this is why haven't we done this earlier? There's been a cry from the community for years about the amount of money being spent on homelessness without any anything to really show for that. So the questions I have are basically what are, what are how are these defined, who defined these, who are going to define these these policies, these policies, this performance [2:32:12 PM] these policies, this performance of service? And what are the consequences of not achieving this performance? We should be on a performance base. That's what's expected of us as as employees. That's what I expect of my subcontractors. This is what I expect you to do for what you're being paid to do. If you do not do that, then you will be you will not get those that money for that until it's corrected. Again. Are the is the funding connected to this performance? Why now? And also it must be have transparency and accountability. There's been so much lack of transparency N this entire homeless situation. When we look at our when we look at our green belts and how much environmental damage and the safety aspect of it, when we continue to pour millions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cleanups, only to come back and have to do this [2:33:14 PM] come back and have to do this again, this needs to be done. And I appreciate the fact that this is finally coming forward, but it should have come forward a long time ago. But there needs to be some teeth in it, and people need to be held accountable, especially those that are paying. We thank you. >> Thank you. Mr. Bronin. Are you going to want to speak on item 13 as well? >> No, sir. I don't think it's on my list. >> All right. >> Okay. Item 13. We do have you, Mr. >> Bowen, have you listed? >> But you don't have to speak. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Oh that's fine. >> Never let it be said I forced you to. >> No, never. Never let it be said that I didn't pass up. An opportunity. >> You go. >> Okay, as some of y'all may know, this one here. Item 13, this is Jeffrey Bowen again. District eight, establish a park maintenance fund by special fees. Wow. It's about damn time. It's. It's really been amazing [2:34:15 PM] It's. It's really been amazing to me, living here for 35 years and watching how the lack of maintenance has all of a sudden become a giant, a giant issue for us. We have not been maintaining our parks yet. There's still that cry for we need more parks, yet we can't maintain what we have. You're looking at a maintenance fee for the special events. I, I just, I constantly look at this and go, this is no different than going and renting a trailer at home Depot. If acl is renting our park, they should be paying for that use of our park. That money is, as far as I'm concerned, should go back into that park, not back into the general fund or even into a category for that. But it needs to be done in an equitable fashion for those smaller venues that are using that. Again, this will tie back into the next one about parks. But the thing about it is who's responsible, what's the performance evaluations, how who's going to set all this up? [2:35:16 PM] who's going to set all this up? Those need to be critically evaluated so that the public can look at that, because we have lost trust in the entire system. I lost trust in the park system a long time ago when they said that we needed all this money, and yet we can't maintain what we have. So there's actually there has been a disconnect in the entire process. This is not rocket science by any stretch of the imagination. This is nothing but good business, and this is the way it needs to be treated as good business. Thank you sir. >> Thank you. >> Other speakers for item 13 is Walter Monroe, Sophia Barbato, and Sharon Blythe. >> Miss Blythe, I'm going to assume if you don't stand up that you're not going to speak. All right. >> Item 14 Walter Monroe, Sophia Barbato, Sharon Blythe, Patricia Nunez, Guatemala. Turin. [2:36:16 PM] Nunez, Guatemala. Turin. >> Thank you for coming forward. If your name's been called, please come forward. Please. >> Good afternoon. Buenas tardes. Members of the council. My name is Patricia Nunez. I'm here first to thank you for your support of our academic cuauhtli organization, which is housed under the Emma Barrientos Mexican American center as a bilingual Spanish English public school teacher and an advocate for over 30 years, I can speak to the unique programing academia cuauhtli offers our youth. Unlike other educational programs, academia cuauhtli steam program, which is science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, focuses on mesoamerican knowledge systems [2:37:18 PM] mesoamerican knowledge systems which are traditionally not taught in our schools. As an example, I present to you the Nepa Watson, which is this. This is a mayan abacus system whose name means counting to transcend. This instrument offers students a highly effective kinesthetic instrument that can be used to add, subtract, divide, and multiply into the billions. It has all calculating functions, including the square root. Introducing the nepo at our summer program was made possible through the collaboration of academia with other institutes, such as the indigenous culture institute in San Marcos and higher education institutions in San Antonio and Austin. I share this to highlight our goal to expand what is learned and create what is a value and priority in our program. Our [2:38:20 PM] priority in our program. Our programing also includes the teaching of the Danza mexica, led by one of our respected abuelas in the community. I just want to thank and share that academia is a place where there's intergenerational learning and learning that is based on the land that we work and play in. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate you being here. >> Thank you. >> On to item 15, Walter Monroe, Sophia Barbato, Sharon Blythe. Item 16 Walter Monroe, Sophia Barbato, Sharon Blythe, Jeffrey Bowen. And Zenobia Joseph. >> Starting to feel like Zenobia now running up and down here. So [2:39:20 PM] now running up and down here. So Jeffrey. Bowen yeah. Jeffrey Bowen, district eight item 16 fee dedicated to maintaining parks. Feasibility of creating these park districts. Let's call it what it actually is. It's a tax. Plain simple. If it's a fee that you're going to put on our water bills and our electricity bills, call it what it is. It is nothing but a tax. What about those of us that don't use the parks? I can't use my district park because we have so many break ins over there at dick Nichols that I'm afraid to even go over there and try to use the pool. So it is a tax. Call it what it is. Let's be transparent about this again. The parks have been so far behind in maintenance, whether it's mismanagement, which is what I'm going to assume it is, or just based upon the fact that they're just not doing a very good job. Look at your neighbor, your old neighborhood parks. One of the criteria is for the neighborhood parks is what, within a ten minute walk? Not even close. In [2:40:22 PM] minute walk? Not even close. In my neighborhood, a lot of neighborhoods around this town not even close. So it really needs to be called out and be transparent. That's all we're asking for is transparency and accountability. If that can't be handled, then I guess we just need to just figure out something else. Thank you sir. >> Thank you, miss Joseph. >> Thank you mayor. Council. I'm Zenobia Joseph. I didn't realize I was registered for this item, but I can speak to parks since you called me up specifically. I just want to remind you that I, Gus Garcia, our senior citizens, have waited over 33 years for a senior center. And so I've asked that there be at least two portables placed there. And the director told me there's $450,000 for a portable. I would ask you to, as I said in the audit and finance committee, to collaborate with Austin [2:41:22 PM] collaborate with Austin independent school district and actually put one of those portables over at Gus Garcia as it relates to the ten minute walk, I just want to remind you that at metropolitan park, walnut metropolitan park, which is on north Lamar, you can't get from the housing authority of the city of Austin property, you can't get there from not your ordinary school. There's 1727 students at not your ordinary school, according to the Texas academic performance report 2023 to 2024. Therefore, I would ask you, as I've said before, as it relates to sidewalks, we need you to fund the sidewalks that are already in the budget. I need you to fund the sidewalks that are already in the bonds, and I want you to recognize that there's a need to actually pause some of these projects that are in your infrastructure report, because it does not look at vision zero data there are over. Oh, well, I should say there are only four fatalities on burnet road, but over 380 or so [2:42:24 PM] road, but over 380 or so incidents on north Lamar. But yet north Lamar although it was number one. And I see you looking at the time mayor, although it was number one it wasn't wasn't it wasn't funded. And so respectfully, I would ask you to recognize the number of fatalities that have occurred. And there were and to look at the may 15th, 2020 data that is posted by txdot. If you have any questions, I'll gladly answer them at this time. >> Thank you, miss Joseph. >> You're welcome. >> Moving on to item 17, Andy Brower, Lynn Williams, Walter Monroe, Sophia Barbato, will Hyatt, Sharon Blythe, Marc Filley, Jay Popham, Charles rey Guidry. >> Welcome. >> Hi, y'all. Marc philly. I'm a resident of district eight in the far northwest. Good morning or afternoon. One of the things [2:43:26 PM] or afternoon. One of the things that, you know, a lot of people talk about safety. And in general, if you don't experience like homelessness, when you see it, you often don't feel safe. And so that's one of the reasons why I want to support this, this item 17 on the agenda for. Helping folks with homelessness in in related to it. One thing I learned just I think last year there's a play something called there's a place out east called Austin community village. I didn't even know it was here. I've been here for 25 years. But like the things that I've talked with in people in my life that have experienced some level of displacement, whether it's, you know, from them not receiving city services or they have to leave a bad family situation or, you know, other like loss of their, their primary residence, that getting back on their feet is really difficult. So I'm fully in support of doing these types of like, excuse me, these [2:44:26 PM] types of like, excuse me, these types of items for the, the, the homeless population. And I know it's a bit of an extra thing, but yeah, it it helps them and also helps the general community around them feel, you know, like safer because like, you know, I don't know if any of y'all have been camping, but if you've been even just when you intend to be camping for like three days, then after you like, yeah, I need to get back to, like, civilization. So I'm sure there's a bunch of them folks that don't intend to be on the street, but just like a little bit of help. So thank you all. >> Thank you, miss Blythe. Why don't you go next? >> Sharon Blythe, the district six, I guess I want to ask a question. How much is too much? You continue continue to continue to buy hotels, accommodate these homeless people. There's other people in the city besides the homeless. And I don't think you all even realize that. Maybe I'll be homeless one day. But I don't [2:45:28 PM] homeless one day. But I don't understand why you continue to add on, add on and on funds for homeless situation that you can't get a handle on. It's not getting any better. It's getting worse. You're inviting people to come to the city. When you say, we're going to give you a house, we're going to support you, we're going to feed you, we're going to support you. We're going to give you a house. Come on over to Austin. Let's bankrupt the city for all this. You all need to really think about that. It's what is enough is enough. 100. And what is it, 110 million plus you're doing this year? Just just realize what you're doing to the citizens. And it's you need, you know, it's not getting any better. You got lots of people coming up here wanting, oh, more homeless, more homeless, get more housing for the homeless, more housing. And you're you're ruining the neighborhoods. You're ruining the city by doing that. Thank you. >> I mayor, council members. [2:46:29 PM] >> I mayor, council members. Mayor pro tem Fuentes, thank you so much for the opportunity to speak today on this issue of providing additional emergency homelessness shelter for families experiencing homelessness here in Austin. I see that the resolution is written, authorizes a minimum of 50 shelter spots to be made available to these families. While the whereases of the resolution acknowledge that there are 1944 such families here in Austin currently, I think that we need to take that seriously. We've heard a lot today about the notion of family budget, right? Or, you know, running a city like a household. You know, this speaks to me as a socialist, because a lot of times people ask me like, well, you know, where do you get these ideas? And you know me, I have no problem saying these are family values. I come from a big family. We all take care of each other. This was never a question. If you needed to eat, if you needed money for education, you would come to the family and we would take care of that. So those are the important [2:47:30 PM] that. So those are the important things that we need to survive. A roof over our head is food and is education. I think that the things we're going to talk about today are all fundamentally a matter of care. And this notion of us being in a family, you know, I said, I've got a real big family. My mom's one of eight. I'm one of nearly a million people here in Austin. So I think that with that number of folks, we can share these burdens to continue, you know, just to just to live every, every life is an entire world contained within it. A family is, of course, an entire universe. Right. So let's please put a roof over their family's heads. Let's take care of our neighbors here in Austin. Let's take care of our family. Thank you. >> Sir, could you just state your name, please? >> Of course. Jay Popham, district two. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. I'm Andy Brower, and I'm with central presbyterian church and also [2:48:31 PM] presbyterian church and also representing the homeless advocacy project. Thank you very much to council member Laine. And for all the council members that signed on for this resolution today. As the last speaker said, this is a really critical issue facing our city today, and I know resources are scarce, but we can probably all agree we want to take care of our highest risk people, which are our kids. And this this problem has been increasing over recent years. I was here a few weeks ago. We talked about the 1945 families, and that is 27% of all homeless people are unsheltered families. So you know it. It should different when you're a provider and you have messages coming in. You know, I've got we just heard one Monday, a survivor of domestic violence living in Austin with her 18 year old daughter, a provider desperately asking where they can go because the safe alliance in the eighth street shelter have waiting lists. So I'm sure it's hard to imagine what it would be like to [2:49:33 PM] imagine what it would be like to get a call or an email from a desperate mother with a child that's sleeping in a car, in a tent, or in another safe, another safe place, and to have to tell her we have nowhere to go. And that's what's happening now, is providers don't even know what to tell families anymore. So despite the shortfall and the difficulty, I'm hoping this can be a priority. I have been working in homeless services since 2018, and we have had plans to end youth homelessness and veterans homelessness, but we've had no specific focus on families. I hope that we can step up as a community. I just submitted a one pager on the resolution and why it makes good sense policy sense to pass it, but also an op Ed written by me and Melinda Cantu from safe. Melinda has been working in family shelter for over 25 years, and she kind of talks about the perspective there from a provider. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Shalom will Hyatt with house [2:50:37 PM] >> Shalom will Hyatt with house Sorg, president of that organization. Thank you, mayor and council, for all that you have been doing to help see that affordable housing is on the rise. We're backing this church proposal for amendment 17 and really firmly believing that taking care of these families should be the top priority, that women and children and the community will back this kind of thing. We need a template here that can be emulated by others, just like community first village, which is a stellar organization, and they're contemplating in their phase four. Not decided yet in any way, but they're contemplating doing something like this. So let's get the churches together. And this church right here will bring volunteer army, bring volunteer army. And that army can also bring in resources and funds. Let's show something that's successful from the downtown area as well. The family shelter thing is a must. It has to be done. I'm believing for that, claiming it, and suggesting you all take it into [2:51:38 PM] suggesting you all take it into prayer and believe for it too. Because everyone wants to help these families and we need to get something started with the churches, which can then be emulated not only in the state, in the country, but around the world, because homelessness is on the rise. We've been serving now in Kerr county. There's a whole new face to homelessness, and that community is getting together, and those funds are coming from philanthropic forces. And those forces will recognize a program that works, and then that can be emulated and used in other churches where they're perfectly located, to do some of these things. So let's show them with this one that this can be done, and let's get it done. For the divine ecumenical approach uniting the churches, ecumenical and all inclusive. So everyone would want to get involved with this. It's something that should be inspired. This city is a beacon of light and a city on the hill. Let's get it done. In Jesus name, amen. >> Amen. Thank you. >> Continuing on, Peter Kim. Ben zohaib, Victoria Salinas, Steven [2:52:41 PM] zohaib, Victoria Salinas, Steven potter. >> If you're going to speak, please come forward. >> Ben said to be district four. Speaking on behalf of myself, my neighborhood, my part of town is one that has many, many of my neighbors impacted by homelessness. I like this item. So thank I like this item and I want to thank everybody who cosigned and is hopefully going to approve this, because it's one of those ones that both speaks to the heart and to the budget. As far as concerns of people moving here to take advantage or game, the systems, the vast majority of people who face homelessness in our city are from our city. I talk to people all the time on my bus route in my neighborhood. They're from here. Their families are from here, particularly this item that is addressing keeping families [2:53:42 PM] addressing keeping families together. This is something that saves our city money. These are the types of dollars that prevent much more expensive things. Were it not in place, doing outreach to people who are spread out into the woods, people who are being forced to split up, families where they have some form of network of care, is much, much more expensive, much more difficult. So these are good dollars. I understand the concerns of some about, well, you know, is it being managed properly? Yes it is. We have an office dedicated to this, to our plan. The way our city addresses this, they do good work. This is something to keep families, families with children out, you know, out from living in the woods and on the street and unsafe conditions. You know, it's not going to fix it, but it is a step in the right direction of addressing those needs. And it is much more expensive to have to deal with it downstream if they're not [2:54:44 PM] it downstream if they're not kept together with the people who know them, care for them, can address some of the traumas that they have experienced. So I encourage you and thank you for voting yes on this item. This is a good thing. >> Do I go? >> Yes, please. >> All right. I'm Peter, I'm from city council district one. >> Please state your full name. >> Peter Kim. Thank you. And I'm from city council district one. I'm here to speak in favor of item 17. And I'm still kind of a little hung up on someone who called earlier today, I think, from the Austin apartments association or whatever you call them. And it got me really mad because they were complaining that raising taxes was going to increase the cost of living for all the households that they claim to represent. And I wanted to ask them, who has the ability to control the rent rental rates they charge their tenants? Since we live in the great state of [2:55:46 PM] we live in the great state of Texas, we are not allowed to impose rent control on any apartment, and people like these will use the language of affordability to paint themselves as sympathetic, while they steal more money from the pockets of people already struggling to afford to just live where they already are. But I do want to thank them for raising the subject affordability, because it's these kinds of parasites who are one of the largest contributors to the homeless population. And the crisis that we're facing. It's simple math. If cost of living keeps going up and wages don't keep up with it, you're going to lose your house, you're going to lose where you live. And we all know that affordability is just getting worse. So what do we think is going to happen to the population of unhoused people here in this city? Is that going to go up or down, cutting support for them and hoping that the problem will fix itself is wishful thinking? I thought that I, as a Progressive, was supposed to be the one demanding that I get everything for free. Yet here I am at city hall, advocating for the city to raise what I pay in property tax, because I understand that if I [2:56:46 PM] because I understand that if I sincerely want to take care of my neighbor, I need to pay for it. So I urge you all to vote yes on this item and support those who are most vulnerable in our communities. Thank you. >> I have one remote speaker for item 17, Leanna Hernandez. >> Hello, my name is Leanna Hernandez. I live in district seven. I just want to echo my neighbors who spoke before me and urge council to approve item 17. It's pretty clear why we need additional shelter capacity for families experiencing homelessness. Climate change is threatening everyone all over the world. Cost of living continues to rise. The pair of cabins and hit us. Yet wages are stagnant and unlivable, and the [2:57:48 PM] stagnant and unlivable, and the city seems to have plenty of money for convention centers and empty office buildings and so-called beautification it doesn't need. It should be working to protect our most vulnerable residents. Imagine how beautified Austin would be if everyone had a safe place to live. Thank you. >> For item 18. I also have Leanna Hernandez. >> Okay, don't mind if I do. I am Leanna Hernandez speaking on item 18. There was a study conducted in 2019, and it found that we could probably save 1.8 to 3.4 million if we consolidated just ems and fire call centers. So I think we should explore the feasibility [2:58:50 PM] should explore the feasibility of combining not just those two, but also APD's emergency response data shows that consolidating communication functions has been successful elsewhere in Texas. We could improve response times, minimize strain on public safety employees, and use the savings to focus on other city priorities like housing the homeless, for example. And speaking of city priorities, I also want to voice my support for council members. Siegel amendment to the budget to transfer funding for contract management regarding central booking and registration services to a general or non-departmental fund. The tldr is invest in community, not cops. Thank you. >> For in-person speakers on item 18. Walter Monroe, Sophia Barbato, Sharon Blythe, Jay Popham, Peter Kim, Ben zohaib, [2:59:53 PM] Popham, Peter Kim, Ben zohaib, Monica Guzman and Guatemala Duran. >> Your name has been called and you wish to speak. Please come forward. Otherwise we'll assume you don't. >> Hi y'all. J-pop. I'm once again here to speak on this important item. A little while ago this year, we were speaking about the possibility of putting a roof on a highway. Here, it seems like we have two distinct call centers with two roofs we could put under one. I believe that's cost savings. As the previous caller was speaking to. And yeah, just generally, I think that we ought to be looking at as many options as possible to return civilian control over the budget. As we know, it's extremely difficult to ever move any dollars out of APD due to a law passed by our state government. And, you know, I believe that wherever possible, it is a democratic imperative for us in Austin to be able to shape the moral document that the budget is to [3:00:54 PM] document that the budget is to the greatest extent possible. We've heard a lot of needs today, more flexibility in the budget by transferring these vital functions to the general fund and realizing efficiencies from that is another one of those imperatives for us if we're going to act in a fiscaly responsible way here. So thank you very much for your time. >> Thank you, Mr. Kim. >> Hello. I'm back again, Peter Kim, district seven, for the record. Sorry. District one. My bad. Yeah, I don't really have too much to add to what was already stated on this. It seems to be a very practical thing to just consolidate these separate services under one roof, and also to see what we can do as a city to move money outside of the jurisdiction of APD and under a more democratic control by the rest of us. Again, since we live in Texas, any increase to APD can never be taken out, and I just don't want us to be committing more money to that if [3:01:56 PM] committing more money to that if we don't have to, especially if the city is already facing an affordability or a budget crisis right now. So thank you very much. >> Okay. Moving on to item 19. Oh, I have remote speakers. One moment, Sandra Mueller. Sandra, are you there? >> Hello? Can you hear me? >> Oh yes, please. >> Hi. Sorry. Okay. Hi, this is Sandra Mueller. I'm no longer a resident of Austin, but I lived there for 13 years and I was a volunteer for both arpa and aac. And I was there when this original 2019 resolution was added. And I fully support this amendment. The city code that puts the decisions back into the hands of veterinarians. I think it's really important, and I [3:02:57 PM] it's really important, and I want to thank the sponsors for putting it forward. So for years now, aac has been above capacity, often with closed intake, and the prc has backlogged appointments for owner surrenders. That makes no sense to add to Austin's animal population, but Apa says they'll take all the puppies and kittens. Why? Because they're easy to adopt. They make for good marketing, and they sell for $250 a pop or pup, as it were. So it sounds a bit like for profit breeding to me. But as you know, the population that actually needs saving are medium to large dogs that have been languishing for years and costing the taxpayers lots of money. So Apa has asked their social media friends to oppose this item. They're going to get a lot of calls. But in an interesting turn of events, people are supporting this resolution. The county is currently schooling doctor Jefferson on spay abort and her supposed overpopulation myth. So [3:03:59 PM] supposed overpopulation myth. So thank you for this resolution and let's get the animal population under control. And I would just like to remind the people there, I know you've all been there all day. I want to remind you that adopting a senior or adult animal means you still get all the love, but you will know the breed, the weight, the temperament, the skills, home will not be chewed up or Peed on. And thank you all for your time. >> Paige Nelson. >> Hello Austin city council, my name is Paige Nelson. I'm a resident of district four and I'm a practicing veterinarian. Prior to vet school, I did neurophysiology research at UCLA for three years. I am also the newly elected chair of the animal advisory, but I am not speaking in that role today. I am speaking as a practicing veterinary professional and passionate animal advocate in support of agenda item 19. Yesterday, Apa put out a video [3:05:00 PM] Yesterday, Apa put out a video in opposition to item 19. My statements to roalson claim that, quote, this is not her opinion and the graphic procedures she described are not in line with the current science and recommendations for pregnant phase. Spaying pregnant cats and dogs is a routine that is humane when done, according to current association of shelter veterinarian doctors, and there is no suffering after the procedure. My comments today I'm referring specifically to cat and dog fetuses, and all of my statements are supported in the 2012 Jama review article that I emailed to council this morning during a stay of a pregnant cat or dog. The fetuses have the same or higher concentrations of anesthetic drugs as the rest of the animal that is undergoing surgery. Additionally, after the uterus is removed, the inside of that uterus cannot get rid of the anesthetic drugs. If the uterus is kept closed. Therefore, shortly after spay, the is die on their own from a [3:06:00 PM] the is die on their own from a lack of circulation while they are anesthetized. Additionally, as detailed in the Jackie, we have eeg studies that show there is zero possibility of fetal brains in a low oxygen state because there is no consciousness in these fetus addition to the fetuses being anesthetized, there is no fetal suffering. I encourage you all to let science and logic shape our city's policies and vote yes on 19. Thank you for your time. >> Catherine Chamblee. >> Good afternoon, council members. Mayor, my name is Catherine Chamblee and I'm a resident of district seven. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak today. I am calling in to support item 19, a resolution giving spay abort decision making back to the veterinarians at aac and directing the removal of the current ordinance requirement that rescues be given 48 hours [3:07:01 PM] that rescues be given 48 hours to pull visibly pregnant animals in order to deliver their litters. Austin is currently in a stray and unwanted animal crisis. This resolution would cut down drastically on the number of animals entering the shelter rescue pipeline in Austin, and in no way impact the city's no kill status. No kill involves the live release rate of living animals, not the required birthing of unborn fetuses. As it currently stands, Austin law is effectively anti abortion for pets and results in an unnecessary mass production of baby animals for purposes of sale, in large part by Austin pets alive. It is mind boggling to me in my opinion, irresponsible of Apa, a nationally known rescue to be so adamantly determined to continue this kitten puppy supply line. And quite frankly, it appears Apa is out of sync with virtually every other animal animal rescue group in this regard. Indeed, the vast majority of public comment on Apa stance find it shocking for [3:08:01 PM] Apa stance find it shocking for a large rescue and profoundly irresponsible. I am asking city council to listen to voices of reason and vote in favor of Austin living animals in favor of this resolution. Thank you for your time. >> Heather Myers. >> Good afternoon, mayor, mayor pro tem and council members. My name is Heather Myers and I am a volunteer at Austin animal center and an attorney and an animal advocate in the greater Austin area. While I would typically be here to zealously support item 19, the primary impact of which would permit Austin animal center to perform spay abort surgeries without notice to rescue partners, I am unable to do so in light of the proposed cuts to aac's specialty and emergency veterinary services in the city budget. It's true those services are not the same ones used for routine or complex spay abort surgeries, but they are still critical to aac's ability to treat sick and injured animals and respond to [3:09:03 PM] injured animals and respond to emergencies. The current veterinary team is already struggling to meet existing needs. In fact, there's currently a backlog of spay neuter surgeries for dogs that are not pregnant, so cutting specialty and emergency care services while increasing surgical interventions under item 19 will stretch an already under-resourced system to the breaking point. If even if additional spay abort services could be provided with current resources, the loss of specialty and emergency care will mean other animals in kennels or on the streets will wait longer, suffer more and in many cases die unnecessarily. Preventing that harm depends on a fully functional, well resourced veterinary department across all service areas. If council passes item 19, you must also fully protect funding for emergency and specialty veterinary care in the proposed budget. Council member lane's amendment two, which re-allocates 100,000 of the more than half a million in cuts, is a start, but it does not go far enough. Expanding one [3:10:03 PM] not go far enough. Expanding one part of the veterinary workload while cutting the funding for another will not balance out that it will harm more animals and further erode Austin's no kill commitment. Thank you so much. >> David Paige. David, are you there? >> Hello? Yeah, I'm sorry I turned off mute. So good afternoon, mayor and council. My name is David Paige. I'm an Austin district six resident and volunteer with large dogs at aac for about ten years. I read the draft of resolution 19 on the city website and was told what problem this resolution attempts to solve after some investigation. I believe the intent of the resolution is to remove a requirement that ahs please leave pregnant dogs and cats to rescues before staying the animal. And I think from listening to the discussion so far, that's the case. I have concerns about how the resolution is being presented. I feel like the resolution is disingenuously worded and could have been much clearer about its [3:11:03 PM] have been much clearer about its intent. There is no reference to a current city code or policy in the resolution. The resolution addressing no fiscal impact was given in the resolution by infinitesimal in the scope of the budget challenges our city faces. The resolution is in fact a welfare animal welfare policy issue and should be brought up for discussion in that context, and stakeholders should have an opportunity to weigh in on a policy change instead of trying to slip it in the budget. I'm totally in favor of spay neuter. For example, adopting an ordinance similar to Waco's mandatory spay neuter and microchip ordinance, and increased funding of spay and neuter clinics in high need areas of Austin. At the same time, I have some misgivings personal feelings about spaying dogs and cats that are close to giving birth, as possibly due to my ignorance. If there's a net community benefit to removing the for these animals close to birth and rescues, then the proponents of the resolution should make their case explicitly. So given the above, I urge you all to vote no on amendment nine and move the discussion of the issue to the animal advisory commission or other appropriate venue. Thank you. >> That's all the speakers for [3:12:04 PM] >> That's all the speakers for 19. So I will switch to in person speakers. Walter morrow, Sophia Barbato, Sharon Blythe, Shelley leeb, Ben sotheby. >> Good afternoon, mayor and council. >> My name is Shelley Lieberman. I misspelled my name on the form. Sorry about that. I'm a resident of district four and a volunteer at Austin animal center. Thanks for letting me speak today. I'm speaking in support of item 19, a resolution giving spay abort decision making back to the veterinarians at aac and directing the removal of current ordinance requirements that rescues be given 48 hours to pull visibly pregnant animals in order to deliver their litters. Austin is currently in an animal crisis. Too many stray and unwanted animals any given day at the shelter. We're housing animals in crates. Intake is closed. Animals are being turned away back to the streets. Dogs are living in shelter kennels for a [3:13:04 PM] living in shelter kennels for a year or longer due to the lack of fosters or adopters. I've been volunteering there for over five years and this has been the status quo the entire time I have volunteered. With this backdrop, it is unfathomable to me that this city has an ordinance, a requirement that the shelter provide rescues a 48 hour notice in which to pull visibly pregnant animals before the city vet staff can perform spay abortion procedures for concrete example of the effects, according to Austin pets alive records, during the first three months of this year, they pulled a total of 24 pregnant or nursing dogs from ac. As a result of this ordinance, at an average of 5 to 7 puppies per litter. Extrapolating out for the year, that number is about 480 to 672. Additional shelter puppies entering the city's systems this year. Apa's argument that is no longer the city's burden, nor a drain on city resources once their organization pulls these maternity dogs is, in my opinion, a logical fallacy. Apa is an Austin based rescue with largely Austin based fosters and Austin based adopters, meaning that even though Apa may take the burden of all these [3:14:05 PM] the burden of all these additional animals on paper and then charge fees when they get adopted out, these animals are still adding to the pet population in the city, which has a finite number of adopters and fosters. I'm asking you to end the city's current status as a, in my opinion, defacto backyard breeder of shelter pets and vote in favor of this resolution. Thank you. >> Pat. Australia's Julie Oliver, Craig Naser, Susie chase and Rochelle Vickery. >> If your name has been called, feel free to come forward and take a seat and we'll just go in order. Miss Travis, please. Please begin. >> Okay. Thank you, mayor and mayor pro tem and city council members. My name is pat Ellis, and I live in district three. I support item 19. Thank you, council member Laine for this item and also for amendment two. I really appreciate all you're doing in your first year at [3:15:05 PM] doing in your first year at council. Thank you. Also, council member Siegel vela, qadri and duchen, I appreciate that you are co-sponsoring this item. I hope it passes. Our community needs this and we support you in passing this. Thank you. Pet overpopulation is not a myth. It is real. It is the reason our shelter is full. It is the reason we have closed intake. It is the reason that people who find a dog or cat are being told, you have to take responsibility for them. You have to pay for them to, to, to find their homes, to get them spayed or neutered, to get them vaccinated and microchipped. This is wrong. We have closed intake and we need to change that by preventing unnecessary births. We need to take care of the animals that are already born, that are already living at the shelter for months and months, and possibly even years. Our community shouldn't have [3:16:07 PM] Our community shouldn't have this. We support a good animal shelter, and we have come out here and we have spoken in favor of it. And you know, we care. And you know, we want spay neuter. We want a good shelter. And the city audit commended the shelter veterinarians as the one program that was doing a good job at the shelter. Those veterinarians at the shelter should be trusted to make these decisions, and they should be allowed to spay and neuter. So thank you for what you're doing for Austin. Dogs and cats. I know this isn't your only problem. I know you have much, much bigger things on your agenda, but I appreciate this and especially council member Laine. Thank you. >> My name is Rochelle Vicki. I'm coming to you at a different perspective. I've been a trapper for Travis county and Austin for almost 30 years. I don't like trap female cats that are pregnant, but that's what happens. They are very [3:17:08 PM] happens. They are very frightened that queen knows where her safe place is. And but I take mine was going to the humane society and the city was paying for it. And you can imagine if you divide, if you multiply 6500 cats by four, that's how many cats, kittens I stopped from being born. And when cats, people take cats into the city, they if it's pregnant, it goes to Austin. Pets alive. I want you to visualize a cat thrown in a cage. Four by 4x4, three by three. She doesn't know where she's at. She's well taken care of. Austin. Pets alive does take good care of her, but she has to have her babies. And in turn, they take her babies. They fix her and they put her in a barn thing. She that isn't her home. She doesn't know where that is. And that's not her safe place. So let's fix her. Put her back where she came from, and [3:18:08 PM] back where she came from, and she. That family feeds her or whatever. She knows where her food is. I ask you to please let the vets take care of our animals. And it is a cash cow for Austin pets alive. The puppies. You heard what they were charging for puppies and it is for cats. That's how they make their money. That's why they want all the puppies and kittens. Thank you. I just hope you just pass it, please. >> Everyone go next. >> Thank you. Dear mayor Watson council, I'm Julie Oliver. I'm a resident of d9. I wish my councilman was here right now, but I'm a large dog volunteer at Austin animal center and want to share my concerns about agenda item 19, which would reverse the city's policy requiring rescue notification before performing spay aborts on visibly pregnant animals. It was reaffirmed in 2022 by the Austin animal advisory commission. I understand and appreciate the [3:19:08 PM] understand and appreciate the complexity of shelter management, budgeting and the policy at issue, but based on my experience at aac, I believe this change is not well timed, particularly when proposed budget already cuts emergency and surgical veterinary funding, and when our shelters veterinary team is already stretched beyond their capacity. This might be a different conversation if the shelter were fully funded and staffed to meet the medical needs of the animals in its care. Currently, I've personally been asking a month that council restore veterinary funding and perhaps even add to it. This feels really misaligned right now with the cuts and adding more surgical requirements to the shelter. As a volunteer, I see firsthand some of the bad outcomes. I'll give you an example. Princess peach was not pled to Apa. She was a visibly pregnant dog. We submitted a lot of pink slips for her. After her surgery. She was put into her kennel immediately bleeding from her surgical site. Her gums were pale. She was not doing well. [3:20:09 PM] pale. She was not doing well. They put her back in veterinary services for over a month. That cost the shelter a lot of staff. Time to take care of her. Another dog, just a routine surgery. He swallowed a squeaker toy. His name was licorice. For eight days he was vomiting six pink slips. Went in asking for somebody to look at him. Vet staff couldn't look at him. They couldn't perform the surgery on a on a dog in their care already. And he was pled to Apa. Thank you Apa, for taking him and saving his life. It's just not the right timing right now. So please reconsider this. >> Council member zo qadri. >> Yeah, I'm just going to make a quick comment. I've been walking off the dais at times. My grandfather died not even 12 hours ago. I was on the phone with him and my mother as he took his last breath. I am trying to be here as much as I can, but if I'm walking off the dais, it's not because I'm having fun. It's because I'm talking to my mom and she's finding out where to bury him. So I just want to I just want to make that known. [3:21:09 PM] make that known. >> Thank you. Council member. Yes, ma'am. You go next, and then, Mr. Naser. >> Thank you. Good afternoon. Mayor, mayor pro tem and council members. I'm Susie chase, district ten constituent, former council staff member. And for over four years I've been working at Austin pets alive. I spoke with several of your staff members yesterday after finding out on Monday evening that item 19 was posted on the budget agenda with zero community stakeholder engagement. Austin pets alive, the nonprofit shelter partner that accepts 100% of the animals that Austin animal center asks us to take that are pregnant, was not notified by any of your offices that a change was proposed to our operations as your largest shelter partner. So for the sponsor and co-sponsors that are up here on the dais, it was my understanding that leadership at the city of Austin chose a culture of transparency and community engagement built on the bleaker training of informed [3:22:09 PM] the bleaker training of informed consent. But this is not the case with this item. Item 19, as written, will not reduce taxpayer funding. Item 19 is written, will not minimize overcrowding at the city shelter and item 19, as written is not a pro-choice issue. As one of your staff members alluded to me in a meeting yesterday on behalf of Austin pets alive, I'm going to be very transparent. We have had a really good working relationship with the interim chief and with acm Carbajal, and we really want to have a good relationship with all of you. All of your offices have been invited to tour with me and doctor Ellen Jefferson, and all of your offices have received a proposal from doctor Jefferson today. That should be an amendment to item 19. My ask for you is that you will please vote no to item 19, or else consider this a friendly amendment. And thank you so much for the time. Please let me know if you have any questions. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Naser. >> My name is Craig nazer. I'm representing myself. I was a past member of the Austin animal advisory commission for eight [3:23:11 PM] advisory commission for eight years, and I was the chair for the last two of those years. I joined the commission at the beginning of no kill. I had not been a part of that movement. So I learned about no kill by watching the then chief animal officer, Tony Hammond, successfully show the entire country what no kill was and how it could work. I think no kill can work, but it must have the right leadership and it must be allowed to evolve. Without that, it will fail. No kill works by stopping the killing of animals for their own good, or for the city's lack of resources. Item 19 is not in alignment with these goals. The way no kill is successful is that it greatly increases involvement of partner nonprofit organizations and individual volunteers because they have little to object to in what they may see as unethical killing of animals. I believe the reason the shelter is in its [3:24:12 PM] the reason the shelter is in its current distressed state is due to the erosion of trust between the shelter and our many essential partner organizations and volunteers. I believe this is largely due to poor past leadership at the shelter, leadership that did not understand that no kill. What no kill required to succeed the animal advisory commission through a recommendation, made this as clear as we possibly could three years ago. Approving item 19 will not improve this situation. New budget cuts will prevent injured animals from getting emergency life saving care, yet pay veterinarians to cut late pregnancy fetuses from healthy mothers when other options are possible. To me, this makes no sense and I cannot support it. I hope you don't either. Thank you. >> We had a remote speaker call in for 19. It's Beverly Luna. >> Hi, this is Beverly Luna [3:25:15 PM] >> Hi, this is Beverly Luna again with Austin lost and found pets. I'm first concerned this item isn't a budget item, and so it makes the title of the meeting misleading. And it seems inconsistent with the intent of the open meetings act. Austin lost and found pets gets between 12,000 and 1800 posts for lost and found texts each month, so I'm keenly aware of the dogs that get into the Austin animal center and those that do not. The Austin animal center regularly refuses to allow pregnant dogs into the shelter under their emergency exceptions until the dog is about to give birth. So what they're proposing here is that they perform abortions on dogs that are probably within a week of giving birth. Are they planning to suffocate the puppy? So they planning to drown them? To me, this is beyond cruel, particularly considering Austin pets alive will take them. Ark is currently making appointments for dogs today to get into the shelter, but they're looking at dates in October and dogs are generally pregnant for about 57 days. This late term is [3:26:15 PM] days. This late term is just shocking that y'all would even consider this, and that miss Nielsen hasn't made you aware of this, but I can tell you, it is extremely rare for a pregnant dog to get in at any time before a week or so, before she's about to pop. Anyway, I'm just appalled by this. I don't even know what to say. I spoke to a very active dog volunteer this morning. She said she never sees pregnant dogs at the shelter. They all go to Apa because they're all about to have their babies. And no, this doesn't increase the number of dogs that go to the shelter because Apa always takes that. Dogs that are found that the owner doesn't want them back, they always take back their dogs anyway. This should really be considered by the animal advisory commission where a representative. Two representatives of the county are on that. You're sort of leaving the county out of this by letting Paige, Nielsen and others circumvent the animal advisory commission and go [3:27:16 PM] advisory commission and go directly to the city council. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Time has expired. Going back to in person for item 19, Julia crenshaw Smith, Alexis budinsky, Derek Ernst, and then Ellen Jefferson. Ellen, are you here? You have time donated by James Hurford. James, are you here? And Maggie lynch okay, six minutes then. Thank you. >> Hi. Hi. My name is Julia crenshaw Smith and I am in district nine. And my condolences, Mr. Qadri, for your loss. I am here representing myself, and I am a longtime advocate for the humane treatment of animals. I believe this resolution is written in a deceptively benign manner. On the surface, it seems reasonable to allow aac vets to make spay neuter decisions, but in reality, it is making a dramatic change to our approach to animal life and misleading Austin residents in the process. To my knowledge, there currently are no limitations on arc's ability male animals or spay female animals who are not [3:28:20 PM] female animals who are not visibly pregnant. So this is really just about empowering aac to spay visibly pregnant females, a practice that is completely at odds with Austin's commitment to being a no kill city. Not here to speak on the ethics of Spain. Pregnant animals. That is a nuanced topic, and people have very strong opinions about it. But I do want to speak about how this is going to change how we approach animal welfare in Austin. Spain is a relatively straightforward procedure that removes the reproductive organs from an animal so they can no longer reproduce. However, if that animal is pregnant at the time of the procedure, killing any fetuses is a separate act independent from the Spain procedure. If you take specific action to kill a viable fetus, then it was a living puppy or kitten, and its death cannot be considered a miscarriage or a spontaneous abortion. Thus, each intentional death will count as a kill, which will quickly lead Austin to fall below its mandated, mandated 95% live release rate. Any other way of looking at this is disingenuous. And so if aac inaccurately codes these deaths and miscarriages or fetal deaths to avoid counting them in the overall kill rate, [3:29:21 PM] them in the overall kill rate, that destroys the authenticity of our no kill status. And we are leaders in the world, in the country, the way we approach no kill matters. It ripples out. So I'm not sure, like others, why this is in a budget meeting. But clearly I think this is a significant enough change that we need to do this the right way with public hearings, public input, deep research, and a longer term view than a budget line item. Thank you. >> Thank you. Yes, sir. Why don't you go ahead and. >> Thank you. Thank you for letting me be here today. My name is Derek Ernst and I am. I've been with Apa for over six years now. I'm going to speak for some of the adopters that actually have contacted us. We have overhead over 200 postcards from adopters in the past 24 hours, all of them thanking you for the ordinance that exists and require government transparency about vulnerable pets in need. They are thanking you because they wouldn't have their pets they love so much without it. They are imploring you to keep this ordinance as [3:30:21 PM] you to keep this ordinance as is. Here is just two comments. All the animals. All of the animals were born in foster before we adopted them. We are so thankful for the fosters that cared for the pregnant mothers and gave them safe place to have their babies. Please do not euthanize the mothers or their litters. Austin prides itself on being a no kill city. Keep the litters visible. Pregnant dogs and cats goes against what Austin has stood for. Here's another one that said, over my time fostering, I have cared for the sweetest kittens born in pregnant felines who have given the chance to deliver and nurse their young. These kittens have gone on to enhance the even transformed their lives and families here in Austin. I have been seeing firsthand how the gift of life ripples outward not just for animals, but for the people who love them. And on a personal note, I fostered and recently adopted myself. A sweet and beautiful pit terrier mix. Lexi Mae, who came from Apa from ark. Lexi Mae gave birth on June [3:31:21 PM] ark. Lexi Mae gave birth on June 1st to 11. Yes, 11 puppies as of today. I'm happy to say that six of Lexi Mae's puppies have been adopted and five are in foster care about to be adopted. I have had the pleasure of meeting two of the adopters, and I saw the joy it brings the families to adopt these puppies. This ordinance made that happen. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Please. >> Thank you so much for listening to this topic. I'm sorry it's coming at such a busy time for you. I am. Our shelter is represented by district nine. I echo the condolences. We I think you know a little bit about me, but I've served on the animal advisory commission. I am the founder of emancipate spay and neuter clinic and president and CEO of Austin pets alive. The last 36 hours, we've been scrambling to just try to figure out what this is about because we didn't get any notice. We weren't brought in as a stakeholder in any way, shape or [3:32:22 PM] stakeholder in any way, shape or form and found out by mistake from a volunteer about it. And so it's been really hard to figure out what is behind it, what's driving it, and where is this going? It appears that it has three intentions. One is to save about $300,000 that are is a perceived may be a real cost. I don't I haven't been able to see any backup for this, but about $300,000 that are potentially spent on animals that are living in the shelter, that have given birth in the shelter. My understanding was we took all those animals. So if they if there are some that we haven't, then I want to address that. And the intention, I think, is to then turn that 300,000 into money that goes back into the overnight emergency fund, which was is something our community really needs. So I can support that. I understand if that's the intention, I understand where that's coming from and think it's well founded. The other intention is to move pets out of a C faster, creating room for intake and decreasing bureaucracy are the three things [3:33:25 PM] bureaucracy are the three things that I think this is trying to accomplish. As it's written. There's some unintended consequences though. One is that it's causing the death of animals, deaths of animals that are literally about to be born. And two is that it erodes the partnership trust. This is something that we care very deeply about, and I wish that puppies and kittens made enough money to pay their own bills, but that is absolutely not one of the reasons that we're taking puppies and kittens. And it it removes that a level of transparency and safety net that our organizations have worked together on for the last 15 years. It also drives up the costs of ark, because the animals that we're currently taking, we're responsible for their spay and neuter. We're responsible for their vaccines, their heartworm treatment, their adoptions, everything up until the point where they go to a new home. If that's taken away in the medical need for us to pull them is gone, then they're still at ark, taking up a kennel space and being paid for by taxpayer money. So I've sent over an [3:34:26 PM] money. So I've sent over an alternative to you that pushes, that has solutions. One is that we can push all the pregnant animals. One of the things I would recommend is that we make it so that 100% come to us, and, and that would take down your cost of 300,000. That immediately puts the money back into the bank to be able to put towards this emergency fund. It prevents the unnecessary deaths, and it increases the speed and volume that are sent to us, which I know is something that the Austin animal center wants. And I will tell you that none of the babies are considered intake as part of our contract. It's always extra. That is not counted in the 17% that we're already taking. So that results in more kennels being free because you've got those animals out of there. It results in higher intake because you have kennels free, it decreases how much money you're spending and it keeps trust between partners. And so I'm hopeful that you've read that and that we have a chance to discuss it and that you'll vote no on this today so [3:35:27 PM] you'll vote no on this today so that there is a chance to move that forward or some version of it. The second thing that I want to address is that the process itself has some misinformation that I think is worth trying to clarify, because rescue access is critical to no-kill as a foundation. It's about transparency. I know a lot of people have used the word transparency up in the speakers piece here today, and I want to clarify that, that the ordinance, as it's written now, does not take away any veterinary discretion. The veterinarian has full discretion, full medical abilities. They can make decisions. It doesn't even matter where they went to school or how much they know about a topic. There's no guidance given to them about the decision. The only thing it does is cause a pause, so it causes the shelter to take a second to notify rescue groups and say, does anybody want this animal before we euthanize it? That's it, that's it. There's no regulation [3:36:28 PM] that's it. There's no regulation put on what they do with the animal, how they do the surgery. If they spay a pregnant animal, it is just giving organizations a chance to say, I'll take it. And we take a lot of those. We took 200 in June and we took I think over 350 in July. So the process itself, the pet comes in, somebody notices that it's very pregnant. It does not take a veterinary degree to see if an animal is very pregnant. They pause, they send out the notification, and if they're not pulled, they are spayed. The city has the discretion to spay those animals if they're not pulled. So I think that's really important because I think this is getting conflated with medical decision making. And that is absolutely not the case. One addition that we can make is that the ordinance right now gives 48 hours for that response. One addition that we would make on the spot is we'll take them same day, like we believe in this. We're committed to this. We will make this easy and possible for the city of Austin. And I'm not planning to address a lot of the things that [3:37:31 PM] address a lot of the things that came up that were sort of accusations in earlier comments. But if there's any questions, especially about the data of adopters versus animals that are entering shelters, I'd love to discuss that. I, I'd like to think that we live in a data driven, decision making community. And I just really appreciate you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> On to item 20, Walter Monroe, Sophia Barbato, Chris Gannon, Sharon Blythe, Glenn Coleman, Britta Wallace, Cody Carr, Jeffrey Bowen. Zach Faddis, Amy Deluna. >> Okay, Jeffrey Bowen, district [3:38:40 PM] >> Okay, Jeffrey Bowen, district eight. This is in regards to the review of development and permitting fees. Thank you. For once, as somebody that uses the permitting services due to being in the construction remodeling business, so on and so forth, the fees dramatically impact the people in this town. You decide that you're going to try to just do some type of remodel, some type of repair, and you have to have a permit. The amount of time it takes to get a permit in case it's something that's just a repair, like a water heater, whatever the case is, can be astounding. Those fees do go back against the project. If a builder or a contractor out there is saying that, oh, he's going to eat the fees, that's bravo Sierra. That does not happen. The increase in these fees impacts the direct cost to building in this town. There are many things that the city that people don't believe that that [3:39:42 PM] people don't believe that that people believe the city has control over. They have no control over the cost of labor. They have no control over the cost of materials. But they do have a they do have a, an item over the cost of the permitting. Also for the tap fees. I don't believe tap fees are included in this, but I would think that that would be also an item that should be included in some of that review, whether they're going up or down, and also the timeliness in this entire process. As somebody that uses it, I've had to spend more than my fair share of time to try to get a small project done, and it takes 12 weeks to get a permit that has come down. But again, why the costs for so much? And in some cases, we can't even get our questions answered or our, our projects are delayed because something wasn't stamped right on the page. Whatever the case was, it has no control over this. So I'm fully in favor of this and trying to get a review of the permitting process and [3:40:42 PM] of the permitting process and fees. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hello, my name is Chris Gannon. I'm district one, a local architect and a housing advocate. I want to express my condolences for council member qadri as well. I would like to support this amendment to realign development service fees at the dsd. The proposed increase in fees is extreme, and at a point in time where it's getting more and more difficult to make projects pencil requiring the department to self- fund works counter to the cyclical nature of development. When there is substantial construction, the fees are low. When it slows down, the bar is raised. I believe bringing this department back into the general fund will allow better alignment with other projects as well. Site plan like part two for example. I also want to express my support for sidewalks and to fully fund the housing trend. I know that that already passed, [3:41:44 PM] know that that already passed, but I just want to throw that out there. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> For item 21. I have a remote speaker, Jen Krieger. >> Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Jen Krieger. I'm a district four resident and I'm speaking in support of agenda item 21, 22, 24 and 25. As I mentioned during my public comment last week, I recently surveyed residents in Austin and our five county region to better understand how our local populace is impacted by climate change and what they want the city of Austin and surrounding jurisdictions to do about it. Survey responses show that central Texans are already suffering under the weight of climate change, and conditions are poised to get worse if we don't dramatically up our local investment and reducing the CO2 and other pollution that causes climate change, while also readying our communities to withstand climate changes, accelerating impacts, these four items would all help make [3:42:45 PM] items would all help make progress towards their climate commitments. The connection with climate change may not be as obvious, with item 24 related to providing on site food pantries at elementary schools that qualify for title one funding. However, survey respondents noted how their families were struggling with increased costs for daily necessities like food and energy in response to climate change, making it hotter, and therefore ac's running more to try to stay cool. Making food production yields smaller and thus food more expensive, and in some cases diminishing wages due to lost work time from extreme weather, poor air quality and worsening allergies and other health conditions. Increasing access to food and places families with lower incomes already, visit is a step in the right direction to help ameliorate the reduced purchasing power of family budgets, while increasing healthy food access. I used to work in ac schools and I have seen the difference access to healthy meals can make in students well- being and ability to learn. Regarding item 25, I would encourage council and staff to explore the relationship between the proposed local solar panel recycling fee and state house bill 3228 and 3229 that [3:43:46 PM] bill 3228 and 3229 that introduced solar and wind recycling requirements effective September 1st this year. Thank you. >> Moving on to in-person speakers for item 21, I have Walter morrow, Sophia Barbato, Roy Whaley, Sharon Blythe, Ben sotheby, Craig Nasr. Guatemala, turin. Zenobia. Joseph. >> Hello, I'm Craig Nasr, conservation chair of the lone star chapter of the Sierra club, and we support item 21. There are some comments I'd like to make specifically about it. Is that the cheapest, most valuable way of removing carbon dioxide from the air is natural systems. Natural systems are what may be [3:44:49 PM] Natural systems are what may be thought of as trees. It's where a bunch of plants are growing and they're healthy and they're sucking carbon dioxide out of the air and sequestering that for long periods of time. So if you want, I just want to make sure that when this is looked at, that you look at the natural systems, you don't have to cut anything down. You don't have to mow, you don't have to chop. What you do is you encourage what would naturally grow there and don't destroy what's already growing there. One of the things we can this very successful, they call them watershed restorations on drainage lands and lands that may flood or things like that. And these properties have many more uses than just sequestering carbon, because what you do is you draw nature back into the city, and there's lots of studies that show that people experiencing nature calms them down, it calms [3:45:52 PM] nature calms them down, it calms down aggression. It does amazing things for the people who live in a city and live around an area with natural access. And I say this personally, I was involved in a watershed restoration around my house, and it's one of the most fun things I ever did. And it's beautiful. It's called the north star greenbelt, and you're invited to come up there and enjoy it anytime you can. Thank you very much. >> Hello, my name is cuauhtli. I'm a I'm a member of Austin dsa and I live in district two. I just want to speak to the broad theme of this, which is that I think this is amazing. I think this is political creativity. We when it comes to climate change, we have a federal government that doesn't believe in it anymore, a state government that also is completely against the idea of climate change and in fact, is aiding the fossil fuel industry and having more so any anything to do to fight climate [3:46:52 PM] anything to do to fight climate change at home is important. And I think I think it's a top issue on Austin residents mind. So I think you're all here partly because people want you to fight climate change. Yeah. I think again, this is political creativity with with the federal government and a state government that is completely opposed to the idea of fighting climate change. We need city leaders to do everything possible to do so. And getting creative like this. And not just not just city leaders getting creative, but using the city government and public lands specifically because private industry won't do it by themselves. There's a lot of goals that banks and financiers have pulled back from. So again, the responsibility literally lands on city council to fight climate change. Right now, with the federal government and state government opposing it. So anything to be creative about it. Thank you. >> Thank you mayor, council. I'm Zenobia Joseph. I'm just going [3:47:54 PM] Zenobia Joseph. I'm just going to speak to a different part of that. Item 21 specifically, the community led regenerative food production. I just want to say that as it relates to the Travis county and the city of Austin's food plan, if you look at goal five, which is institutional, that's where you will find the language specifically related to transportation. And that's where on page four, you'll find the bipoc standard language related to black indigenous people of color. I just want you to recognize that there is a hug. Example. Hilltop urban gardens and Tacoma, Washington, where they actually plant the produce and then they share it amongst themselves. They don't actually charge each other. And I would just ask the city manager as he looks at this item and brings it back to you. February 2026. To recognize the need to look at the areas where you have low income housing tax credit. And specifically December 15th, 2020 [3:48:54 PM] specifically December 15th, 2020 is when Travis county commissioners court put into their backup materials the 1 to 5 mile walk to a low income housing tax credit developments. It would be helpful if you actually had a plot of land when you put these developments in that low distance from the central part of the city and actually allow them to share the produce. And then lastly, mayor, I would just ask you to recognize that it would be helpful to have transportation on palmer Laine in particular, and to actually recognize that the people who live in that area have the most difficult access to getting to the grocery store, because there's no transportation in the Samsung area. If you have any questions, I'll gladly answer them at this time. But I do see I have a few minutes or seconds, and I would just lastly say, as it relates to equity, it's in that document over 52 times. So it's worth having something to actually look at the end results as opposed to just using equity ad nauseam. Thank you. [3:49:55 PM] nauseam. Thank you. >> Miss white. >> Thank you. Kaiba white with public citizen's Texas office. Thank you to the sponsors for this item. Obviously, there's a lot to be gained from using our city lands to mitigate climate change and also build resilience against climate change that is happening. The one suggestion that I would have on this is maybe to make clear that all lands and properties that the city owns and controls should be considered, and by that I mean don't limit it just to kind of big parcels of land. When you look at all of the smaller kind of bits of land that are along roadways and around our buildings, there's actually a lot of opportunity there to, as you've heard, let things grow and that will result in carbon sequestration. But it also results in cooling our our local environment here, mitigating the heat island effect, and also cleaning our air, which is very much needed. So you might [3:50:56 PM] much needed. So you might consider adding a couple words in there just to make clear that this isn't just about large tracts of land, which of course can sometimes be expensive or have competing needs. Oftentimes we have areas that are currently maybe just being mowed for no good reason, or they are covered in cement again, for no good reason, just kind of been the standard practice. And there's perhaps opportunity there to change practices for very little expense and plenty of benefit. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Item 22 Walter morrow, Sophia Barbato, Roy Whaley, Sharon Blythe, kaiba white, Ben sotheby, pat Vasquez and Guatemala. Guatemala. Turin. >> Please come forward if you're going to speak. >> Paperweight with public [3:51:57 PM] >> Paperweight with public citizens. Texas office. I don't have a lot to say about this that you haven't already heard from me, but I do want to thank the sponsors. This is really an opportunity for the city to make smart investments that will actually save money. Wasted energy is wasted money because the city, of course, is paying bills to Austin energy, and it's also an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, of course, and meet the goals of the Austin climate equity plan, as well as the goals of the Austin energy resource generation and climate protection plan. And I think furthermore, it sets a good example, right? Every time a person goes into a city building or sees the city building, even hopefully they are seeing best practices in action. And this is an opportunity to do that by increasing energy efficiency and installing solar, and hopefully providing some educational information along with those upgrades. So thank you to the sponsors. [3:52:57 PM] sponsors. >> Please go ahead. >> Hi, I'm from district two again with Austin dsa. I also don't have a lot too much more to add to this, but other than again, this is political creativity. This is getting, you know, being using our full imagination to combat what the federal government and state government are doing, which is either, you know, adding more billions of dollars towards fossil fuels or cutting funds towards anything to fight climate change. I think it's I think it's a smart idea to have the revolving fund to make sure that we use the most of the money available to fight climate change. Yeah, just I think this is the right way to do fiscal responsibility, where we talk about how to use the public money towards like fighting the big fights that, you know, the federal government is ignoring instead of, you know, not the bad fiscal responsibility, the one that cuts services. This is the one that's smart. And make sure that we use the most of our money using through the public [3:53:58 PM] money using through the public good, through the public government. >> Thank you, thank you. >> I don't have much to say. I just want to say I support this item. My name is pat and thank you very much for talking about climate. And thank you for speaking in favor of our climate. We need it. >> Thank you. >> Item 23 Susan Spataro and Susan, you have time donated by Sharon Blythe. I see her four minutes and then Monica Guzman, you have time by Roy Whaley. Roy, are you still here? What about Doris Adams? >> No, not. >> After Monica is Walter morrow, Sophia Barbato, and Brad Massingill. >> If your name has been called, please come forward. >> Susan Spataro, district eight. I tell you, I never would have thought about testifying on this issue, but I heard you discuss it in the work session last week, and I couldn't honestly believe what I heard. I strongly object to item 23, which [3:55:00 PM] object to item 23, which basically tells the people of Austin, if you vote no on our trees and they don't pass, we'll fix you. We will implement them anyway and cut public safety and other municipal government functions. In the work session last week, city staff suggested that such cuts could result in $12 million from fire and 24 million in police. What responsible family or business would approach a revenue reduction in this way? The same proportionate cuts to food, luxury vacations, medical care, new clothes, car maintenance, no differentiation between basic necessities and optical wishes. Optional wishes this city needs to live within its means and address affordability. Tricking voters does not create affordability. You need to be honest, I believe you should adopt the base budget and if in fact there are votes for a TRE, [3:56:02 PM] fact there are votes for a TRE, people need to know what those projects are. And after the election to come back and threaten people say you didn't approve this and this. So now we cut public safety is totally unacceptable. And I believe it's unethical. Affordability and public safety have become very serious issues eroding quality of life in Austin for residents as well as businesses. The when you look at some of the things in the budgets that you could look at and people have mentioned others, I don't want to be repetitive, but it bothers me every time I hear that public safety is eating up all the property taxes. That is not true. Project connect is taking 20.1% of all the maintenance and operation taxes, and that amounts to $189 million this year alone. So that is a very important, I think, misleading fact that needs to be brought out. Project connect could be [3:57:04 PM] out. Project connect could be reevaluated and probably should and probably should be. The property tax increases are far more detrimental than just the tax increases to homeowners. And that's what we tend to talk about as increases in fees apply to rental units, rents go up as taxes and fees increase. For restaurants, eating out becomes more expensive. And if patrons won't or cannot pay for the increased cost to meals, residents close and employees lose their jobs. It's happening now. The same phenomenon happens for all businesses that are struggling to deal with a significant increase in fees and taxes. These these downsides are not just theoretical. They're happening right now. Despite the growth in the msa, Austin is not growing. We are experiencing a negative net migration. In-migration residents and visitors no longer feel safe in [3:58:04 PM] visitors no longer feel safe in our town. Murders have increased 218% from the ten year period before 2020, and the five year through 2024. And sadly, of course, we all know we had three more murders this week and now we have 41 this year. Commercial vacancies in downtown business district is at a significant 31.8% sales tax, which rely on people making purchases, eating out and booking. Hotel rooms are declining. Please vote no on 23 and tell people so they understand what they're voting on and what you intend to do. People deserve that. And thank you, Marc duchen for bringing out at your meeting the. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Chair. >> Thank you. Yes, councilmember. >> Thank you. I just want to briefly comment after the work session last week, this measure was substantially revised. So I don't know if the speaker has seen the revision, but all the language about proposed proportional cuts has been taken [3:59:04 PM] proportional cuts has been taken out. So I just want to clarify that. >> Thank you very much. It's I think it was a terrible thing to do. Thank you. >> Yes. Miss Guzman. >> Good afternoon, mayor and council. I'm Monica Guzman, policy director at Garza. I interject right here. I didn't catch everything that council member Siegel said, but hopefully it counters some of the concerns I'm about to express. If there is a TRE in November and if it fails, then according to lines 14 to 22, in the draft resolution, the city manager will recommend reductions to programs providing housing, health care, fire protection, youth programs, climate jobs and animal care to reduce, excuse me, animal care to balance the budget and discontinuing program services previously supported by state and federal funding. That is concerned because as many, including myself multiple times, have already said, a lot of these are basic needs. They are critical needs. That's the last [4:00:04 PM] critical needs. That's the last thing you want to reduce funding on. That's the last thing you want to cut funding on, especially with Austin public health, people have spoken about public safety. Public health is public safety. The eep eep epidemiological team. I'll get it out in a minute. The strike force team, as an emergency response. Austin public health provides a lot of services. I walked with one of their teams out in the area where I live. They are critical. While it may be no fault of the city of Austin about the loss of federal funding now falls on your shoulders to make sure that they can continue, we need to preserve. You need to preserve the Austin public health department and ensure that public health issues are addressed, because there are many that are uniformed officers, are not trained or equipped to handle. Thank you. >> Thank you. [4:01:05 PM] >> Thank you. >> Robin Schneider, Peter Kim, Ben zohaib, Chris Paige. Guatimac. Turin, Zenobia. Joseph. >> If your name has been called, please come forward. >> Hello. Ben sotheby, resident of district four. Speaking on behalf of myself, I just wanted to say that this item is good. Prudence. This is makes sense. It is planning on contingency. It is. You know, you plan and hope for the best. But sometimes things don't go your way. I, I will be letting everyone know. Talking to my neighbors, talking to my friends about all the wonderful services that the TRE will fund and how we are stronger together, and how it goes to things that actually end up saving us money. But it it just makes good sense to communicate what will happen if that doesn't pass and plan [4:02:06 PM] that doesn't pass and plan around that. So I'm fully supportive of this. Item 23 thank you. >> Mr. Kim. >> Hi there, I am Peter Kim, resident of district one. I think I got excited earlier and I said I was d7, but I'm actually d1. And so I'm here speaking in support of item 23. I actually really appreciate everything the city has already done to try to communicate what's going on with the budget, with all the various budget town halls that have been going on and all the communications I've been getting about it. But I think it's also we should acknowledge that things are going to be different after the election happens. More people are going to be aware of this, because I know I personally am going to be knocking as many doors as I possibly can to tell people to vote for this, but even in the case that it fails, more people are going to be aware that this is going on and they do deserve a chance to weigh in on it. I understand it can be frustrating, especially after all the work that you've [4:03:07 PM] after all the work that you've already put in to try to make this as equitable and fair as possible, but I think that's just the nature of how how things work out with this kind of thing. So I, I'm here asking you to vote for this item. Thank you very much, Joseph. >> Thank you. Mayor. Council, I would ask the city clerk to change my position from on to against as it relates specifically to lines 47 to 49. On page two, it talks about wildfire mitigation. But respectfully, mayor, we can't trust you. I want you to remember there was a memo from the interim Jesus Garza. It was may 12th, 2023, and the reason for the marshaling yard was for wildfire mitigation, in part. And those were your words. But here we are. You've not mentioned that at all. For the marshaling yard. We just talked about TRE canopy. And I would just remind you that in 2022, the Austin chronicle actually had an article that mentioned the 20% more canopy coverage in [4:04:08 PM] the 20% more canopy coverage in west Austin. There is no canopy coverage at the marshaling yard. It's just concrete because you're warehousing our homeless brothers and sisters. And I would just remind you, you say you're taking away some housing. Well, you could actually do better. Capital metro could lap the bus into airport commerce every other lap, every 30 minutes. Those people could have the bus, but instead you warehouse them. I know, you know, it actually violates fair housing act of 1968. You have over 300 units over two miles away at camp Esperanza, 300 here. And then you made a deal with the governor in 2023. Back door deal for $65 million, arpa funds to put 400 more units over at camp Esperanza. Do better, mayor. And so I oppose this item. Yes, you need a contingency plan, city manager, but you also need to talk to the community so we can help you [4:05:10 PM] community so we can help you with that plan. Otherwise, I'm against it. And lastly, I would just tell you, mayor, respectfully, transportation is the key to getting people to jobs, and that will help with the homeless problem. If they can't get to the jobs, then they'll never be self-sufficient. Thank you. >> Mr. Paige. >> Hello. My name is mukhtaran again with district two and with Austin dsa. I am in favor of this. Just the same reason why Ben and Peter were in favor of it, which is that it's good, good planning. I do appreciate all the efforts put into making sure that the TRE gets on the ballot, and making sure that it's a, you know, well-funded well, a good number that can fund our services as much as we need to. So again, I do appreciate the majority of the council's efforts to make sure that our services stay funded and to make sure that people have a government that they can believe in, especially when the whole idea of government for the people is being attacked at the top. I mean, I do wish it was [4:06:10 PM] top. I mean, I do wish it was more equitable because I think we all know why we have the budget issue in front of us with and why the TRE needed to be, you know, one of the numbers that will end up on. And that's because some departments, the ones that say they're look out for us, but they don't get more funding than they should. It's so much so that we end up in these funding issues. So for the future, I really hope you guys learn and see what's going on in other cities that make the same mistake of funding. You know who a little more than they should because it results in complicated consequences where we have to talk about like the TRE in exchange for funding our services. Again, you know which vote you took. So make sure you do your best to make sure it doesn't happen again, because here we are advocating on the TRE. >> Harris Paige cities deployment of structurally [4:07:13 PM] deployment of structurally broken policies is creating a surge in crises that consistently overwhelm our support systems and emergency responders. And this budgeting cycle confirms it. The phenomenon is intertwined across the board in housing, safety, health, and more. We're plagued with housing policies that create more homelessness than affordable housing, affordable housing that isn't affordable, abandonment of the most basic planning principles, metrics that track affordable units built but not destroyed, unanimously approved rezonings that generate $68 million in new public costs. The city has a sincere interest in allowing the soon to be displaced residents to stay in Austin. Hotel occupancy tax revenues generated a neighborhood str, subsidizing hotels and international events that are wildly profitable on their own. 100% of residents required to pay their taxes, but an estimated 90% of strs quietly excused from paying theirs. The demolition of a convention center that was five years from [4:08:14 PM] center that was five years from being paid off, and over 1.5 billion at the most conservative estimate, to build a monument that no one asked for to a bygone convention industry, nine figure costs for freeway parks. While over 330 acres of John Trevino parkland and east Austin remains fenced off and unimproved. Knee jerk responses to environmental disasters and climate change. And now, to address the inflating cost of existing in Austin, anything that directly or indirectly pays property tax and. You're to that problem. You're proposing a Tara TRE that will inevitably be passed down to the people that can least afford it. And that's low income renters. The public has no guarantees over how TRE funds will be spent when we'll see another, whether it will achieve anything that you're promising. We're at this place because Austin is growing up leaning into unresponsive government, and I ask for more sober decision making. Take care of our neighbors. We've already [4:09:14 PM] of our neighbors. We've already paid for it. >> Thank you. Thank you sir. >> For item 24 Walter Monroe, Sophia Barbato, Sharon Blythe. Papa Laura J. Popham, Peter Kim, Ben suddaby, Zenobia. Joseph. Guatemala. Torin. >> Whoever wants to start, go ahead. Mr. Kim. >> All right, I'll go first. Okay, so item 24, I just want to lay some context for this one. So we absolutely need this, especially for Austin ISD. If people aren't aware, our school district is currently under [4:10:15 PM] district is currently under threat of takeover from the state because there are three schools in this district that have recently received failing marks based on their history of star testing, and the terms are currently. If the district is unable to turn around these schools within the next academic year, we face two options either cut these schools loose and allow them to get charter ized, which essentially privatize them at our expense. Or our entire school board is replaced by a board of managers appointed by the state. And if we want to know what this looks like, we just have to look at Houston ISD, which was taken over back in 2023. This board is not going to be accountable to us here in Austin. Instead, they're going to be accountable to Mike Morath, the chair who himself was appointed by our governor, who if we're if we haven't heard already, pushed very hard and succeeded for school vouchers this year. So I'm here speaking for this resolution in support of our public schools, because if we want to avoid this outcome, we need to leverage [4:11:16 PM] outcome, we need to leverage every option and tactic available as to available to us now in order to support our teachers and students as they navigate the upcoming year. And I don't want to leave any option on the table. One of the schools that would benefit from this resolution, Burt middle school, has one of the largest student populations of monolingual Spanish teachers Spanish speakers. So just think of what that means, what their families are going through. In an era of unchecked ice raids and rabid anti-immigrant sentiment coming from both Republican and democratic parties. So I urge all of you here to please support this resolution. Again, we need to look out for the most vulnerable amongst us, and I'm willing to do so. >> Mayor and council members. My name is j-pop. I'm I'm from district two, and I'm taking a moment to speak on this important issue for the families and children in our community. The resolution as written states that whereas according to feeding America map, the meal gap reports in 2023, 16.4% of children in Travis county's population were food insecure. Earlier today, I gave the [4:12:17 PM] Earlier today, I gave the example of my very large family that I grew up with, my mother, one of eight children. I'm thinking about my aunts and uncles and their children sitting around the table when we'd all get together for dinner on Sundays. So that's one of my mother's four siblings, my mother's eight siblings, and three of my 24 cousins. Wright. You can check my math there. It's a long day. But, you know, I'm just imagining we're all sitting together as a family around the table here in Austin. And, you know, we've we've got that 1 in 8 approximately Austin residents who are looking at us and they're hungry. Another thing that I think of is when we were out knocking on doors last year for the aid rate increase, we oftentimes talked to residents at the doors about how teachers, working environments or students learning environments, right. This was in favor of a raise for all aisd personnel. And I think that argument really resonated with folks. Right? We want our teachers to be paid and highly trained professionals who know [4:13:18 PM] trained professionals who know what they're doing, who can provide for their own families based on what they're paid for, for their work. And, you know, we have to also think of these children, right? You know, if they are not getting the fuel that they need to be effective students, to be effective participants in the learning environment, we can't be surprised when the measurements that we take of their learning accomplishment is deficient, as they are those measures. We can't say that those are actual true reflections of these children's capabilities if they're going to school on empty stomachs. Thank you very much for your time. >> Hi. District two member Austin dsa. First, I'll speak on the food pantries. Part of this I grew up in the Rio grande valley, where I think almost all the public school districts had the had the waiver for the food application that people that parents have to turn in. So I grew up in an area where, yeah, everybody, because everybody was in need, got food from the school. And personally, a lot of [4:14:18 PM] school. And personally, a lot of people like in the hispanic community, a lot of moms work jobs, like my mom worked 16 hours a day doing cleaning jobs. And so sometimes meals aren't on the table till 10 P.M, so that that lunch meal is one of the most important meals possible. So and sometimes people miss that meal. So it's good to have those pantries to fight. Yeah. Food. The need for food. I like Jay said the stat that he mentioned. I think about like when Tim Walz passed the universal child universal food thing, big old white guy with a happy children around him, happy that now they have universal meals. Mayor, you could be that old white guy that let's, you know, provides more meals to kids that lays the foundation for later on having universal meals. You know, again, creativity starts at the bottom and eventually, you know, let's builds the foundation for state and federal governments to achieve the things that we can experiment with on the ground. [4:15:19 PM] experiment with on the ground. And for parent support specialist, I mean, just anything else to help teachers. My dad was a teacher. He just retired this last semester, and things just all increasingly got harder for him as as time went on with what's going on at the state. So anything to help teachers, they literally need any help. Thank you. >> My name is Ben suddaby, a resident of district four, proud member of apscuf six, 20 1624. Speaking on behalf of myself, I live close to one of these schools. Although I do like how this is written that it doesn't exclusively name which school district it is expansive any of the school districts that the city of Austin, you know, shares shares territory with would be eligible if they have a title one school? We know that those exist in our communities, as was stated before. You know, hungry minds don't learn as easily. This is something that has a small spend on the front end and long lasting good impact. I like this one because it is both [4:16:20 PM] this one because it is both good, you know, good for the heart, good for the people, but it is also fiscally prudent. This makes sense for us to spend money making sure that kids have basics, to be able to eat and feel less anxiety so they can learn and become become active participants in our wonderful city. They will be learning and getting better jobs and becoming, you know, our neighbors and taxpayers and participants in the city of Austin. This is this is a wonderful thing. I also like that there is language in here that includes report backs. We can see how it's going. We can hopefully have some good information come back so that we can replicate it and keep on keep on going forward. And others will look to Austin as a city that's innovating in this way, where we're taking care of those who who are the littlest, the least among us, and doing doing it in a way that supports our schools when right now they are under attack by our state government, the national [4:17:22 PM] government, the national government. What a what a great opportunity we have as a city to help bolster those who are educating young minds and making sure that hungry bellies don't interfere with with their learning. Please vote yes on this. >> Thank you. Mayor, council. I'm Zenobia Joseph. Let me just respectfully say I do appreciate the children. As a former teacher of the year in Austin independent school district, but aisd is not the only school district in the city limits of Austin. It's approximately 2.4 miles from pioneer crossing elementary. And I want you to recognize that people actually walk to Rotherham and Shropshire to catch route 392 on route 392. I'll remind you of copperfield elementary. That is where the black man was getting his bicycle, and it was so dark that you couldn't even see it. And council member Natasha harper-madison said it wasn't a [4:18:23 PM] harper-madison said it wasn't a safe route to school, that she wouldn't take her children there. So, respectfully, I just want you to recognize that the $1.29 million that you have allocated for these parent support specialists actually supplant a budget that is not the solution to their deficit. And I would ask you to recognize as well that they never even mentioned this as a cost savings. So from that perspective, I want you to recognize, again, the need for transportation. It is for those who have the greatest barrier. So I would ask you to table this item and to recognize the need to look systemically at all of the school districts and to find the titles. Title one school districts that are most in need, as in those that do not have access to transportation to even get to the food pantry. And for those who have mentioned dobie middle school, chito vela, as I've said before, there isn't even a bench for the people to sit when they get their groceries at Gus Garcia every Saturday morning. If there's [4:19:25 PM] Saturday morning. If there's such love for dobie, then I would say they need to at least put the benches back, because you've spent $1.3 million in circle C for these two way bike lanes, and 80,000 more to fix it to their liking. It is not equitable, and I would ask you to recognize once again, title six of the civil rights act of 1964. Thank you. >> For item 25, Walter morrow, Sophia Barbato, Roy Whaley, Sharon Blythe, kaiba white, Ben zohaib, Guatemala. Torin. >> And. >> Councilmember vela before Mr. If you hang on. >> Mayor, I just wanted to mention that the bus stop in front of dobie. They just repaved and expanded the sidewalk there to, I believe at the ten foot sidewalk, they had to remove the bus stop that was [4:20:25 PM] to remove the bus stop that was there to put the new sidewalk in, and it should be coming back in just momentarily. It hasn't been removed. It's just that we had to remove it to put the new sidewalk, and it should be coming back in very soon. >> Great. Thank you, Mr. Sotheby. >> Hello. Ben sotheby, resident of district four, proud member of afscme 1624. Speaking on behalf of myself on this item, I really do appreciate the strides that our city has made in incentivizing and making sure that we're we're deploying the latest technology when it comes to energy production, solar, wind, all of those things, but particularly solar. I saw that just was it. This past Saturday, Texas hit a new high record for demand being met by renewables, 83mw, I think it was. We had lots of it being met by solar produced in our communities. Grid scale, of course, but when [4:21:26 PM] Grid scale, of course, but when someone has some solar deployed on their roof and it has reached the end of its life cycle, or we have those unfortunate hailstorms that tend to come through the question of what we do with this. And when somebody upgrades, maybe gets a newer technology that comes out. I really like this item that is exploring our options, looking at both the costs and looking at the way of managing the fees so that it's dedicated to recycling those and keeping it within that same life cycle right from beginning to end. This is a great thing. This is exactly how cities will deploy the technologies that will will keep us and add to our stability as we face uncertainty. You know, across the grid statewide. Having more of this deployed here locally is good for us. It makes sense to do this. Please vote yes. >> Hi. District two member of [4:22:26 PM] >> Hi. District two member of Austin dsa. Again, just a great idea that anything that we can do to fight climate change, anything that gets creative with what we have available to us. Yeah, I think again, having our city governments being able to experiment with what we have, you guys, you know, passed a good energy resource generation plan that can help contribute to the demand that we have for renewables and help combat the narrative that they're not reliable. So I just, you know, anything to combat the state's narrative, the federal government's narrative that none of this is feasible when we achieve 100% renewable energy in the city and we have all these little ways to be as resourceful and fiscally responsible with it, I think we'll, you know, we'll be physical proof and evidence to the people that say that it's not real, that we can that we can do this. And we're one of the top 20 cities. So I [4:23:27 PM] one of the top 20 cities. So I think it's our responsibility to do so in in the heart of the us. Thank you. >> Kaiba white, on behalf of public citizens Texas office, we're in strong support of this item. And thank you to council member Siegel and the other sponsors of this item for bringing it forward. We're obviously very supportive of solar energy and especially distributed solar energy on homes and businesses, but we do need to be responsible with those solar panels and other equipment at their end of life. And currently, the city of Austin doesn't really have a good system for dealing with that waste. Of course, there is the opportunity to recycle, but it is not made very accessible. The existing infrastructure really requires only it's. First of all, it's only open to residential customers to take to the drop off center and they have to actually take it there, which most people are not going to be equipped to do. So I am guessing that a lot of panels [4:24:30 PM] guessing that a lot of panels have probably, unfortunately ended up in the landfill in the past, but this is something that we can put an end to now by having a single system where folks do pay in at the front end, and so then at the end of life, the cheapest thing is to call the entity that the city contracts to pick those panels up for recycling. And what we found in our research at public citizen is that that is the most effective model to have a single entity funded by a fee. And that way there's no real opportunity for finger pointing or, you know, just things being lost in the shuffle from one entity to another. It can be very simple that way. So this is envisioned truly as a kind of pass through charge, where the people who are using the technology pay into a system. So I think it is very fair. It is very environmentally and fiscally responsible as well. So thank you for your work on this. The only thing I would [4:25:31 PM] on this. The only thing I would encourage is perhaps a quicker timeline because we're missing opportunities every day. Thank you. >> Item 26 Walter Monroe, Sophia Barbato, Sharon Blythe, Zenobia. Joseph. >> Thank you mayor council. This item is actually Austin housing finance corporation. I thought you would call it up separately. At any rate, I'll just speak to the item as it's posted. The information that I reviewed actually included $18.5 million for project connect, which I opposed. You are well aware that the light rail system will only [4:26:31 PM] the light rail system will only extend up to crestview station. It was voted June 6th, 2023, and this budget item actually gives 30 $300,000 latitude to a general manager, which is unspecified. So if Mandy Demayo could specify who that person is, it would be helpful and transparent. I know that you took the names out when you voted at the last council meeting, but I just want you to recognize that as it relates to the anti-displacement funding. That's a part of this agenda item, it is disingenuous for you to actually keep funding anti-displacement in northeast Austin when the green line is not funded. It never has been because it doesn't have the density and the growth, capital metro told Travis county commissioners that in 2017 and again in 2018. So, mayor, respectfully, as you are aware, the growth is in the north corridor. According to the 2014 project connect locally preferred alternative, which [4:27:33 PM] preferred alternative, which told you that 58% of the jobs would be in the north corridor by 2035. That is reasonable that Samsung to apple on palmer Laine, that's east village, east village, which is a 425 acre development. Yet you have no transportation. So this $118 million is really a farce. I get it, it's something you have to do. But I'm in total opposition because you could actually use the $4.7 million that was estimated in 2020 for metro rapid on palmer Laine instead. And if you have any questions, I'll gladly answer them at this time. >> Thank you Joseph. >> You're welcome. >> Item 20. Excuse me. Item 27, Walter morrow, Sophia Barbato, and Sharon Blythe. Mayor. That concludes all speakers. >> Thank you, members, as you've just heard, that concludes all the speakers on the other agenda items. We will take items up [4:28:33 PM] items. We will take items up with regard to the Austin housing finance corporation at the time we hold that meeting. And the same thing with the Mueller local government corporation. We'll take those up at that at that meeting as well. Members, we are now complete. We've now completed all the speakers, which will allow us to begin the process of going through the action items. As has been indicated, the first action item that we will take up is item number five, which is the budget adoption ordinance. The recommendation, I think, is that what we will do is at 430, it's 430 now. So what we will do is take a recess so that all of the members will have an opportunity to do a little bit additional work before we come back and actually take up that item. My intention would be when we come back is to take up the take, get a primary motion out on the table, and then what we will do [4:29:34 PM] table, and then what we will do is I've indicated on the message board is take up staff amendments and then amendments that have no budgetary impact. They impact the budget, but they the revenue neutral, revenue neutral, at which point we will then take up additional proposed amendments to the overall budget. So unless there's objection, we will recess until I was going to say 530, but is an hour. Let me get is an hour enough? Council member Ellis. >> It's in line with my question was, is there a deadline for amendments that we're bringing to the motion? >> Well, I don't want to put a deadline on it, but I really what I'm hoping happens is that we soon get those in. So why don't we say this? Why don't we say 545. We recess until 545 with a goal of by 530, having in [4:30:34 PM] with a goal of by 530, having in amendments, so that there will be at least some opportunity for our staffs, staffs to look at those and, and have our finance staff working with our staffs, help make sure that they're in some form of order so that I can call them out and we can have discussions about them in an appropriate way. Councilmember qadri then council member alter. >> Not a drastic change, but if we could get the amendments in by 530, but we come back at six, so that gives them 30 minutes. >> Versus if that if that's the will of the council, I'm okay with that. You know, some you know alter is just going to take a nap. But yeah. Council member alter. >> I plan on it. I just wanted to on that Carrie is working on our intention is to the kind of comprehensive approach that we put up on the message board to offer that as the first [4:31:35 PM] offer that as the first amendment to the staff, I keep forgetting what we're calling it, the budget. >> Budget addition one. >> Addition one. Thank you so much. So she's working through that. I hope she just magically appeared. >> I'm she's kind of magic. >> She is. I just I want to make sure that's enough time because, you know, adding these lines and it's complicated. But our hope is to well, let's let's start there. >> Your hope is to offer an amendment that basically substitutes out budget additions. One. Is that right? >> Yeah. Our hope is to avoid having, you know, 40 or 50 amendments. But to really make this a process where it can be, you know, 5 to 10, but everyone can take a look holistically. But, but. >> And, and I just want to make sure I understand if, if people don't. One of the concerns I would have and maybe it maybe it's not a legitimate concern, but is if people are preparing [4:32:35 PM] but is if people are preparing amendments for a document, one that we asked the staff to prepare, and then a motion is to basically substitute out budget amendment number one. And the whole goal of having a budget addition one was to have a target for everybody to prepare to maybe be able to do this. And if they don't agree with all, of all of your suggestions, then they have to assume they could vote no on on that that proposed amendment. But it makes it harder for them to know what their target is going to be. >> And that's why I want to get it out. And also we're keeping the same format, right. So let's just say public health and social services for Wright if that's going to we're not changing that in any way. If that's still in there, it's still in there. So if you had a modification to that, that wouldn't change in any way. Really, what we're doing is mostly adding things to this list and then having a couple subtractions so people would [4:33:37 PM] subtractions so people would still be able to if you were trying to add a certain line, maybe it's within this comprehensive amendment. You don't need to bring that or it's still not there. And so the hope is that it wouldn't it would just basically cull people's amendments, but so they could see holistically instead of what we fear is this kind of game where let's say Jose or councilmember Velasquez is offering the first amendment. It's something that councilmember Siegel really likes, but he doesn't want to vote for anything until his amendment is in. And so he's going to hold back. But now, you know, he votes his down but gets his. And now he would have voted for his you. >> Know that's that's just the natural process. >> Absolutely. I think that this is just a way to look holistically. >> Councilmember, let me ask miss Lang to speak and then I'll come to you first. Okay. >> Thank you mayor. Thank you. Council, I think the challenge that we're having is there are some nuanced changes in the alternative that was that the council members put online today, and it takes us. So, for example, for the staffing [4:34:37 PM] example, for the staffing scenario, it took us about 4.5 hours to make sure everything was taken in time in order to be within financial, all the all the elements that we look at, I don't know if we'll be able to get it completed in time for a conversation today with all the checks and balances that we want to make sure we do, to make sure it's accurate. >> And I completely understand that we have put together and I'll work with you afterwards. But just for clarity, like, let's say we took something off of the know here, let's just take trauma recovery center. That's public health and social services. Six. You have that listed at 500,000. And to your point about making sure every the number, all the numbers are right, if we're picking numbers, we're we would be picking from this list. So if we prepare our our kind of comprehensive amendment based off of this, the numbers on this chart, can we go by those numbers or are you saying there are modifications to these numbers that you all [4:35:38 PM] to these numbers that you all need to update? >> Well, for the for example, the first item that we looked at when trying to tie it was a reduction of. Only leaving maybe $150 in one of the items. But understanding whether or not that was would allow for the program to do anything. So there's a lot of conversation that has to happen to make sure with these changes that they are operational or able to be operationalized. So those are some of the nuances that I'm speaking of. >> We'll get together and we'll try to get it to everybody. We're not trying to pull anything over on anybody. We're not trying to gain an advantage. It really is so that the council can approach this from a holistic perspective and see how the amendments fit together, instead of just this one off nature that's going to we just be less efficient and, you know, not as good of a product, but we'll work with you and, and power through. >> Council member Ellis. >> I'll just speak for myself. I think that staff's big [4:36:39 PM] think that staff's big spreadsheet that I'm glad they were able to print in a larger size font for all of us. I'm more comfortable starting from a place where we have reference numbers, where if we're making amendments, we can come in and say, I know exactly which line item we're talking about. There's a couple of different categories in here that may use housing in different ways, and it may get confusing. You know, parkland is one of the other words that comes up. And so I want to make sure that we're crystal clear on what line items that we're amending, both for us, the folks watching and for our staff. And I also know that the one that they've proposed has us at our 17% reserve rate through all four years. And so I'm worried, as we start working with another amendment process that doesn't have us up to 17%, which is council's adopted goal, to try to make this all pan out when it's already not at 17% in, you know, beyond fiscal year 26. I just want to make sure we're working from what is, to me, [4:37:40 PM] working from what is, to me, most streamlined. I have the fewest edits to make from from staff's proposal. And I just I realize this is an effort to streamline things and find more consensus, but I just I feel like it's easier to have things that are tagged, have very obvious headers, very obvious dollar amounts of yes and no that are included. And to make sure that we're still maintaining the 17% reserves that we all know we use for emergency funding. So I'll just speak for myself. I'd rather start with staff's amendment. >> If we can try to wrap this up, and so that we can do the recess and get on the amendments. That was the goal of having staff do the work that they did until late last night and all morning this morning, but anybody's that's on this dais gets an opportunity to try to amend something. So we'll at some point we'll see whether or not we get to vote on that. So yes, mayor pro tem. >> Yes. And to your point. >> Mayor, I just want to punctuate that the substitute [4:38:40 PM] punctuate that the substitute motion that we will be making is on behalf of four council members. So we are flagging it in advance. We appreciate due consideration over the next hour in which we're recess. But it is a legitimate amendment that we are bringing forward to our policy making body here for consideration. Thank you. >> And we understand. All right. So I guess what we'll do is ask that amendments to what is now what is considered to be budget addition one, which will be what I ask for as part of the primary motion on the budget. Item number five, I ask we ask that that be those amendments. Please try to get those in by 540 with the idea that we will recess. We'll try to get those. Everybody tries to get those in by 540 with the id and then at 615 at 615 will reconvene as a council. So without objection, [4:39:42 PM] council. So without objection, the Austin city council is in recess until 6:15 P.M. It's 439. Thank you all. Waiting on a couple of. [6:50:18 PM] Waiting on a couple of. Brodie at 652 on Wednesday, [6:52:24 PM] Brodie at 652 on Wednesday, August 13th and I'll call back to order the Austin city council for this budget meeting of the Austin city council. Members. As I indicated earlier, what we'll do is we will go to item number five. What I'm going to add is that the financial staff give us an update on where where we are. And then I'm going to ask for a motion and I'll get a primary motion out on the table. And then we will go to amendments of that. The order I'm going to go in on amendments. I've said I've told you all the first amendments will be staff's recommended amendments. Then council amendments that don't change the total budget dollar amount. And then but during the recess, one of the things that became clear is that we had some proposed amendments by council members that related to enterprise funds, and therefore, I'm going to take those up so [6:53:26 PM] I'm going to take those up so that we don't get it all confused with amendments related to general general fund. And then we'll go to amendments related to general fund. So, miss Lang, I'm going to recognize you and see if there's anything you want to say. And then we'll we'll proceed. >> Thank you. Mayor Kerri Lang, director of budget organizational excellence. The staff analysis and scenario that we presented this morning is the final. There were no changes to that document. And so we can start with there and then we can start talking through staff amendments once you're ready. >> All right. Is there anything you want to say about changes to the document that came out this morning. No. Okay. So what we have in front of us members is the document you received this morning that is labeled budget amendment. I'm budget addition one. It is labeled at the top of it. Budget additions one. So the motion that I will make is to [6:54:30 PM] motion that I will make is to adopt the 2025 2026 budget of the city of Austin, the city as that budget, the city manager's budget proposal is filed by the city manager on July 11th, 2025 and is presented to the mayor and city council by the city manager at the July 15th, 2025 city council meeting. With the addition of the document labeled budget additions, one. That will be the motion that I'm making that motion. So we'll have a primary motion. Mayor pro tem seconds that motion. That motion is now on the floor. So we will now go to unless there's questions of any council member. We have a motion on the floor. Members, you have been provided a document that is labeled at the top of that document, F Y [6:55:30 PM] the top of that document, F Y 20, 2526 staff amendments and council initiated revenue neutral amendments. And I'll. The primary motion, the primary motion I said July 11th, 2025 that the budget proposal is filed by the city manager. I said on July 11th, 2025. We have a motion. I'm going to ask y'all's indulgence. It was [6:56:32 PM] y'all's indulgence. It was really July 12th, 2025. And so what, I ask your indulgence, even though I'm not, may not want to be as indulgent on amendments as we go along. But in order to make this one easy, I would move to amend that motion so that it reads adopt the 2025 2026 budget of the city of Austin. As that budget. The city manager's budget proposal as filed by the city manager on July 12th, 2025, and is presented to the mayor and city council by the city manager at the July 15th, 2025 city council meeting with the addition of the document labeled budget additions number one, the mayor pro tem seconds that motion so that we have a clean motion. I want to ask if there's any discussion on the amendment. Without objection, the amendment [6:57:33 PM] Without objection, the amendment is adopted. Now we just have a main motion as amended. Okay. Thank you all for that. All right. Back to where I was. >> I'm so sorry. You're going to kill me. Yep. >> Yeah, that might happen. >> That might happen. Yeah. Or you. Or you. >> We're off to a great start, people. Are we sure? >> The water. Thank you so much. Friday, July 11th 11. Yes. >> All right. For the record, [6:58:34 PM] >> All right. For the record, just because I'll take one shot to the head, but not two. When I said the 11th, the first time I was right, I was told I was wrong. So I said the 12th. And now I'm told I'm wrong again. So I'm being punked. And I apologize to everybody. I move to amend. The main motion, the primary motion, so that we are adopting as the 2025. The motion is that we would adopt the 20 2526 budget of the city of Austin. The city manager's budget proposal is filed by the city manager on July. 11th, 2025 and is presented to the mayor and city council by the city manager at the July 15th, 2025 [6:59:35 PM] manager at the July 15th, 2025 city council meeting with the addition of the document labeled budget addition one. The mayor pro tem seconds my second mistake and is there any discussion? Without objection, the amendment is adopted. We now have a primary motion and the key date is July 11th. All right. Back to where I was fiscal year. You have labeled a document titled fiscal year 20 2526 staff amendments, and council initiated revenue neutral amendments. Members, the way I would like to do this, unless there's objection is you have on that document. 12 proposed staff amendments. The motion that I will take in a moment will be to adopt all 12 of those proposed amendments as a package, and then we will vote [7:00:35 PM] a package, and then we will vote on that. But, miss Lang, I want to recognize you before I ask for a motion. Is there anything you want to say about those amendments? >> No, sir. I think we're good. >> All right. Anybody got any questions about those proposed? Yes, councilmember Ellis. >> No question. Just one comment since we're cruising right along so effectively here. Yeah, I had seen in one of the reports that staff sent out recently that there was a million more dollars of transportation user fee that was coming from the water utility for cuts. I wanted to reallocate that back into sidewalks. So it's not on this list yet, but just wanted to verbally make sure that gets flagged. We can circulate it with staff, but it is revenue neutral. >> Well, we need that as a physical motion. >> We are running that down okay. >> As we. >> Speak that we'll we may come back to that at a later point. So I appreciate you bringing that up. Perfect. That's what we'll do. Thank you. All right. Yes. Miss Lang members, I move [7:01:37 PM] Yes. Miss Lang members, I move that we amend the primary motion on item number five to adopt as a package. The 12 proposed staff amendments contained in the document dated August 13th, 2025, and labeled fy 2025 2026 staff amendments and council initiated revenue neutral amendments. Is there a second? The mayor pro tem seconds the motion discussion without objection, the motion to amend item five is adopted members. What I'm going to do now is there are three council initiated, revenue neutral amendments contained in that document. I can do this one of two ways. One is I can have each council member make the motion [7:02:39 PM] council member make the motion and describe their amendment, or I can do that as a package as well. All right. The council member Laine moves that we make I the item labeled d6 Laine 02d7 Siegel oh one and d8 Ellis oh four contained on the document dated August 13th, 2025, and labeled fy 2025 2026 staff amendments and council initiated revenue neutral amendments moves adoption of those three as a as a block of amendments to item number five. It's seconded by council member qadri. Is there discussion? Without objection. Council member duchen. >> If we're voting as a package on all three, I have different positions on these three items, so I would want to. Okay. >> We will treat that as a consent agenda. And you can tell me what you would vote no on. [7:03:40 PM] me what you would vote no on. >> Okay I appreciate that. I would vote no on or I would I would vote no on D seven Siegel oh one. >> Okay. >> And that's it. >> Thank you very much. Without objection, the three items are adopted as an amendment to the primary motion for item number five, with council member duchen being shown voting no on the item labeled D seven Siegel oh one. Miss Lang, I apologize, but I [7:04:43 PM] Miss Lang, I apologize, but I don't have it in front of me. The amendments geared to just enterprise funds. >> Mayor I don't think we have those separated out, but I can hopefully point you to. >> All of them. I believe they are Ellis and this would be on page six of the document titled fy 26 budget adoption. >> Good. That's great. Let's do it that way. Members. Hang on. I'm sorry, Mr. Benigno. Members, there's a document that you have that is labeled is dated August 13th, 2025. And at the top of the page it's labeled fy 26 budget adoption proposed council amendments. Now if you would walk me walk us through that. Mr. Benigno those that just relate to enterprise fund activities. >> Unfortunately they are they do appear to be clustered. They are on page six. Ellis two, [7:05:45 PM] are on page six. Ellis two, three, five and right below that Laine one. >> And that was convenient. Members, I am going to take these up separately because of the nature of the amendments. And so I will recognize council member Ellis on. This is on page six of the document labeled fy 26 budget adoption, proposed council amendments and dated August 13th, 2025. It is labeled on page 6d8 Ellis oh two councilmember Ellis, you're recognized. >> I will Ellis oh two, oh three and zero five are all listed in the backup that staff had provided. Other council initiated amendments, so I apologize if it's double duty. I just wanted to make sure I was over replicating and not under replicating, but living streets, better barricades for the program, one time funding, and the amount of $250,000. Number [7:06:45 PM] the amount of $250,000. Number three is street TRE replenishment, which is ongoing, and that is $50,000 ongoing from urban forest replenishment fund and the gray rock meridian connector trail is $117,500 from transportation and public works capital improvements program. So I just we had presented those earlier and I wanted to make sure they got captured. However, you wanted to have. >> Councilmember councilmember Ellis moves that item D a Ellis oh two. She moves to amend item number five, the primary motion, item number five, with D a Ellis oh two. It is seconded. Is there a second to the motion? Seconded by council member Siegel. Is there discussion? Without objection, the amendment is adopted. D Ellis oh two. Council member Ellis moves as an as an amendment to the primary motion on item number five that it be [7:07:46 PM] on item number five that it be amended by adoption of D Ellis oh three. It is seconded by council member Siegel. Is there discussion? Without objection, the motion to amend D Ellis oh three is adopted. Council member Ellis moves to amend the primary motion of item number five with D Ellis oh five. It is seconded by mayor pro tem. Is there discussion? Without objection, the motion to amend labeled D Ellis oh five is adopted. Councilmember Laine you're recognized on the amendment Laine oh one members. That is located on page six of the document labeled or dated August 13th, 2025, and labeled fy 26 budget adoption. Proposed council amendments. Councilmember Laine, you have the floor. >> Thank you. I move to amend budget addition one by adding the following line to safety, transit and public works. Sidewalk gap funding $10 million debt only. No budget impact. [7:08:47 PM] debt only. No budget impact. This is funding that will provide one time funding of $10 million for sidewalk construction via certificates of obligation to fill sidewalk project funding gaps in fiscal year 2025 to 26. The funding serves as bridge financing to maintain construction continuity, retain skilled labor and institutional knowledge, and prevent rising costs from impacting it helps the city sustain momentum on critical mobility and safety projects between bond funding cycles. It's revenue neutral because it does not rely on the general fund dollars. Thank you members. >> Councilmember Laine moves that we amend the primary motion for item number five with the doc, and it's seconded by councilmember vela. It is Laine oh one on page six of the fy 26 budget adoption proposed council amendments. Is there discussion? Councilmember vela. >> Just want to thank council member Laine for bringing this. The sidewalk program, I think is moving along very, very well. This is going to provide a [7:09:47 PM] This is going to provide a critical gap funding. Until we get to that 2026 bond. I just wanted to say I appreciate your work very much. >> Thank you. Councilmember vela. Any further? Council member duchen. >> Mayor, I just want to be shown voting no on this item and then abstaining on d8. Lso two and d805 please. >> I'm sorry. >> Voting no on this item and then abstaining on D eight. Ellis zero two and d8 Ellis zero five. >> All right, for the record. Well I'll come back to that. Any further discussion? Without objection. Lang Laine amendment one to the primary motion for item number five is adopted, with councilmember duchen being shown voting no. For the record, on the vote that was taken on D eight, Ellis oh two and d8. Ellis. Oh well, let's start with [7:10:50 PM] Ellis. Oh well, let's start with the d8 Ellis oh two. That was just just momentarily ago taken. Councilmember duchen would like to be shown abstaining on that vote. It will not change the outcome of the of the vote. Is there any objection to his being shown abstaining? There being none, councilmember duchen will be shown voting as an abstention on d8 Ellis oh five that originally passed unanimously. Councilmember duchen would like to be shown voting abstaining from the vote on that item. It would not change the outcome of the vote. Is there any objection to his being shown abstaining on d8? Ellis oh five. Without objection, he will be shown abstaining on d8. Ellis oh five. Mr. Vannino, does that cover all of the amendments that would go to enterprise funds? >> Yes. From that list that we're working from, it is great. >> Thank you. Yes. >> Can I just double check alter oh seven. Because that seems to be enterprise only if I'm out of. [7:11:53 PM] of. >> What page are you on? >> Same page. It's two lines above. D6 Laine oh one. >> You're on a different. >> I'm sorry. >> Oh, yeah. >> The document we're working from is fy 26 budget adoption. Proposed council amendments. >> No, we had it on this one. The other council initiated amendments. Are we completely abandoning this document? >> Yes. Other council initiated amendments. No. >> It's yeah, it's revenue neutral. >> I don't see you listed on there. Where. >> So here's here's what I think happened. But you tell me if I got this right. Those were from what were laid out at the work session. These are what has been brought today so that we make [7:12:54 PM] brought today so that we make sure we have everybody's. Is that right? So the one we're going to go from is this one okay. >> Okay. Well then we'll we'll fix that and get it sent out. >> So and here and here's a you raise an important point. Part of the reason we're doing this is because on the day we laid them out so that everybody would see them, they some of them had numbers tied to them. And I'm making this up as I'm sitting here. But let's say there was alter one and you laid it out as ultra one, but you've abandoned it or you gave it in a different order, and now we're going in this order so that we make sure we have the right order. And I want to go from a single document so that nobody goes back. In fact, I want us to just kind of we did what we were supposed to do at that work session and laid out things and got to ask questions. But I want us to forget the numbers that were associated with that and go with this. That way we'll have a clean record. Does that make [7:13:54 PM] clean record. Does that make sense? >> It does. >> Now. Now, are you able to say which one you want us to look at? >> Well, so it's not in this packet because it's in this packet. So like council member Ellis I guess we'll have to bring it down. >> Yeah. We're trying to submit amendments today. >> We I think we had that and I'm being told it was sent to Katy. And I'm looking at it now but. >> Okay. >> I mean it's we're going to have a little bit of chaotic today and we're going to try not to get too concerned about it, just as long as it's not in the two days from now. But so make sure, folks, if you've offered an amendment, make sure that it's on the document that we're operating from, which is fy 26 budget adoption, proposed council amendments August 13th, 2025. Because that's what we will be operating from, to try to get everybody's amendments considered. So if yours is not on there for some reason, but [7:14:56 PM] on there for some reason, but you have submitted it to Katy by our 630 or whatever time deadline we were trying to do, let's let us let us know so we can make sure you get considered. Council member duchen. >> My amendment is also not on there as well. >> Did you submit it. >> I last week? Yes. >> No. Okay. That's why we were saying everybody submit your amendments today. So if you have not if you did not submit your amendments today as we were requesting, so that we would have a list of amendments, and there's no way if it was last week, it was submitted in the format that we were requesting, because we didn't have that format last week. We need you to do that so we can get that done. >> It looks like Katy just sent us. An addition. The list with additional. >> Yeah, mayor, a new list just came in via email called late amendments. [7:15:57 PM] amendments. >> Okay. >> Mayor, can we make sure financial staff gets that that email as well I haven't. >> Yeah yeah I'm not sending it but I'll I'll make sure you get it if Katie's got another. Has it. >> Well I. >> I haven't. And I guess what I need to do is have it in front of me too. And I need to know whether what happened was we just added to the back of it. Is that what happened? Can I get it? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. >> Well, for. >> Our colleagues here, if you laid out an amendment during work session and has not been turned in today, please make. >> Sure we need we need to get that turned in. That's why we that's. Yeah. Okay. Okay. While we're waiting, as I understand it, it will still be. It will be still be fy 26 budget adoption [7:16:57 PM] still be fy 26 budget adoption proposed council amendments. But it will be added to the back of this right now. We were just operating off page six as it applied to enterprise funds. This is a seven currently a seven page document. What we will do is we will add those pages to the back of this. Which is just fine because what we'll be able to do, we have a little time because we've got seven pages. And my guess is that'll take us a little time. So with that and I'm going to look up again and look at financial staff and see if there's anything you want to say before we go to the amendments that do impact money. >> No, not okay. >> Well then let's go to motions for amendments. Members for the record. And I know you all know this, but I'm going to say it for the record, we have a [7:17:57 PM] for the record, we have a primary motion, as has been amended by a few amendments already. A primary motion for item number five. We have taken up amendments that are staff's recommended amendments. We've then taken up council amendments that do not change the total budget dollar amount. And we've taken up amendments that applied to the enterprise funds. We are now going to go to council amendments that do change the total budget dollar amount as and I'll what I said we would do is we would take up when we came back. Any motion to amend. That is what I'm going to call a generalized motion to amend budget additions one. Council member, vela. >> Mayor, I have a motion from myself, council member, alter mayor pro tem Fuentes and council member Velasquez. It's [7:18:58 PM] council member Velasquez. It's been laid out and it takes a group of amendments that we have offered a number of items offered by the another group of council members and kind of packages it into one larger amendment in the hopes of kind of simplifying the process. And we were trying to pick things that were broadly acceptable to a large number of council members, again, in an order in with a goal of working more efficiently and also getting more insight into where we are, instead of kind of going one by one and trying to tally it the by way of background to these, this package of amendments would keep us at a five cent TRE level, and I don't have the [7:20:00 PM] level, and I don't have the reserve calculations in front of me. I might turn to council member alter for those more detailed numbers, but keeps us at about a 17% reserve level. And I would I would offer that amendment. >> For purposes of clarity and the record I have in front of me. >> And I'm sorry, the white version. Just for clarification, the one that we passed out earlier on yellow paper that had the continuing support for permanent supportive housing, continue existing support. But that was, I believe, already included in the base motion. So it was not necessary to include in our motion. So we pulled it out in the second version just to be to not double count that money that that's what was already included in the staff base version. If I'm correct. >> Yes. [7:21:01 PM] >> Yes. >> Eric Nelson deputy director, budget and organizational excellence our understanding is that this list would be a wholesale replacement of budget additions. One and two reflect the appropriate total amounts. If that's the question. >> No. >> No. >> It would not be. It is a supplement to budget additions one. But it is not a replacement. Everything in budget edition one is already in there. We're not removing anything from budget additions. One, we're adding it to budget additions. >> One I think that's true with one exception, because there is the deletion of one time zero four from budget additions. >> One I'm sorry, which item was that one time? >> The red, the red line, the red line on your exhibit apology. >> That is correct. The red line on the motion is a deletion of the staff. And I'm sorry, I'm struggling to read that tiny [7:22:01 PM] struggling to read that tiny little print. >> It says one time zero for climate reduction fund. >> Yes. So that is being replaced by some ftes that would essentially do similar work to the climate fund. And basically it's not the capital money or the investment money for the fund, it's the staffing for the fund. Again, I would turn to council member alter for a more detailed explanation of what that deletion. But the relevant additions to that would be. Oh, lordy. Would be alter zero five on that list at the very top, the Austin climate and resilience staffing sustainable program manager and energy manager for 124 276. So on the sheet that we handed out deleting the one time there but the additions I guess a [7:23:03 PM] the additions I guess a replacement would be that alter zero five at the very top of the sheet description Austin climate and resilient staffing sustainable program manager and energy manager. General fund ongoing expenditures of 124,276. >> All right, so for the record members, you also have a yellow sheet that has a narrative on it. So you have the white paper that at the top of the page, just for reference, there's a there's a blue line at the top of the page and it says it has a, av2 at the top of the page. But I'm but you also have a yellow page that says item five. August 13th, 2025 council member alter Fuentes, Velazquez and vela motion one. And it's then says I moved to amend the budget additions one by adding the following lines and amounts. And I'm not going to read through [7:24:03 PM] I'm not going to read through all of those. You have it. But for the record, it begins with public health and social services. 13 harm reduction in the amount of $150,000 ongoing general fund it has. The last bullet is one time 11 bond planning in the amount of 100,001 time general fund, and then it has adding to. And then there's two items there. And on the back page there are three more items. And it removes, as was just pointed out, one time zero for that's for the record. Is there a second second by council member alter council member Ellis, you wish to be recognized? >> I have. >> A clarifying question. >> I got. >> You are all of these items also matched in this document, or are they not the same? >> No. What I they are not. So here's what we've got. When we broke, we recessed. I indicated that if somebody had a somebody or somebody had a, a, a more [7:25:04 PM] or somebody had a, a, a more general motion with regard to that, we would take that up and then we will go to these individual amendments. It may be that and it may be for example. Well, it may be that we don't need to take up some of these individual amendments because they're in this broader one. It may be that there are still some individual amendments that people want to bring forward, because it's not in this one item. Assuming this one item is adopted. >> Okay. And I have a follow up question, please. Are these trying to figure out how these relate. So this is a completely separate proposal than staff's spreadsheet. Or is this amending staff's. >> It is amending staff's spreadsheet okay. And I and I'm going to have a question too. But it amends as I understand what the maker of the motion just said is that it amends staff's. Budget addition one and spreadsheet with those items [7:26:07 PM] spreadsheet with those items that are listed on this. So the way councilmember vela described it is it is a supplement to budget additions one. >> And is there a version of this that shows the math year over year so we can see what those reserve numbers look like? I heard it's five pennies and stable at 17% reserves, but I just don't have that information presented that. >> So that's a good question. And I because what the question I was going to ask is where does it actually end up in terms of pennies. Budget addition one was 4.6. This obviously adds some things. So the question is where does that end up in terms of pennies and reserves. >> Yeah. >> And I can answer that. >> How about let's let finance staff answer it. >> Yes. So in fy 29 we would have the general fund balanced at 5.15 pennies with a 17.1% [7:27:07 PM] at 5.15 pennies with a 17.1% projected reserve level. >> Can you give the $0.05 as well. >> At five pennies. Even the general fund ongoing would be 3.7 million in the negative, and reserves would fall to 16.3%. >> Can you say? I want to make sure I understand this amendment would take budget addition 1 to 5.1 $0.05. >> In order to maintain projected balance through fy 29. >> And that balance would be. >> We would be essentially dead even on general fund ongoing. And 17.1% projected general fund reserve level. >> All right. >> I'm going to go to council. Councilmember alter, [7:28:08 PM] Councilmember alter, councilmember Siegel councilmember qadri. >> And just to provide a little more shape to that at the five cent level, because we don't necessarily have to go to 5.15. It's just a question of how you if you wanted to be at that 17% reserve level in year four, but at $0.05 in fiscal year 2028. So in year three of this, it is still balanced and you still do have reserves over 17%. It would be 17.15% in fiscal year 28. So it's not till that fourth year that you potentially cross below 17%. And I would just offer, you know, four years out is a long time and we definitely need to estimate and understand. But you know, point one or point two change in sales tax between now and then eliminates that $3 million deficiency. And that's what we're talking about. Just so we're all it's 3.7 million under. So we are going to make [7:29:10 PM] under. So we are going to make budget decisions next year. We're going to make budget decisions the year after. And we can make those decisions so that we are at 17% in the out years. But this gets us really, really close and also does it in a way that, you know, I think addresses a lot of the concerns that we've heard from the public and, and from other council members of looking at the homeless strategy officer plan and making sure we hit on all the needs. It's as the mayor mentioned, it will just simplify. You know, this takes about 20 amendments off the table. And so it makes it easier to understand how an amendment will interplay with this. Whereas if we just start going down the list, you know, someone adding something early has a deep impact on, you know, the 40th amendment here. And that person might have to be replacing something. And so that's a totally different calculus. And this is an attempt to avoid that type of calculus. >> Councilmember Siegel followed [7:30:12 PM] >> Councilmember Siegel followed by councilmember qadri. >> Thank you, mayor. And, you know, thank you to the entire quorum that did the work to kind of propose this grand compromise amendment, along with council member Lang, councilmember Ellis and councilmember qadri. We discussed this, and we absolutely appreciate the intent, the idea of kind of cutting to the chase on a final budget. But we have some challenges with kind of accepting this wholesale amendment, in part because there there are little details here and there that, you know, there are programs that we support that are left out there, programs here that not all of us would support. But I think I wanted to kind of invite a conversation about our goal here and whether, as a council, our goal is 5.0 pennies at a 17% reserve or not. I believe as many of as ten of us at different points have expressed that goal. And if we want to stick to that goal, you know, with the staff motion is the [7:31:14 PM] with the staff motion is the base motion at at 4.6 cents, we've got roughly $9 million in room to get up to 5.0. Right. And we posted to the message board as a sub quorum a host of amendments that would add about 5.4 million. And theoretically, if the other sub quorum added 5 million and change and councilmember harper-madison added something, councilmember duchen and so forth, we could get to a number that was close enough to 5.0, that staff could then take it back and do a couple haircuts here and there, and get us to 5.0 and 17% reserve. And so what I would like to do on behalf of the quorum is kind of invite some conversation. Now, before we go all the way through amendments one through 40. And maybe if people could articulate, like, are we trying to land at 5.0 or is it 5.2? Because that will determine a lot of the conversation from here on out. >> Councilmember qadri. [7:32:15 PM] >> Councilmember qadri. >> Yeah, playing a game of hypotheticals. If this passes right, the amendment from the other sub quorum, and then I know the mayor has, what, three budget amendments and then our quorum has, what, five point you said 5.4 million worth. And then, yeah, if councilmember harper-madison or councilmember, let's say they all pass, what what scent are we at and what do the reserves look like then? If everyone's super excited today and they're like, we're going to pass every amendment on their. >> We don't have the calculation of every amendment that is posted here. So I could not tell you that today. >> Is going to have to do the math as we go along. >> Like in the moment. Yes, we're doing the math based on what you vote up or down to see what those the impact is. >> Yeah. So we have about $9 million in wiggle room. So I just want to just want to very much emphasize that. So. >> In before I go to you, I'll [7:33:18 PM] >> In before I go to you, I'll say in response that I have posted on the message board very clearly that I, I actually still think my 3.5 is really the best. And will no matter what happens here tonight, you can beat it out of me. But but I. I don't I'm not I don't know where I end up. As I've indicated on the budget overall, but I will not. I know I will not vote for anything that goes above $0.05. So even as we look at this, if it's 5.15, I'm not going to be for that. Even if I might be for the $0.05. Get getting this on the table, the $0.05 at 16.3%. Now I will say to also to councilmember qadri, I think if this goes on, if this amendment goes on, my amendments aren't necessary. So that changes some of the math as well. [7:34:18 PM] of the math as well. Councilmember alter. >> Can I ask Eric in fiscal year 26 for this amendment, what is our reserve level? >> At which level of tax rate. >> At 5.0? >> 17.95%. >> And then what about fiscal year 27 17.88%? So at 17.9, in fiscal year 26, that would be about $20 million over four know about 15 million. Yeah. >> Yeah, 14.7 million and 14.3 million. >> So harkening back to the comment I made earlier, you know, we have a ability to have some room here to have 17% reserves this year at $0.05. And we would even have another 14 point something million to play around with and still be above [7:35:19 PM] around with and still be above 17% reserves. Now. It is then incumbent upon us next year in our budget if we want to stay at 17% reserves, that we shape the budget in a way that does that. But to presume everything is going to be the same from here next year, two years out, three years out. It's important, I think, process and exercise to think about that. But it's on us. If the goal is 17%, then we need to put forward a budget next year. That's at 17%. Right now we're talking about this budget and we could have we have $14 million of room with this amendment to stay above 17%. So my intention is to be at $0.05 and whatever that try to keep the reserves at 17 or higher. But, you know, if then y'all offer your amendments and it takes us from 17.9 to 17.4, then we're still at $0.05, we're still above 17, and we've just got work to do next year. That I [7:36:19 PM] got work to do next year. That I think is the proper budgeting process. So that's you asked how we're thinking about. That's how I'm thinking about it. But we are only two of 11 here. >> Other discussion. Councilmember vela. >> That's that. I think councilmember alter laid it out very well. I do think as a as a overall matter, we should stick to that five cent cap. There's more room on the reserve side. That said, I am there's just a lot of uncertainty out there. We're not sure what the federal situation is. We're not sure what the state legislature is going to do, whether in special session or in any future sessions. So I do kind of lean toward keeping that reserve amount robust and ready in future years. And I think this strikes a good compromise. I want to say that there's we all [7:37:21 PM] want to say that there's we all have left things out that that we were asking that we wanted to get in there. But that's the nature of the budgeting process, is that there's compromises. And obviously you don't get everything that you ask for. So again, just to kind of facilitate and hopefully expedite the process and also to give us a little clarity too, as to where we are. Again, I would just offer the. >> Sorry, councilmember. >> Thank you, mayor. I'm also happy to stick with five. I know that we came out with four different proposals just a very short time ago, and it seemed like there was some coalescence around five pennies that at least nine people had signed on to, some format that kept us around the five pennies. And so that's my priority, is sticking at five or even a little less if we can get there while still managing those reserves over four years, hitting that 17% reserves Marc helps us so much [7:38:22 PM] reserves Marc helps us so much with emergency response funding until we can get reimbursed. And I think as the years go by, we keep seeing more and more issues that we are having to come up with emergency dollars, whether those are for public assistance and grants that aren't coming in or whether those are natural disasters. And so I'm really happy with at least sticking to the 5% and making sure the year over year is at our 17% reserves. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember. Harper-madison. >> Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor, I appreciate it. And I think my colleagues might have gone ahead and preempted what my commentary was going to be, mostly in response to. Councilmember. Excuse me. Siegel. It was sort of a two parter. I really appreciated, you know, what feels very much like an earnest attempt at sort of preempting the rest of the discussion and, you know, kind of getting through some of it that doesn't need to be discussed or belabored, but I'll say, and the one thing that came to mind was, I've watched us as a body over [7:39:23 PM] I've watched us as a body over the course of the years, make an attempt to get to consensus before we get to consensus, and then we vote. And it never went well. I think it's one of those things where the moving parts are moving so quickly, like even this meeting as an example of how much stuff is still moving. I'm I'm still, you know, toggling between pages and open and things that you guys are still submitting as we speak. That said, I don't know that we're going to get to a preemptive consensus, in which case I my recommendation would be we just instead of bypassing the process that's been laid out, we just sort of stay the course and, and do our best to make our cases and get through the process without trying to preempt a consensus. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember. Laine. >> Well, I personally am comfortable anywhere between 5 and 5.2 $0.05. I've been a very strong proponent of maintaining 17% reserves as far out as we look. I also very much value finding a way forward that [7:40:23 PM] finding a way forward that brings as much as many of us forward with us together as possible. And so I will say out loud that I'm okay if only the two year look at 17% reserves. And I really hope we come to something that brings us all together. Thank you. >> Thank you, councilmember and yes, mayor pro tem. >> Thank you. >> And you. >> Know, for me. >> I just. >> To get to councilmember Siegel earlier question, I would like due consideration of all of the amendments before us. And so this amendment that councilmember Bella has laid out does not preempt any of those conversations. I think there's still a lot of discussion here for us to have, but just wanted to put for the record, because I can see that knowing that this, that this amendment would land at a 5.1 penny, that that could appear as if we're trying to cut off conversation. And that is not my intent. I have several amendments that I intend to lay out and hope for your consideration on. So I just wanted to clarify. This is not to circumvent further conversations on any of our [7:41:23 PM] conversations on any of our amendments. >> Councilmember duchen. >> Thank you, mayor. I feel like now might be a good time to just add on to the existing conversation. One, I just want to say I'm grateful for what seems to be a tremendous work from both of the major sub quorums and everybody else on the dais to get ready for this. And when I look at this, it is very apparent that great effort went into this. As you all know, we're way past where my boundaries are for the TRE. But all that to say, there are a lot of great ideas in here, and my sense is and my feeling has been, it's just not the right timing for them. So my abstentions this evening are largely going to be a reflection of that. Not that they're poor ideas, but simply that this is not the best year to implement them. There probably are going to be a few things I vote no on. Also that, but generally speaking, I want to convey that it's not because I feel like there hasn't been good work done and great ideas that aren't here. It's just that from my [7:42:24 PM] here. It's just that from my perspective, it's not the right time to implement them. >> Thank you. Thank you councilmember. Any further discussion or we're going to go to a vote. >> Mayor, can I ask whether it was councilmember vela or another member of the quorum? It does seem like very significant changes were made to this so-called v2, because I had gone over with my staff. The version that was emailed feels like not so long ago, but it seems like there are a number of big changes, like I'm seeing items that aren't on it anymore. Like for example, alter eight was on the previous version. So is there a way you can walk us through the changes between v1 and v2? >> I think that. >> Councilmember alter. >> One second. >> One second to pull up, because I only have the current one. The major changes were around. Forgive me around [7:43:24 PM] around. Forgive me around naming. So the alter eight, for instance, that you mentioned. Yeah, we so there were there were four deletions from what you had emailed out. Those deletions are the alter eight, the non-sworn public safety response pilot, the Laine four, which was the Charlie center showers, the Fuentes two historic preservation and the environment and culture 11 which is the nea grant replacement. You will also see a change in the. Housing and homelessness. 234 the prevention, diversion and rapid exit that went from 4.7 to 1.63 and the. Sustainable that one was in there. So that [7:44:25 PM] that one was in there. So that should be let me just give you one last once over, but that those should outline all the changes. It does. And. And I will note, you know, it includes some individual amendments. You know, council member harper-madison it includes her domestic violence shelter addition or a significant portion thereof, and some of the other additional single shot amendments that are in this packet from the other. You know, the other subcommittee wanted to, you know, the increasing the Austin civilian conservation corps, which I know is something on your proposal. I'll also note, just if I may, that the estimates are giving a 4% increase on every cost for the next four years. That is a very rich acceleration of costs. And some of that, I actually believe is a little bit double counted, because any we have aa4 percent [7:45:26 PM] because any we have aa4 percent increase on our employee pay. And then we have items that have ftes that are also accelerated at 4%. So those you get double counted there. So the fact that we're only $3.7 million out of balance by fiscal year 29, and we're assuming every single one of these programs is going to be funded at a 4% increase every single year. That's pretty significant. And I think if you want to talk about how you can keep it within the bounds that councilmember Ellis has mentioned and others, if you did it at 3%, which is still pretty generous, we'd be there. So there are a lot of levers to pull. I just. >> And thank you, councilmember. Just one clarifying question. So in terms of the financial part, did I hear correctly that this could be done at five pennies with a 17.9% reserve in year one? >> That's correct. >> And it would be over 17% in year two as well. >> Further questions or discussion. All right, members, the motion in front of us is a [7:46:29 PM] the motion in front of us is a motion to amend item number five. The primary motion as it's been amended. It is labeled item five. August 13th, 2025 council member alter Fuentes Velazquez and vela. Motion one mayor. Yes. Councilmember Siegel. >> Is there any chance you could grant us a five minute recess to think about this? I mean, this is so much information to process. >> You know, I think that's probably fair. It is. 746 without objection, the council is in recess until 755. >> Thank you sir. >> At 7:56 P.M. And we have been [7:56:57 PM] >> At 7:56 P.M. And we have been in recess, and I will call the Austin city council back to order what I'm going to do so that we can close on this motion to amend, is I'm going to recognize first council member alter to explain the document he just passed out. And then I will call on council member vela to close. >> So the budget staff just found a slight reconciliation error, but everything in the chart was right. So there just a couple minor changes on the adding the following lines. If you look almost to the bottom. Environment and culture 12 we have the regional animal adoption center in the amount of 675,000 ongoing general fund. It did not include the Ann 125,000 in 1 time general fund that's in the chart, but just not that one time amount was not reflected here. Also in the chart, the very bottom line, the road to compliance tenant protections [7:57:58 PM] compliance tenant protections once again in the chart, but just didn't make it in the narrative. So that is now listed on the final bullet in the adding section. And then last but not least, there was listed in your narrative also not present on the chart, but housing and homeless seven for 171,001 time street outreach. That's that was erroneous. You were not making that addition. >> So members the motion that we'll be voting on is the motion to amend item number five, the primary motion as amended. And it will be utilizing the document that is labeled council member alter, Fuentes, Velasquez and vela. Motion 1v2, version two. For the record, that is what the motion to amend that we will be voting on is. Councilmember vela, you are recognized to close on the group's motion to amend item number five, as amended. [7:58:58 PM] number five, as amended. >> Thank you, mayor, and for the benefit of the public who's following along, I just wanted to highlight some of the items that are funded in this group motion. The just a handful of things the frontline employee bad weather pay. You know, oftentimes we are asking our employees to come in during snowstorms, ice storms in particular. And we want to make sure that those are those are tough jobs. Those are tough days. And that's designed to make sure and compensate our employees for that. We have the regional animal adoption center in there, and that's essentially what we want to do is open a satellite location, both to help us with capacity. There will be a small amount of capacity and possibly a lease location. And in addition, we just want to make it easier for folks that are in the outer reaches of Austin, far north, far south [8:00:00 PM] Austin, far north, far south again, wherever that it may be to volunteer to adopt, we need to move in that direction where we can't just have one facility in Austin. We really need to have multiple locations where we're going to have a public facilities. We fully fund the homeless strategy office, plan the prevention, diversion and rapid exit. The new emergency shelter beds are fully funded. The rapid rehousing is fully funded. The sobering center is funded. And that's again a critical piece of our downtown public safety puzzle. Puzzle. It's an extremely important diversion outlet for both ems and APD. The trauma recovery center is funded a second year grant for the trauma recovery center to keep up the good work that they're going that they're doing going the family stabilization grant, which I know there was a lot of public testimony with regard to the family stabilization grant that is maintaining funding at $1.3 [8:01:01 PM] is maintaining funding at $1.3 million. The family justice center is also funded. That's an effort by Travis county that will centralize a lot of their a lot of their families, a lot of their victim services, different services like that. It's mostly funded by the county, but we are going to help them with get going. That should be also helpful for the Austin police department as well. The domestic violence shelter support, the funding to support the shelter operations. The family shelter is funded in there. And then we're restoring the police oversight budget. There was a handful of positions cut from there that that those positions will be restored. And then the we're calling the road to compliance funding, which is the tenant protections, which, you know, if we're going to be asking landlords, requiring landlords to rent out units at a certain affordability levels, [8:02:03 PM] certain affordability levels, there needs to be an oversight and accountability mechanism. And this would essentially fund the oversight and accountability mechanism for some of our affordable housing. Again, that's an addition to a lot of the great stuff that is funded in the base motion. So I just wanted to lay that out. And I close. >> Members, the motion is to the vote will be on the motion to amend. I've called it a couple of times, but it's the motion to amend item number five, as amended. I'm going to ask for a show of hands. All those in favor, raise your hand. >> And Natasha on the screen. >> Okay. All those opposed. The. The vote being six in favor [8:03:08 PM] The. The vote being six in favor and five opposed. The motion to amend is adopted. The votes in favor are altar Velasquez Fuentes, the mayor. Vela and harper-madison. The nays are Ellis, duchen, qadri, Siegel and Laine members that will now take us to the. I'm going to go back to the document that is labeled fy 26 budget adoption. Proposed council amendments. Members. There have been some pages added to that, and I'll call those out when we get to them. What I ask for is for this document to be prepared so that the people so that the amendments would be called out in the order they were received by our staff when [8:04:08 PM] were received by our staff when we started filing them today that way, I thought that was the fairest thing as they as they came in. That's the order we'll go in. My you notice it has five potential amendments of mine. Those were included. My number one priority in this process right now, at least in terms of adding to the manager's proposed budget was homelessness and fully funding the homeless strategy office. That is in the amendment we just adopted. So I'm withdrawing. Mayor one, two, three, four and five. I'll now recognize council member alter for proposed amendments that he [8:05:08 PM] for proposed amendments that he has listed on page one of the document. Fy 26 budget adoption proposed council amendments. >> Thank you very much, mayor. Similar story here. Alter one, two and four can be withdrawn, but alter three I would like to offer at this time, which is to add $500,000 for homeless and housing navigation. This is within David's plan. When it was put together, kind of left as a tbd. And what we know is that we are working on a new housing navigation center for the community and want that to be as successful as possible. And so there might there likely to be some operations dollars needed. And this would provide $500,000 to achieve that goal. >> Councilmember hall. [8:06:09 PM] >> Councilmember hall. >> I'm sorry, council member alter moves to amend item five, as amended with alter three, which is on page two of fy 26. Budget adoption. Proposed council amendments. Homelessness and housing oh five navigation. It's seconded by mayor pro tem. Discussion. Councilmember duchen. And by the way, although this is just this is a budget meeting and not a regular meeting, this thing still works. Council member duchen followed by councilmember. >> Thank you mayor. I just request to be vote shown abstaining on this item. Thank you. >> Okay. Council member Ellis. >> Mine is a procedural question. Now that we have an amended base motion and we're moving forward, how are we are we going to just go through these and kind of say yes and no, and then let staff crunch numbers and figure out where it [8:07:09 PM] numbers and figure out where it is we're ending up? >> Well, that's a it's a very good question and I wish I had a better answer. The answer I'm going to give you is yes. And now here's what here's what I wish were the better answer. What I worry about as we do that is that as people have expressed where they are, is we won't know where we are in terms of the sense. And that's why a straight up yes answer is not the best answer. I'm hopeful that our financial staff will be able to eyeball some of this, and let us know how something might impact if we ask them that question, but on on any one of these given items. So yes, we are kind of doing just that, but it's not the that's not the best process. If we're trying to hit a target. So, Mr. Benigno, did I say [8:08:13 PM] So, Mr. Benigno, did I say anything that gives you heartburn or was it the pizza? >> I didn't get a chance to get any pizza, but no, just just a reminder that with the amendment that was made to the primary motion, you're currently at that 5%. That's right. Which it sounded like was a kind of a target that that folks had in mind. So anything that is approved is going to be above the five cent. >> And now the question is just how much. And that's really what I was referring to. The other part about is I put in the message board last night that it is assumed if you offer something that has money and you don't offer a cut somewhere as part of that, then it is presumed as as Mr. Benigno just pointed out, it is presumed that it's adding to the tax rate. Councilmember Siegel. >> I'll just say, if the public [8:09:13 PM] >> I'll just say, if the public is having a hard time, I'll just say my staff is having a hard time right now to figuring out how to move forward. Now that we have a new base motion. And I think a related question is, is like, if we want to stick with five pennies, do we try to take things, take things out of v2? I mean, like what? Like what is the pathway here? I mean, I don't know if we have a couple dozen amendments pending here and if we all want to stay true to $0.05. >> You're going to if you if a person is making a motion to amend and that motion to amend adds money. Either that person can offer to cut something and that and that would be part of the. And I'll recognize that as part of the motion. Even though it's not written out here, we will we will make sure that that's been done because this is we're we're doing it the way we are, or it will be presumed to add to the tax rate. And I [8:10:14 PM] add to the tax rate. And I suppose people can vote based upon their feel about that. For example, I know how I'm going to vote on a number of amendments simply because of what it does to the tax rate. If there's not an alternative. >> I'll just say my staff is asking for a break here because our whole legislative strategy has changed in the last ten minutes. But it sounds like you are saying we should plow forward here. >> Well, I'll listen to the council in that regard, but it's going to be difficult. We need we need to move forward. And we and there was an anticipation, I would think that this, this sort of thing would happen. But because a lot of people had a lot of amendments right up to the very last minute, council member qadri. >> Might not be a question to ask, but I'll ask the question anyway. If all the other quorum that that brought forward that [8:11:16 PM] that that brought forward that that omnibus amendment, if none of them bring forward another budget amendment and councilmember Siegel. My brain is fried right now. Councilmember Siegel, Laine and Alice all go through what what are we at? Obviously it's going to be about five, but I'm just curious to see what we're going to be at. Could you could you I mean, it doesn't have to be now, but in the next X amount of minutes, could you calculate that. That if, if, if all of y'all's if you guys have nothing else coming forward and it's just the folks from my budget subgroup who bring something forward and they pass, what are we at? Yeah. >> And councilman qadri as what they think. I mean, part of the answer is there's 0.9% of reserve beyond our policy level that's theoretically available for one time funding. >> Here's what I'll do. I'll get a sense of the council. I mean, I hopeful that we can get [8:12:17 PM] I hopeful that we can get completed tonight. What I'm going to do, though, is I'm gonna recognize council member alter in the order that went up, councilmember alter and then council member Ellis and then I'll offer up something. Councilmember alter. My approach in thinking about this was, you know, we have not assigned a certain number to reserves, right? What we have done is said, here's the amount of revenue we're going to generate, here's our expenditures, and that difference is going to the reserves. And that amount right now is 17.9, whatever it is assuming. And I think there's some really good amendments in here that I plan to support from the other sub quorum, as well as my own sub quorum. Let's say that adds up to $7 million. That would be you could either raise the tax rate about a third of a penny, or know about half a penny to get it to 5.5. Or we [8:13:17 PM] penny to get it to 5.5. Or we could say we're just going to dedicate a 7 million less to reserves. And that takes us from 7.17 point 9 to 17.45. And still in year two, that would be still right around the 17 level. So the my approach and what I think we could do is go through this process and ask either how much would that what would that take us to a reserve level. Not necessarily adding on pennies, but lowering down reserves both in fiscal year 2627 and make a decision that way. That's you know, there are two levers here. It's not just up right. >> Councilmember followed by councilmember Laine. >> Thank you. I'm trying to do the math up here in real time, having an amended base motion that already pushes beyond five pennies makes me feel like I'm in a position to abstain on everything else that's being proposed. Marc duchen might decide to do that. [8:14:17 PM] decide to do that. >> He's been looking for company councilmember Ellis. >> That's the. >> Answer right there. >> I want to support these things. We already had about $9 million of leeway to get to a place where a this dais said it was comfortable to be at. Now, we have an amended base motion that puts us in $24 million lower than our established reserve policy by year three. If people are going to support this TRE, how are we going to tell them that we're still not following our own financial responsibility plans and setting ourselves up for the future, when we've already blown the number and we still have, you know, three different versions of amendment stacks that we have to get through. I just physically don't know how to how to manage what to put in and what not to put in with where we are at in this moment. >> Councilmember Laine. I share the concerns that have just been expressed. This is a lot to process on the dais without totals on it, and without my staff having full access. I have [8:15:18 PM] staff having full access. I have a grand total of three amendments in this stock and that I do not believe are here, but I'm not even sure yet. And so I would at the very least like to put forward that the sub quorum that crunched these numbers has had a lot more time to consider what's in here, as have your staffs. And so I also would really struggle to, off the bat, vote yes on the next 500,000, especially knowing that mine are at the very end, even the $26,000 one, which there's nothing anywhere near that small on here. So I'm just I'm struggling a little bit with accepting all of this as quickly with this little access to the specifics. And then also starting out above the $0.05, looking at I care a lot about maintaining reserves in relation to our policy, but goodness, the amount of growth that there's been in the homeless population [8:16:19 PM] been in the homeless population in the northern suburbs of Austin, and there is one day a week that there is showers available in north Austin, and we couldn't find 26,000in the omnibus. I just have a problem with sort of how we're working through that, and where the access to the time and ability to work with our staff as we sort through this, how that's looking at this point. So I would bare minimum propose that if we are going to go through these, that we begin with amendments that do not originate with the sub quorum that also produced this. That's my thought. Thank you. >> Councilmember vela. >> Thank you. I just want to we 2829 and the reserve levels in 2829. Again, right now we're at 17.9%. We're projected next year at 17.2%. I just those are when I got on council, we were at 14% reserve level. So I just want to [8:17:21 PM] reserve level. So I just want to push back against this notion that that somehow we're breaking any kind of financial policy. The goal has been, again, if I remember correctly, the 17% reserve level were at that level this year. We will be at that level this year. We're going to be at that level next year. What happens three years from now? There's just so many variables between today and then. Both legislative sales tax just grants that that may be restored by a future. Who knows? I just don't want to, you know, how far out in advance do we want to budget and plan? I really appreciate, for example, the city manager having that two year forecast, because I think that is very helpful for years out. That's that's just too far to get any kind of accurate. Any kind of accurate numbers. And I think we're meeting the 17% reserve level this year. We're [8:18:23 PM] reserve level this year. We're going to meet it next year, and we're going to do the best we can to meet that in the future. I think we're being very financially responsible and keeping the city's reserve levels strong and stable. >> Councilmember qadri. >> I press the button. I know there's people that actually have questions. My only thing was going to go back to something, councilmember Siegel said. It doesn't have to be quite the 45 minutes or hour, whatever it was, but maybe even taking ten minutes to just quickly huddle with with our staff. >> My, my, my intention was to hear from everybody that indicated they wanted to be heard before we then I was going to offer a minute ago when I said I was going to offer something up, I was going to offer up a 30 minute recess so that people can kind of reconfigure where they are, and we can come back and decide what we want to do. Mayor pro tem. >> Thank you. You know, I, I hate hearing that there wouldn't be due consideration for the amendments we put forward because this is the rainy day is now we are putting forth a budget to our community to [8:19:23 PM] budget to our community to address needs that we have in Austin today. Many of the amendments I have put forward are because organizations are losing federal funding. And to think that we're talking about where our reserve policy is 3 or 4 years from now, as a point of contention to me, is just wild. When I entered council in 2021, our reserve policy was 14%. We increased it by 3% and we have needs in our community. I just ask is that we consider the amendments as they are filed, and I look at it through the lens that we are adopting a budget for this year. We are policymakers. We will consider the budget every single year. We can make changes and amendments as the needs of our community evolve, but just wanted to offer those thoughts. >> Thank you members. What I would suggest we do is recess. Okay. Councilmember Ellison, councilmember Albornoz, councilmember Ellison, councilmember. >> Alter. [8:20:23 PM] >> Alter. >> I just I know that our reserve policy has changed over the years, but I want us to remember why we changed it and that we need to actually stick with it at some point. I don't know that we've adopted a budget that actually hit our council policy for those dollars, and what it does in actuality is allows us to borrow money at a lower interest rate because we have the dollars saved up in case something terrible happens. That's why we changed the policy. We as a council need to be able to commit to the things that we have as city policies. I understand where everyone is coming from, but every year there is great need and every year the need increases. I don't know why we have policies if it's going to cost us more money to be able to borrow dollars over the long haul. We have very high dollar expenditures happening right now in this city, and the least we can do is try to make sure that the interest rate we get on these municipal bonds is something that that we're not wasting money. That's not money that's going to any any need. That's not going to capital improvements. That's not money [8:21:24 PM] improvements. That's not money that's going to social service programs or to be able to leverage grants that the federal government is taking away. That's interest that's going outside of any community benefit that we have here that we are trying to do. So I just really want to make sure that at some point, we're able to figure out what our goals are going to be and to stick with them. We have to honor our commitment when we say we're in a place, and this is what we're going to do at a certain point, we have to do it. >> Councilmember duchen. >> Thank you, mayor. I just want to build on councilmember Ellison's point. I worry that by viewing this year as a rainy day event, that we're overlooking the, from my perspective, very obvious notion that things can always get worse. We've got another X amount of years of this federal administration. I use X loosely, and who knows what that means. We've got tariffs. We've got all other kinds of external factors that are impacting us. We've got [8:22:24 PM] are impacting us. We've got other contextual factors. The legislature and other places. The idea that we would be in a place where this is the bad year that we've got to spend down, or we're going to forgo our guardrails on what our reserve fund looks like. Seems pretty wild to me. It does. And I just to put it in perspective, I believe the city of Houston was short, unlike us short $33.4 million. They were short of think about $220 million for city, admittedly larger than us, but at one point they were. They're forecasted to be short over $300 million like. And even then they got through that without a tiara. So I want to put this in perspective. This is not this is a maybe the start of potentially a downturn, but that's very different from entering an emergency and dipping into reserves and forgoing the safeguards that prior councils put in place. >> Thank you, councilmember [8:23:25 PM] >> Thank you, councilmember alter. And then we're going to what I'm going to do is recommend we recess until 9:00. >> I wonder if Eric would mind sending out the updated reserves for each year, for the four years with this new. Amendment in place, so that we can see each year? Because I, I can't echo my colleagues, the mayor pro tem points any more strongly. We are not proposing going below 17%. We're at 17.94%. And we're talking about a time when there are critical needs in the community that are not being met, because the state and federal government have decided to walk away from the public. And if it is so essential that we're at 17% next year, which under the current proposal, we still are, then next year when we get there, we have to cut something or not add something. It's we can only budget one year at a time. And to insinuate that we are going [8:24:28 PM] to insinuate that we are going crashing into our reserves here, we're almost $15 million over the reserves. So. That's it. >> All right, members, I think it's a reasonable request of council members to have some time. So without objection, the council will be in recess until it's 9:00 and I'm going to call [9:00:35 PM] it's 9:00 and I'm going to call us back to order. Here's what we're going to try to do. If we can. First of all, I'm going to in just a second, I'm going to ask for general consent for council member alter and the mayor pro tem, who made the second to withdraw his motion on alter three. And then what I'm going to do is ask members who are going to withdraw their amendments because they're already contained. Excuse me, contained in the amended item five. Now to let us know what is being withdrawn. Then we're going to go to people that were not part of the motion to amend. Alter, Fuentes, Velasquez and vela were not part of that and asked them to offer up their amendments. First. I'm going to request that because of where we [9:01:36 PM] request that because of where we are in this process and my role. Of the council, that people are trying to hit a target of five per $0.05, that if you offer an amendment, just like I said on the message board yesterday, if you offer an amendment that costs money, which they're all going to cost money, but if you offer an amendment that costs money, you offer one of three options with that amendment one that you want it, you got something else that you're going to cut. You've got an item in the budget that you're that your amendment would also cut. Two, you want it to be part of a TRE. In other words, if it takes you above five, it takes you above five. That's where you that's where you get the funding for your amendment or three, you [9:02:36 PM] your amendment or three, you want less money to go into reserves. An important point here is it's not that you're cutting reserves, it's just means that in the TRE package, less money would go into reserves. So that is what your motion needs to contain when you move to amend. All right. With that being said, is there any objection to council member alter and the mayor pro tem, who the maker of the second withdrawing the motion to amend item number five, as it's amended, labeled alter three, without objection, the motion to amend by councilmember alter and seconded by mayor pro tem is withdrawn. Now, I want to recognize councilmember Velasquez first to have him walk through those items in the these proposed amendments that are no longer necessary and he will not [9:03:37 PM] longer necessary and he will not be bringing forward. >> Thank you, mayor. I will be withdrawing. Velasquez one, Velasquez two, Velasquez three and Velasquez four. On the withdrawal of Velasquez four. The motion for it geospatial analyst we're not withdrawing support for. So this position is intended to be included under the H.R. So programmatic and support staff that we've we've already agreed to. >> All right. Members, if you look at the document labeled 813 2025 fiscal fy 26 budget adoption proposed council amendments on page three at the bottom of page three is Velasquez one, Velasquez two and three are on page four. And then the last document that we have received is a document entitled fy 26 council proposed amendments 7 P.M. And that's where page one dated eight, 1320, 25. That's where you find Velasquez four members. Are there anybody is there anybody else wishing to indicate what [9:04:38 PM] else wishing to indicate what amendments will not be coming forward if it because of the amendment that's been made? Councilmember Ellis. >> This one is not pertinent to the earlier vote, but I wanted to flag that the sidewalks repair budget for transportation fund. I was able to talk to budget staff a little bit about the application of that, and I just want to take a little more time to understand and unpack what we want to do there. So I'm going to withdraw that for today. >> And where and where is that? >> That is also on the 7 P.M. Okay. >> Seven on the 7 P.M. Thank you very much. >> That was handled. >> So you're withdrawing that today or completely. >> For today and tomorrow and Friday if necessary. >> Very good. Okay. >> See it on an agenda soon for mobility. >> Got you to talk. We got you. Okay. Mayor pro tem. >> Thank you. Colleagues with a previously adopted amendment, I will be withdrawing. Fuentes eight, Fuentes nine, Fuentes 11. This is on page three. These items are incorporated in the previously adopted amendment. >> Thank you very much. Councilmember alter. >> Could you. Sorry, could you [9:05:38 PM] >> Could you. Sorry, could you read those numbers again? >> Eight, nine and 11 on page three of the amendment document. >> Thank you. >> Just wanted to make sure it's clear that one, two and four that I mentioned earlier with fully withdrawing, three withdrawing for the moment. >> But that's that. >> That that is that is the way the chair understood what you were doing. Anybody else have any proposed amendments that they will not need to be bringing forward? Yes. Council member vela. >> Yes, mayor. I'm going to withdraw. Vela one vela two and vela three. Again, we're on the proposed council amendments. Sherry Wright. >> Paige five. >> Paige five. Exactly. And I we've been trying to find a way to work that stipend for the employees not eligible for remote work, telework. We looked at various funding options, and we're not coming up with [9:06:40 PM] we're not coming up with anything right now. I'm going to keep it on there for, for, for the moment and continue to see where we can fund it. But we're going to see what we can do. >> Very good. Thank you. Anybody else? Councilmember Siegel. >> Hi, mayor. Thank you. I move to withdraw Siegel one, Siegel two and Siegel three as they are already included in the base motion. >> Siegel one, Siegel two, and Siegel three on page four of the document labeled fy 26 budget adoption. Proposed council amendments are withdrawn. Councilmember qadri. >> If everyone is done withdrawing amendments, could we get just a rundown of what's left? >> Sure, when we have that. >> One, withdraw. Okay. >> So when I think everybody's done, I'll try to run through those councilmember Laine. >> On page seven, I will withdraw Laine three. Regarding HIV testing. Thank you. [9:07:41 PM] HIV testing. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else have any proposed amendments that can be withdrawn because of the status of the amendment to item number five, as amended? Okay. In that case, let me. So those that have not been withdrawn, anybody check my math on this okay. Because I was I was marking them as we went on page two of that document. Alter three. Alter four. Fuentes one. Fuentes two. Fuentes three. Fuentes four. Fuentes 5126127. Fuentes ten. These are not withdrawn. Siegel four on page four on page five. Siegel five. >> Siegel five is budget neutral. Has already been included. [9:08:41 PM] included. >> I'm sorry. Say that again. I didn't understand it. >> I'm sorry. Siegel five is already. That was a budget neutral one that's already been done. >> You're right. Thank you very much for pointing that out. Okay, also on page five, not withdrawn. Vela four. Ellis one. Ellis two. Page six. Ellis three. Ellis four. Page seven. Not withdrawn. Laine two. Laine four. On the second sheet. These are not. This is D five. Alter 2d5. Alter 3d5. Alter 4d5. Alter 5d5 alter six. On the next page D five alter seven. Yes [9:09:44 PM] D five alter seven. Yes councilmember. >> I apologize D five alter six can be scratched through. >> Okay D five alter six is taken off the next page. D five alter seven and duchen one are not withdrawn. And then the final one on the 7 P.M. Both of those are withdrawn so that that's the list. Councilmember Laine, did you want to say something? Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I'm looking at my at an old list here. So members. What? I'm. It's 910. We intend to recess at 10:00. Let's see how much work we can get done in that between now and 10:00. And as I indicated, I'm going to go first to those members who were [9:10:45 PM] first to those members who were not part of the motion to amend item number five, as amended. So I'm going to go first to page four of the document. Fy 26 budget adoption proposed council amendments and go to council member Siegel on Siegel four. You're recognized. >> Thank you mayor and I do have a late I guess it's Siegel six because of something that was stricken from the budget by the omnibus motion. Anyway, so that's already been emailed out. It's not on your list. So I have two two amendments to lay out you. One you're not going to have because it was just sent out via email three minutes ago. >> Okay. I may have to come back to you. >> Okay. That's fine. >> Two Siegel four. >> Thank you. Siegel four I move to amend the base motion by adding public health and social services. 11 of budget additions, one referring to reentry workforce development in a one time amount of $1 million [9:11:47 PM] a one time amount of $1 million to provide grant funding to organizations that provide jobs training to populations with high barriers to employment, such as people exiting jail or prison and people with insecure housing. >> And where would you get the funding? >> This would be one time funding from drawing down the reserve. >> All right. And for clarity purposes and for the public, it's not drawing down reserves. I'm not I'm not correcting your language, but I guess I am. But but what I want to be clear is that. The $0.05 that, that a five cent tax rate election would put a certain amount of money, depending upon how it's being spent into reserves. And what this would do is take $1 million out of what would go into reserves in order to fund this, correct? >> Yes, sir. >> It's one time, one time money. The motion has been made [9:12:49 PM] money. The motion has been made by councilmember Siegel. It is seconded by council member Laine. Is there any discussion? Yes. Councilmember duchen. >> Same story. I would appreciate being shown to be voting. Abstain on this one. Thank you. >> Councilmember alter. >> I was just curious about the uestion for the maker of the motion. Is this a program? Do we do this already and are we doing more or does someone I'm trying to understand if this is a gap or a build on I like it. I just want to. >> This is a proposal from the community investment budget coalition. And the goal here is to increase grant funding to entities engaged in workforce training, job placement and networking aimed at qualifying and placing low income black and Latino communities and other communities historically marginalized or underserved, and paying tech jobs and diversifying Austin's tech workforce. There's other additional ideas for the grant funding to further define the program. We would bring an ifc later this year. >> Great. [9:13:50 PM] >> Great. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Councilmember vela. >> With we're talking about folks coming out of jails and prisons. Are we talking about local? I'm just trying to understand the scope of it. And my one kind of the I've been in and out of as a criminal defense attorney, been in and out of many facilities like that. Where's the county on this? You know, the county we a lot of folks come out of the county jail. They is there any support? Is there any cooperation? Is there any partnership with the sheriff's office, with the county in helping folks, especially folks that are coming out of a long stint in either sometimes county jail or, you know, sometimes a prison? I just want to kind of know a little bit more about the program before we commit to the funding of it. >> Well, I'm certainly open to working on these details with you. I think we could set a goal of creating an ifc to bring to council during September, before [9:14:51 PM] council during September, before the program would take effect, to make sure all of those details were nailed down. >> Other questions or discussion. The motion has been made by council member Siegel, seconded by council member Laine. I'm sorry. >> Yes. >> It's okay. Your head was down. You can see me. My hand is raised. I did want. >> To apologize. >> Councilmember harper-madison, you're recognized, I apologize. >> No worries, no apologies. I appreciate the recognition. I do turn that camera off so my big head isn't crowding out the room. I really appreciate this amendment and the motion before us, if for no other reason. Council member Siegel you know, we were working towards a budget item that would have included what we were calling transitional workforce because people can be transitioning out of lots of tricky situations that that make entry into the workforce tricky. But, you know, some of the things that were difficult for us were making it substantive to council member vela's point, is this an add on? [9:15:53 PM] vela's point, is this an add on? Or maybe that was alter who asked if this was an add on. And so in a lot of ways, the effort that we were attempting to put forward was addressing some issues that we bumped into. So, you know, with your with your invitation, I'd sure love to work on that future ifc and just sort of bring forward some of the challenges we bumped up against. The truth of the matter is, I think the dollars are absolutely well spent, regardless of the initiative or programmatic effort. Mostly. But some of the challenges we were looking at was like the reconciliation after the receipt of a grant, how many instances where organizations were deemed ineligible because they had made themselves ineligible by way of not being compliant, and that was an administrative, training and capacity building thing. And some of the other things we bumped up against, including, you know, when people think workforce, they're thinking ditch digging, which, you know, we're not talking careers there, in which case it is a years long discussion. And it did not for [9:16:55 PM] discussion. And it did not for us culminate in a budget ask. I didn't think it was comprehensive and substantive enough, but I certainly appreciate you putting something forward and look forward to helping you make it more substantive with just some of the contacts that we've been able to amass over the years. >> Thank you. Council member would really welcome that. Appreciate it. >> Thanks. Council member any further any further discussion on Siegel four? Hearing? None. Without objection. Siegel four is adopted with councilmember duchen being shown abstaining. That will take us on page five to Ellis. One. Councilmember Ellis, you're recognized on Ellis one. >> Thank you. Mayor, I'd like to present one time dash oh three. This is the additional dollars that were requested for firefighter overtime. This is one time funding. So it would be coming out of the additional [9:17:56 PM] coming out of the additional reserves that are right now in the proposal. There's already $6 million represented there. I just want to make sure that as we address some of the staffing conversations that have been presented, that we are able to commit to the full year of what that overtime might be if there's additional dollars. I know that the department definitely has some some delayed purchases that they have been trying to make sure they can hit this year's numbers. And so I think that that could definitely be used by the fire department, regardless of whether it's used for overtime members. >> The motion has been made by council member Ellis. For Ellis one to be to amend item number five, as amended, with the money coming out, the money being provided by putting that amount less into reserves in any TRE. The motion is seconded by council member qadri. Discussion. With regard to the motion. Mayor pro tem, thank you. I'm sorry, councilmember [9:18:58 PM] you. I'm sorry, councilmember rice, I'll go mayor pro tem and then go to you. >> Thank you, councilmember Ellis. I know you've highlighted concerns around the reserves amount. So with this amendment that would take 2.2 million in the reserves surplus that we have currently with this proposal, what would that put our percentage at? Do we know? >> And please count into that the 1 million of the previous amendment. >> Yes sir. So prior to incorporating this amendment would be at 17.89%. And if I hit, yes, we would be at 17.74% in fy 26. >> Thank you. I will certainly very comfortable supporting this and just want to highlight and underscore for my colleagues that we are still in a reserve surplus scenario by adopting this amendment surplus on our [9:19:58 PM] this amendment surplus on our revenue above 17%. >> Councilmember. Alder. >> I am generally inclined to support the needs of our firefighters. I do have some pause here in that we have an ifc that I have put forward. I assume we'll get to tomorrow that asks for the data around firefighter overtime leave. You know, we heard from our chief about the potential leave issues we have at the fire department and putting $6 million in that should get us at least nine months. And really, a good analysis of what is happening as it relates to leave. And if we need to add more over time, then we could do it. We'd have the reserves available. I just I'm I have a pause, a hesitation that we are going to fully fund it before we know what the actual issue is around their leave. And it's nothing against, you know, the fire department. I want to [9:21:00 PM] the fire department. I want to support them in every way I can. I just this was giving me a little pause. So I. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Further discussion. Hearing none without objection. Ellis one which is a proposed amendment to item number five as amended, is adopted. Councilmember Ellis, you're recognized for Ellis two on page five of fy 26 budget adoption proposed council amendments. This is a proposed amendment to item number five, as amended. >> Thank you. I move to amend budget addition one, as amended by adding a line entitled employees zero five adding $100,000 in change that to one time general fund expenditures for the part time temporary employee benefits. So I know that the hr department is moving toward compliance with the affordable care act. I just know [9:22:02 PM] affordable care act. I just know that there's still some lifeguards out there that are not hitting the 30 hours a week that do not qualify for the benefits that the rest of the city employees can participate in, and especially when it comes to dental, I just think people should be able to go to the dentist when they need to. >> And this is one time. >> Yes, I'm changing it to one time. >> I want to make sure for clarity. Seems to be I want to make sure for clarity purposes, we have. Good. Thank you. Council member Ellis has moved Ellis to. Is there a second second by council member Siegel discussion. Council member duchen. >> I'd appreciate being shown voting abstaining on this one also. >> Thank you. Council member duchen will be shown abstaining. Discussion with regard to Ellis two hearing none without objection, Ellis two is adopted, with council member duchen being shown abstaining. And by the way, just for the record, that is Ellis two as an amendment to item number five, as amended. Councilmember Ellis, you're recognized on Ellis number three [9:23:02 PM] recognized on Ellis number three members, this is on page six of our document. >> Thank you. Mayor, I move to amend the budget addition one, as amended, by adding a line titled one time dash 15. This is $350,000 in one time general fund expenditures for a feasibility study for the 2026 bond library projects. We got information just today. That was a clarification on some previous information sent through the library commission. But as many folks know, the bond advisory task force is working through what their recommendation will be for us for the November 2026 bond. These dollars are a feasibility study to help tee up the conversation that that task force needs to have to be able to make a solid recommendation, and that is for Austin public libraries high priority branch projects submitted to that task force for consideration. And it includes a new colony park branch library and expansions of the Millwood and Hampton branch at oak hill library locations. [9:24:03 PM] at oak hill library locations. >> And where would the money come? >> It would be the surplus from the reserves. >> Motion has been made by council member Ellis for Ellis number three, with the money coming from being coming from money that would otherwise be going to reserves. This is an amendment to item number five as amended. Is there a second second by council member Siegel. Is there discussion with regard to this item? Councilmember duchen. >> I wish to be shown voting abstaining. >> Thank you. Council member duchen will abstain from voting on item on this motion. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. Without objection. Ellis. Number three, to amend item number five, as amended, is adopted with council member duchen being shown abstaining. Councilmember Ellis, you're recognized on Ellis number four. >> Thank you. Mayor. This one actually doesn't have a budgetary impact. It's just a language update. I know we had spoken earlier about the words [9:25:04 PM] spoken earlier about the words around parkland maintenance for staff to be able to reach the gold standard. I know staff has indicated that, that they know that means parks and recreation maintenance, but I just wanted to make sure that that was carried forward and very clear, as all the documentation is, is referenced year over year. So we didn't have to go back and find the tapes. So it's just a language change. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember Ellis moves approval of the amendment number four to item number five as amended. Is there a second second by council member Siegel. Is there any discussion with regard to this proposed amendment? Without objection? Item Ellis, item number four, an amendment to item number five. Ellis. Amendment number four, to amend item number five, as amended, is adopted. Members that will take us to page seven of the fy 26 budget. Adoption proposed council amendments. And I will recognize council member [9:26:06 PM] I will recognize council member Laine on the item designated Laine two. >> Thank you I will I'll move to amend the base motion such that public health and social services. Oh seven the family stabilization grant is moved to general fund one time expenditures in order to provide a source for funding for both Laine oh two and Laine oh four. And so with that, I also move to reallocate $953,166. >> Councilmember Laine, I apologize, I'm not sure what you're reading from the Laine two. >> The sheet. Oh, sorry. >> Okay. Laine two is the homelessness and housing item. And I had distributed a hard copy motion sheet and I it. >> Is that different than. >> It it handles both Laine two and Laine four. But they come from a single funding source. [9:27:08 PM] from a single funding source. >> Okay. >> To a single motion sheet. >> Okay. So let's get that clarification because we're trying to create the record here. So what you're doing is you're combining Laine two on page seven and Laine four on page seven to create a single motion. And that is this motion sheet that you've handed out. Okay. Now I understand with that. With that being said, you're recognized on what would members. >> And so I'll begin by identifying the funding source. >> Hang on I want to I want to try to get this clarified so we know for our record what it is, what your motion is. >> The exact same. >> I understand. Members. For purposes of creating a record, I'm going to label this council member lane's motion to amend a. [9:28:11 PM] member lane's motion to amend a. For purposes of our sheet and keeping tabs. This will deal with both Laine two and Laine four on page seven of fy 26 budget adoption. Proposed council amendments. Is that good with you? Okay. With that being said, I apologize for interrupting. I just want to make sure that we don't have any question about what it is we're doing. So now you have the floor and I think I'll understand when you start talking. >> Thank you. So the funding source that I'm proposing is to move the female family stabilization grant from ongoing to one-time expenditures to make space for what was previously noted as Laine zero four. I moved to reallocate $953,166 of the 1.3 million in ongoing funds to increase safety dash oh two mental health response unit collaborative care by 953. I'm [9:29:12 PM] collaborative care by 953. I'm sorry, that's repetitive by $953,160. Oh my gosh, I'm tired y'all. I'm sorry. In ongoing funds that will support ten clinical specialist ftes, six vehicles and medical equipment, expand mental health crisis response team, reduce strain on traditional ems and APD resources, and enhance patient care experiences. I also moved to reallocate $27,000 of the remaining $346,834 in ongoing funds to add a line to homelessness and housing that reads homeless strategy office shower operations at the Charlie center to support continued operation of showers at the Charlie center three days a week, providing essential hygiene services for individuals experiencing homelessness in north Austin, and then reallocating the remaining $319,834 to unassigned ongoing funds within the city of Austin general fund. Thank you. >> Motion. >> Motion. Councilmember lane's [9:30:13 PM] >> Motion. Councilmember lane's motion to amend item number five, as amended, a labeled a, she she moves to make that amendment. Councilmember qadri, are you seconding? >> No, I. >> Okay, I'm. >> Let me ask if we got a second. Do we have a second to this motion? Yes. Councilmember Siegel seconds the motion. All right. Council member alter followed by qadri and then the mayor pro tem. >> A few questions, some for councilmember Laine, some for staff. But first, I just want to understand why you are taking from the family stabilization, or I should say, moving the family stabilization grant to one time instead of just pursuing these amendments, either as as ongoing, just, I guess as ongoing. Why why have this change? >> Well, as I noted prior to the recess, I am concerned definitely with maintaining 17% reserves going forward. I am also concerned with the limited amount of time that I had to look at where to find a funding [9:31:14 PM] look at where to find a funding source, knowing that we're already above $0.05 at the starting point. And it appeared to me reasonable to fight to maintain the funding for these. This important program once because as as we heard before the recess, we'll be looking at next year's budget anyway and leave some space for others who may be counting on continuing to draw down that reserve surplus. Since I'm at this point, going fairly early in this list, does that. >> Answer your question? And I ask that question because, you know, Eric sent us the. And first off, I just want to say we're at $0.05. We're not over $0.05. And a couple people have said over the it's five $0.05 is what our proposal was. And in the in the analysis of reserves that were sent to us during recess prior to adoption, [9:32:14 PM] recess prior to adoption, adopting these amendments, we were 14.6 million over 14 in fiscal year 26, 14.3 million over in fiscal year 27, even 2.6 million over in fiscal year 28. And so what what I would feel more comfortable doing is just making your programs ongoing, because even if they are ongoing, we would still be above that 17% level all the way through fiscal year 28 and not have any kind of impact in those three years. And so it would just be less dollars going to reserves in this budget. But the only functional difference in the one time versus the ongoing nature is just in the next budget. Whether or not that will already, you know, be baked in. I'm not. It's so I think just the critical need for the family stabilization grant to be stable. Let's have that maintain ongoing. And I'd be happy to [9:33:16 PM] ongoing. And I'd be happy to support your amendments just as ongoing, because we have room even in the out years. I, I just don't want to harm this program because I think it is a really vital program. That being said, I do want to ask a question of the chief who I see standing back there about the mental health response unit collaborative care item or piece of this. And it's particularly around just what the dollar amount is because in staff's. Chart that they sent out this morning or this afternoon, it had and I've got so many tabs here, it had this as one point three four 5 million. And in your enhancements request there was a 1.15 ongoing request and a [9:34:18 PM] was a 1.15 ongoing request and a 9.491 time request. So I'm just trying to reconcile what is the actual number needed to fund this program. >> Thank you. Council member. So in the proposal that came out this morning from staff that would fund a total of two single unit responder vehicles, what we've seen, if you look at our enhancements that we posted several months ago and in comparison to where we where we are today, you'll recall that we implemented some pilot programs in the interim. And in our enhancements, we had listed what we called a collaborative care response unit, focusing on low acuity emergencies, as well as some resources around mental health response. Through our pilot program, we have found some synergies between the two of them to allow them to kind of operate cohesively, kind of crossing the missions between the two. And so, you know, looking at what staff's proposal [9:35:18 PM] looking at what staff's proposal was this morning was really looking at a single unit responder, which encompasses the roles of both of those types of resources. And my understanding of where we were this morning versus the proposal by council member Laine is really around the number of resources that we would implement. And so the staff proposal this morning looked at implementing two of those single unit responders as opposed to potentially additional resources, as I believe was presented by council member Laine. >> Because in safety two on staff's chart it has it at 12 fte. But this is to fund ten ftes. So I'm just very confused as to what we're adding. If it seems like we're already there. And I like the idea, that's why I supported it. I just it doesn't make sense why we're adding this additional amount. >> To that. I can refer to finance or I can. If we were to add a ten additional ftes, it [9:36:20 PM] add a ten additional ftes, it would increase the number of units that we could respond with from two additional to approximately three additional units. >> That's ten ftes on top of the 12 already in the proposal. >> If that's my understanding of the council members proposal is. >> So it would take it to 22 ftes. >> My numbers were based off the ems association request, which reflected a total of 24 fts. >> Okay. And what's the likelihood that those ftes would be hired starting October 1st? I'm just thinking if we provided this entire funding, but we're not actually going to hire them until December or January, do we? Do we need to fund a whole year's worth, or can we scale that the remainder of that cost in our next fiscal year? >> Certainly, from our perspective, any of the resources that are that are allocated, any of the new programs are going to take some time for us to ramp up and for us to really evaluate the best way to implement those programs. As we've seen in the past year, we need to be very cautious, [9:37:21 PM] we need to be very cautious, because when we roll out these new programs, we become reliant on overtime until we're able to hire those those resources. And so any resources that were allocated to us, we would have to find that balance between using dollars to spend towards overtime to fill some of those roles. But we would not be able to fully flush out those programs at that time, because we would not have the staff. We would have to go through some, sorry, some upfront costs and then through that hiring process, make some determinations as to what could we what do we have the capacity to do with dollars through overtime versus, you know, over the longer term? >> So just so I want I just want to make sure I hear what you're saying. If we funded all the way up to now, this almost 2.3 million, would we be spending all of that on hired personnel or would there likely be a little extra because of the ramp up? >> We would have the caacity to spend that, but it would not [9:38:22 PM] spend that, but it would not necessarily be reflective. So because some of those initial dollars would need would need to be spent as overtime, we would not be able to fully staff the number of positions at the beginning because we would be spending at a time and a half rate. And so we would have to we would have to adjust what our staffing would look like until that time period in which we had those individuals hired. >> Okay. Well, I don't know if the if the maker of the motion is open to it or not, but I would feel much more comfortable just considering Laine two and Laine four, and I'd be happy to support both of them and have them be ongoing. And I don't think it impacts us even in the next three fiscal years in terms of bringing us below that 17% threshold. And these are programs that should all be ongoing, including the family stabilization program. So I of course, I defer to you, but that finishes my questions. >> I appreciate that, and that works for me. Thank you. >> And I'm glad you all are [9:39:26 PM] >> And I'm glad you all are enjoying that. But we need something in writing to. >> Well, she has them already in writing so she just withdraws this motion. We can go back to her original Laine two and Laine four and okay, elsewhere. >> I will do that. I will withdraw. >> All right. Let me let me ask, is there any objection to. Because. Well. >> We can just strike one. >> I understand what I want to do is, is there any objection to the maker of the motion and the maker of the second council member Siegel withdrawing councilmember lane's motion to amend item number five, as amended, labeled a. Without objection, that motion is withdrawn. The motion and the second council member Laine moves. >> I would like to speak on it. >> At some point. >> Yeah, well, I'm going to try to get emotion out there. Council member Laine now goes back to page seven of fy 26 [9:40:28 PM] back to page seven of fy 26 budget adoption, proposed council amendments and moves. Adoption of Laine number two councilmember Siegel seconds that motion and I will recognize councilmember qadri and then the mayor pro tem. >> Sorry, just. Just want to make sure I get it right. So what what happened to this? >> She just withdrew it. >> It's all null and void. Okay, great. Okay. So that was going to be one question number two. It's still it's my ongoing question to budget staff. Now that we've passed amendments from Laine Ellis and Siegel, I guess they're still Siegel six left. Is that right? Finished. Sorry. >> Well, yeah. She yeah. We haven't got that. >> Okay. We're almost there. >> But but I want to ask her if you don't mind. As part of your motion based upon the conversation, you're taking that money from where? >> Reserve surplus. Right? >> That's what I thought. But I want to make sure. [9:41:28 PM] want to make sure. >> And that is. >> That it would be. Yeah. >> Let me ask my question after we finish. >> Yeah. Please go ahead. I just want to make sure since you were getting, I knew where you were headed by pointing it. >> Yeah, well, I'll wait until. I mean, are we done with Laine two and four? No, we're not okay. No. >> I'll wait. Okay. Mayor pro tem. >> Thank you. And thank you, councilmember alter, for your support. The family stabilization grant colleagues, as you know, this family stabilization grant has this is our third year with that program started as a pilot program. It's been in existence these last two years. There's an urban institute on the efficacy of us having this family stabilization grant. It's helped hundreds of austinites in our community avoid eviction, afford emergency expenses that come up, whether it's medical child care, a proven dedicated program. Just today, we had 30 people sign up to testify to make this program permanent. So I'm really grateful to councilmember alter for ensuring that this item did not include this becoming a one [9:42:28 PM] not include this becoming a one time allocation, when clearly, when we start pilot programs, they prove that they work. We should they should be ongoing and they should be made permanent. This program is one that is known in our community and has been very helpful, especially to people of color. So I appreciate the ongoing support for family stabilization grant. >> That the councilmember qadri. That appears to be the discussion on this item. Do you have do you want me to recognize you and you have a question now, or do you want to wait till after the item passes? >> Yeah, let's wait for the item to pass, I guess. Okay. >> Any further discussion with regard to Laine number two, an amendment to item number five, as amended on page seven of the document. Councilmember duchen. >> Thank you. I wish to be voting shown as abstain on this council. >> Member duchen will be shown abstaining from the vote on this motion. Any further discussion? >> Mayor. >> I just want to confirm that this is ongoing. >> Yes. [9:43:32 PM] >> Yes. >> Okay. >> There being no further discussion. Without objection. >> Mr. Mayor, my hand is raised. >> I'm sorry. That part of the part of the problem is that when we have the sheet up so that people can see the motions that we're talking about, it makes it makes you much smaller than we would all like. >> Well, you know, I appreciate the scale. But if we could maybe get a system in the room, you guys, certainly with all the folks in the room, there has to be a way for somebody. >> The system works fine if you feel free to call out. If I don't look up, that's. I mean, nobody's bothered by that. >> I appreciate it. So I think but I couldn't quite hear what you were saying because I think you were trying to get us moving. And I think director Lang was asking the clarifying question I was asking. I think I understand where we're headed right now, but I've heard two different things, and I want to be certain that what we're doing right now is we're taking the combination of the item two and [9:44:35 PM] combination of the item two and four separated those back out again. And in addition to we're not talking one time funding, we're talking ongoing. >> Yeah, right. Item number two is ongoing. And the funding would come out of money that would otherwise go into reserves at a five cent TRE. And item number four. >> We haven't gotten to that yet. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Any further discussion? Without objection. Laine two an amendment to item number five, as amended, is adopted, with council member duchen being shown abstaining from the vote. Now we will go to Laine. Number four. Councilmember Laine moves approval of Laine number four, which is on page seven of the document, and that is ongoing money. And it would come out of money that would otherwise go into reserves. Is that correct? >> Yes. >> Council member Laine moves approval. It is seconded by council member Siegel discussion. Councilmember [9:45:37 PM] discussion. Councilmember duchen, what are you going to say? >> Surprise, surprise. I'd like to be voting abstain on this item. Thank you. >> Councilmember duchen will be shown abstaining. Is there any other discussion with regard to this item? Without objection. Item the Laine amendment number four on page seven of our budget document, the amendment to item number five, as amended, is adopted, with councilmember duchen being shown abstaining from the vote. Councilmember qadri. >> Yeah, just a little bit of housekeeping and we're getting closer to ten. Yeah. Just want to confirm we still have alter three and four vela four, Siegel six. And then Fuentes one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and ten. >> Let me let me run through those. Ultra four is not on there. >> It's on there. >> It's alter three. Fuentes 1234567. Fuentes ten. Vela four on page five. >> And Siegel six. >> Siegel oh. [9:46:40 PM] >> Siegel oh. >> Okay. Yes you're right. Thank you for mentioning that. You also have de five, alter two, de five, alter three, de five, alter four, de five. Alter five de five, alter seven duchen one. And that's the list. >> And actually not de five alter five I apologize, that should be scratched through as well. >> Okay, d5 alter five is taken off. >> Okay, great. And then, Carrie, I don't know if you guys have been able to crunch the numbers, but after we've passed these budget amendments, what is where are we at? >> As of this moment, we are at 17.64% or $9.8 million remaining in the reserves in 26. >> I'm sorry, it was a little. >> Bit sorry, 17.64% in reserves. Okay, $9.8 million. >> Okay. And then do we do we have where we are with this? I [9:47:40 PM] have where we are with this? I mean, I assume we're a little bit above five now. >> Assuming five pennies. >> Okay. Great. >> Thank you. Councilmember qadri members, I apologize, I did overlook. Councilmember Siegel's. Additional motion. Councilmember Siegel, you had. Five. For purposes of our record, I'm going to label this motion sheet motion from d7 councilmember Siegel, where he moves to amend the budget by adding one time zero for climate revolving fund in an amount of $300,000 using one time funds. I'm going to label that Siegel six Siegel six, and that is a proposed amendment to. And I know I keep saying this, but I just want to make sure our record is clear to item number five, as amended. And I'll [9:48:41 PM] five, as amended. And I'll recognize councilmember Siegel on item Siegel six. >> Thank you. Mayor. I believe the dais is familiar with this item. I just want to front load $300,000 into the climate revolving fund to facilitate energy efficiency investments, especially in parks and facilities. And this would be money that would roll over into new investments after we accrue savings. >> All right. Councilmember. And the money would come from. >> One time. >> One time out of money that otherwise would go to reserve. >> Thank you sir. >> All right, members, you've heard the motion. Is there a second second by councilmember. Alter discussion? Councilmember duchen. >> Thank you. Mayor. I'd like to be shooting voting. Abstain on this item. >> Councilmember duchen will be shown abstaining from voting on Siegel six. An amendment to item number five, as amended. Is there any other discussion? Hearing none without objection. Siegel six is adopted with [9:49:41 PM] Siegel six is adopted with councilmember duchen being shown abstaining members. That takes us to 949. We are going to recess at 10:00. My recommendation would be that we go ahead and recess and come back at ten tomorrow. Unless there's some objection or question about that. Councilmember qadri. >> Okay. >> I just had something personal at ten that I was going to try to be on virtually. But if it's 10:00, it's 10:00. >> So. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Councilmember alter. >> I just want to double check Laine three. Is that still on the table? No. As we go through. Okay. >> You know, that's a probably a good thing for us to do, though I did not have Laine three on the table. We only had Laine two and Laine four, so. But but that's not a bad thing to do. Which is let me run again through what I think we have [9:50:42 PM] through what I think we have left in terms of proposed amendments. And you all grade my paper so we can know where we start tomorrow at 10:00. Is that okay? All right. All on page two of the document labeled fy 26 budget adoption, proposed council amendments. Alter three. Fuentes one. Fuentes two. Fuentes three. Fuentes four. Fuentes 5126127. Fuentes ten. On page five. Vela four. On the second sheet, it's labeled D five, alter two, D five, alter three, D five, alter four. On the next page of that it's D five, alter seven duchen one. Those are all I have. Yes, mayor pro tem. [9:51:47 PM] pro tem. >> Thank you. I have a question for staff. If you know, knowing the amendments that we have before us that we will be considering tomorrow, if council was to adopt all of those amendments, do we have an estimate of what that impact would be on the reserves surplus? >> We can work those numbers we. >> Don't have. Tomorrow at 10:00. >> We will. >> Any idea of have we totaled out the amount of the amendments that are still pending, just a ballpark number if we just added them up. >> I know we don't have even have a ballpark. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Mayor members, what would yes. Council member Ellis. >> On on that same line of questioning. Could we get an updated one of these amazing giant spreadsheets just so we understand what's in or out? I'm kind of trying to cross-reference two different documents, and it's still a bit unclear where exactly we're at [9:52:47 PM] unclear where exactly we're at as we look at. I appreciate the email that shows the reserve amounts for the different proposals, but just trying to reconcile what was approved in here without totals on it. >> Yep. We can absolutely. We'll clean this up and get it out to everyone. >> Thanks. >> Anything else folks? What we're going to do is we're going to recess until 10:00 tomorrow morning. We will begin with proposed amendments, just as we I called out proposed amendments to item number five, as it's been amended thus far. And then we will following that, go to item number four, fees, fines and other charges and continue through. As I've laid out on the message board. And that will include the ifcs. And the hope would be that tomorrow we can pass a budget and all the other stuff. Anybody got any questions? Comments. All right. Without objection, we are in [9:53:50 PM] Without objection, we are in recess until tomorrow, Wednesday August. Check me on this 14th. We're we're in recess until tomorrow at 10:00. Thursday, August. >> Gebhard in city hall. That's all I want to say. >> August 14th we will meet in the same place. Folks in city hall here in the city council chambers. So nobody wander off because we're going to be right here. And it is 9:53 P.M. We are recessed. Thanks, everybody. [10:00:05 AM] You're watching a meeting of the Austin City Council Council members good morning everybody. It's 10:00 in the morning on Thursday, August 14th, 2025, and I will call back to order the Austin city council after we [10:01:06 AM] Austin city council after we recess last night and are coming back today to continue our work on the budget. We are meeting in the city council chambers, located in Austin city hall at 301 west second street, and we have a quorum of the Austin city council present. What I thought I would do, members, is we would start off the morning by asking our financial folks if they'll give us just a brief update on anything that came in after we walked off the dice last night. And if anybody has any questions of them, you can ask that. And then we would go into additional proposed amendments to item number five, as amended, miss Lang. >> Thank you. Mayor Kerri Lang, director of budget and organizational excellence. Last night we sent a an email to talk through or to show the impact [10:02:11 AM] through or to show the impact that had been taken last night and the impacts based on those changes. Just to clarify, the document that was attached is based on the existing amendments that have already been approved from the dais and with at the five cent. So I just want to make sure we clarify that. And so you see, with those changes in fiscal year 26, we are at a 17.62% reserve. That goes to 17.5 in fiscal year 27. And then it goes to 16.72% in fiscal year 28. In addition to that, in the email, we addressed what the total cents would need to be to remain balanced and at a 17% reserve through that forecast period, as well as provided an [10:03:13 AM] period, as well as provided an update on the remaining amendments that are for consideration and what the impacts would be at a five cent scenario. >> Members. Any questions? Yes. Mayor pro tem. >> Thank you. And thank you, miss Lang, for preparing this information. So currently with the amendments that we adopted yesterday, we stand at a 17.95% reserve rate for next fiscal year for fy 26. 17.6262 okay. And that is about 9 million. >> Correct, 9.5 million above the reserves. >> Okay. Because I just I know there's a lot of conversation yesterday, and I've certainly been fielding calls and text messages and there was some confusion. But currently as it stands, we would be adopting a budget proposal that has us at a [10:04:13 AM] budget proposal that has us at a seven above our 17% reserve rate, 17.62%, and that translates to about 9.5 million over. >> Correct. That is the impact in fiscal year 26. Thank you. There's I guess I want to make sure we understand the ongoing impact. Beyond that. As I mentioned in the out years, by fiscal year 28, it will be at 16.72%. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Other questions? Councilmember qadri. >> I appreciate the work carry. I don't have the numbers in front of me right now, but I believe from what I saw last night that by fiscal year 29, it dips to 15 point something. Or am I making that up? >> Yes. In fiscal year 29, the rate is or the percentage is 15.84. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Councilmember vela. >> Assuming the pending [10:05:13 AM] >> Assuming the pending amendments are all adopted, what would the reserve rate be? Again, assuming that we're all of the amendments pull from reserves for, I would say this year and next year if you have that information. >> Give me one second. Assuming all of the amendments are adopted, all the remaining amendments are adopted. For fiscal year 26, we will be at a 17.36%. That's 5.5 million over over the reserves. In fiscal year 27, we'd be at a 17.12%, 1.9 million over in fiscal year 28. We would be under the reserve policy at 16.22. I need glasses. And then at at fiscal year 29, we'd be at 15.21. >> Got it. Thank you very much. [10:06:17 AM] >> Got it. Thank you very much. >> Yes. Councilmember Ellis and then councilmember duchen. >> Thank you, mayor. I know there's a lot of numbers being put out there, and we appreciate the work to make sure that the spreadsheet reflects the work that we've the items that we have approved so far. So how it basically looks is where we are at with everything that's been adopted so far, or at least we have said, yes, we want this to be in the spreadsheet by year three. We are already dipping below the reserve amount of 17%. If we say yes to the other things that we have ahead of us today, we are dropping another half percent by year three. And so I've said and will continue to say, I think it's really important that at least by year three and four, we just look at what is ongoing and what is one time to balance out. We've obviously put ourselves in a position now where there's a little extra money to be able to do for this year and potentially next year to say council blesses these priorities and really wants to make sure that they're [10:07:17 AM] wants to make sure that they're included. But trying to make sure that these dollars and the allocations are spread out over year three and four is something that I think we should just make sure we're all understanding and in alignment as, as we move forward through these amendments. Because as it stands right now, year three, we're already dipping into reserves. And that is without even knowing what the next thing coming our way is. That is also going to be competing for those dollars. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember duchen. >> Thank you, mayor. First, thanks again for the updates last night to help us understand the current situation, that and scenario we're looking at. Just to build on councilmember Ellis's point, I would say I'm very curious about whether it's possible to get any kind of very rudimentary sensitivity understanding for things that might change externally, that might impact our numbers. And I'm thinking just things like we talked a little bit about inflation yesterday or cpi, you know, things like sales tax and property taxes, whether there's a further dip in one of those two items, how that impacts our [10:08:19 AM] two items, how that impacts our revenue and expenses and would ultimately impact the numbers that we might be looking at here. How difficult would it be to put together again, something fairly rudimentary that helps us understand some of those numbers? >> It's just a question of timing in terms of when I'd be able to sit down and run through it. I mean, off the top of my head sales tax. The base is about 363 million. So if we had a two point adverse swing, you'd be in excess of 7 million, close to 8 million worse by fy 29, from a two point swing below our projections in any given year. Property tax. The values themselves are not going to affect our ability to generate revenue under the state's regime because our rate will adjust. But the new construction certainly does. I think you all will remember the impact that the new certified roll had when [10:09:20 AM] the new certified roll had when it had 1 or 1.1 billion in new construction value, and that generated about five and a quarter extra million dollars for the city. If that swung the other way versus our projections, then it would be, you know, about the same impact the other way. Inflation is trickier because we don't generally budget for our general fund departments with any kind of just cost increase factor. Unfortunately, we usually don't have the resources to do that. So it's going to be more a question of just departments having to do more with less, more quickly, if that makes sense. Did that cover the main outlines of what. >> Yeah, I know we've had conversations with some of the departments and enterprise organizations that, you know, they may be in certain circumstances where they might only have three vendors and depending on tariffs and how other things, things that they might have been able to purchase for, you know, $10 this year might be $40 next year. So I'm just trying to figure out how plays into any numbers that we could understand, as you say, [10:10:22 AM] could understand, as you say, fairly quickly, but it sounds like. Anyway, I appreciate what you shared right now. And I guess we'll follow up to see if there's a way to get that beyond today. Thank you. >> All right, members, any more questions before we go back to the proposed amendments? All right. Very good. Thank you all very much. And thanks for the getting that out late last night. We deeply appreciate that. What I'm going to do is I'm going to go to. Budget amendment proposals, and I'm going to just go in the order that I have them in front of me. And that means I'm going to start on page two of fiscal year 26 budget adoption proposed amendments. The document that we've been working from and just start at the top of page two. I, as we broke last night, I called out those items that we still have. And that's how I'm going to start. So what we'll start is with altar three. The reference [10:11:23 AM] with altar three. The reference is homelessness and housing oh five navigation. And I'll recognize council member alter on his proposed motion. >> Thank you very much. I'll hearken back to many 12 hours ago when we discussed this. This is money for a new navigation housing navigation center that the city is working on. It's expected to come online in the next fiscal year. And if we want it to be successful, we have to actually fund those operations. So this is $500,000 for those operations. And I ask for your support. >> And where's the money? >> Oh, from the from the reserves. >> So members this would be money that would not go into reserves in a five cent TRE. Is there a second? Seconded by mayor pro tem discussion on the item, councilmember duchen. >> I wish to be shown voting no [10:12:25 AM] >> I wish to be shown voting no on this. Thank you. >> I'm sorry. Say it again. >> I wish to be shown voting no on this. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Any other discussion before we take a vote? Yes. Councilmember Ellis. >> One question because it I see that there are dollars that keep us above our 17% reserve still available for this year. I'm trying to figure out what the process is for when we've hit the Marc and we keep seeing dollars go down. So I just I may be abstaining because I think we've. >> The threshold. >> That I can't really figure out where we're heading. >> The way we're the way we're doing this, of course. And I've that's one of the reasons. Well, the way we're doing this is we're voting as the amendments come up. So what that does and you're asking the right question, I think, and that what that does is that puts us at a point where we ought to calculate what's going to be important, as are we in a position to amend the budget any [10:13:26 AM] position to amend the budget any more. If a, if a up until now, an amendment offered passed, it's part of it's going to be part of the main motion when we go back as amended. But now. We're we're going to have to decide whether we want to add additional amendments. So we just do it I think almost on a case by case basis, amendment by amendment basis, the order I'm going to go in is I've indicated is I'm going to start with this one and then just go straight through. So that gives you an idea of where of where we're headed with that. >> And my follow up. And I don't know if there's an answer to this, but once amendments are approved, will we go back and make sure that folks are comfortable where we've landed or will it? >> Well, what I want to do is, is and I've talked to miss Lang about that this morning, what we will do is once we are done looking at all the amendments, is I'm going to suggest we take a 30 minute recess so that they can true up everything, feel [10:14:27 AM] can true up everything, feel like they're comfortable, and then come back. Okay. At that point, I suppose we could have additional discussion about I'm hoping we're not here all day going back and forth on stuff we've already voted on, but I suppose that is a possibility. Okay. But I think that's one of the reasons it's going to be important for us as we as we go through this item by item. That should be part of the consideration. Do we want this to be part of the budget? >> I can appreciate that. And I'll just flag I love our finance staff. I think they do a great job, and so I hope they can help us work through a place where the outlook over three and four years is a little more stable to what we would like to see in year one, so I'll just flag that, but I'll, I'll keep. >> Well, they've told so members, they've, they've told us where we are, where we stand as of this moment, as we start taking up additional budget items, budget amendment, proposed budget amendments. If you want something different [10:15:29 AM] you want something different than that that has higher reserves, then that's going to require something other than what we've already passed because that that tells us where we are. That's that's our that's our water level. So keep that in mind as we go forward on the rest of these proposed amendments. Councilmember Laine. >> Can you list off which amendments we're considering? Still? I know you did last night, and it was very fast. And so I want to make sure that I have an accurate list as we're voting. >> Slow it down. Thank you. Alter through the. >> The new alter. They've got him I think re number. >> Okay. I'm told that we have new numbering for council member alter. So I'll have to work on that here in just a second. Shouldn't be okay. Well so on let's go with the budget fy 26 budget adoption proposed council [10:16:29 AM] budget adoption proposed council amendments. The ones that are currently remaining alter three on page two on page two. Alter three. Fuentes one. Fuentes two. Fuentes three. Okay. Fuentes. Alter three. Fuentes one. Fuentes two. Fuentes three. Fuentes four. Fuentes five. Fuentes six. Fuentes seven. Fuentes ten. Vela four. And then on the next sheet, and apparently Katy powers has sent out an email about five minutes ago, so I'm going to make sure [10:17:31 AM] ago, so I'm going to make sure these correspond. But it's labeled D five, alter two, D five, alter three d5 alter four. D5, alter seven. And then that's. And then there's a new one that's d5 alter eight. And then duchen one. And it's my understanding that while there is a document labeled duchen two, that's not going to be a motion. Is that right? That's right. Okay. Yes. Hang on, councilmember Llanes, I get you. Okay. Good. Councilmember qadri. >> Yeah, I'm going to step in the back just real quick, but there's going to be a qadri one for amendment. We have sent it to Katy and we have yellow sheets that will be passed out. >> Okay. So qadri. So members [10:18:32 AM] >> Okay. So qadri. So members note that there will also be a qadri one and I'll make a note of that somewhere here. >> She actually sent it out to someone to read. >> Okay, I'll make a note of that. All right. We're we're still on. We have a motion and a second on the floor for alter a motion to amend. Alter number three. Councilmember alter, I'll let you close. >> Thank you so much. So I do want to provide one update as we are, because I think, you know, we do need to look down the line just to understand what's coming. D5 alter three, which in the chart that was sent out last night by Eric had or by Carrie had about $111,000 cost. That is going to be a zero cost now. So when we get to that item, there [10:19:33 AM] when we get to that item, there will not be any costs. So this is the only amendment I have here with a general fund impact. But I also want to really take a quick second just to highlight, as I mentioned yesterday, this is in the zo plan. It calls for navigation centers, is also in a proposal. Last year when we asked the homeless strategy office from a navigation center and shelter perspective, what do we what do we need? And this was identified as a significant need. And this impacts all our districts. People drive or people get on the bus from district six, from district four, from all across the city to go to these. We right now we have only one navigation center. And so being able to have a space that is operational helps alleviate this need across the [10:20:33 AM] alleviate this need across the entire city. So I just I want to point out the kind of the crucial nature and the huge gap we have in our homeless response system as it relates to these types of services. >> Members. The motion is alter number three to amend item number five, as amended. If you're in favor of the motion, please raise your hand. >> It's one time, right. >> It's. >> Oh. >> Okay. >> If you're opposed, raise your hand. If you're abstaining, raise your hand. >> Mr. Mayor. I've raised my hand for all those. But I'm not. I'm not for opposing and abstaining. I had a clarifying question. I overheard councilmember Ellis clarify whether or not this was one time, and I didn't hear what the response was. [10:21:34 AM] response was. >> The response was, it's ongoing. >> Thank you. >> How would you like to vote? >> I would like to vote abstention on this item. >> All right. Thank you. There being two abstentions, councilmember Ellis and councilmember harper- madison two no's, councilmember duchen and the mayor. The motion carries on a vote of seven to 2 to 2. Members. We'll now go to Fuentes one, and I'll recognize the mayor pro tem. >> Thank you. Colleagues. Yesterday I passed out this little packet. It has the number of amendments that I'm bringing forward with the corresponding motion sheet, as well as the previously adopted budget amendment form. So it has a lot of details that I'm happy to go through, but just want to draw your attention that there is an amendment packet at each that was passed out yesterday. If you would like to reference that during these number of amendments, I also want to highlight the next eight amendments that I'll be laying out. I did ask staff for a total amount. The total amount of [10:22:37 AM] amount. The total amount of these next eight amendments that I'm bringing forward for your consideration are about 1.13 million and ongoing, and 270,000 in 1 time. And I also asked staff, and they can confirm here that should these amendments get adopted, it would keep our reserve ratio at a 17.51% for next year, and which is the equivalent of about 7.9 million over the 17% reserve policy. Miss Laine, can you please confirm those dollar amounts? For next fiscal year? >> So I show the amendments totaling. Sorry, I got three things going. Hold on. 1.6 million, I believe that's 1.6 million. Is the total ongoing amount 270,000 is one time. And let us plug that in really [10:23:38 AM] let us plug that in really quickly and we'll get that update okay. >> Very good. We can I'll circle back with you on that okay. So with that I move to amend budget additions one by adding transportation and programing for older adults by $436,412. This is ongoing. Funds from the budget reserves surplus. >> Members. Mayor pro tem has moved adoption of amendment number Fuentes one to item number five, as amended. Is there a second second by council member? Alter discussion with regard to the item? Council member duchen. >> Thank you mayor. I wish to be voting abstain on this item. >> Council member will be shown abstaining on the item. Those in favor, raise your hand. Mayor. Councilmember. >> My hands up for discussion. >> Okay, I apologize, [10:24:39 AM] >> Okay, I apologize, councilmember Lang. >> Thank you. I just want to thank the mayor pro tem for bringing this very important item forward for us to consider the isolation that our seniors experience in Austin, particularly when there's limited access, access to transit as they get older and have challenges to even find community gatherings, places with the community that matters most to them and just appreciate that and wanted to say that thank you. >> Thank you, councilmember. Councilmember Ellis. >> Just clarifying, did I hear one time for this one or is this ongoing ongoing? >> Any other discussion with regard to this item? All right. Those in favor raise your hand. All right. There being. Councilmember harper-madison, [10:25:44 AM] Councilmember harper-madison, are you voting? >> I voted in favor, Mr. Mayor. >> All right. Thank you. There being ten ayes and one abstention, the item carries on Fuentes one as an amendment to item number five, as amended. Mayor pro tem, you recognize on Fuentes two. >> Thank you. Colleagues, this is a continuation of more support for older adults. We know that many older adults have the risk of fraud and exploitation. That risk continues to grow throughout our city. So this amendment is for the financial advocacy program at family elder care. They are trained advocates to help older adults receiving social security and va benefits, helping them navigate how to access those benefits, but also to prevent fraud and maintain stability. With this funding, we can support 527 seniors in our community. And so I move to amend budget edition one by adding financial advocacy program by 270 $270,000 in one time funds. This is one time [10:26:47 AM] time funds. This is one time funds, and these dollars would come from the budget. The budget reserves surplus members. >> The motion has been made by the mayor pro tem. You've heard the motion. Is there a second? Second by council member alter discussion with regard to the item? Council member duchen, can I just assume you're abstaining until you tell me otherwise? >> I think that's a good assumption. >> Abstention of duchen. Yeah, it's close enough. All right, I got it. So council member duchen will be shown and I'll look down at you. So make sure I get you the way you want to vote. Councilmember duchen is going to be shown abstaining. Any other discussion? Council member harper-madison looks like you have your hand up. >> I do, thank you, Mr. Mayor. And for what it's worth, you know I'm having a difficult time trying to ascertain like what angle you're getting. I think how I see myself and how you see me, which is why I had my hand sort of here. And I was thinking that might look like a hand [10:27:48 AM] that might look like a hand raised. So you tell me how best you can see that. >> That's good. There. >> The little wave. >> Yeah, please. >> Thank you. Okay, so I want I'm really interested in this item and the previous item. And frankly all the items that are addressing older adults. You know, one of the things that we have to take into consideration when we think about long term health and wellness, for all the ways we experience challenges, the truth of the matter is people are living longer and having fuller lives that include the need for more access. I say that to say this is subject matter that both anecdotally and professionally, I think about a lot from a practical perspective. You know, how our dollars applied into what and how what's the best possible outcome? I think the best possible outcome is an integrated approach to addressing the specific and nuanced needs of older adults. And so I've been thinking about this subject matter from a housing perspective, and thinking about how some of these adjacent considerations, including a financial literacy [10:28:48 AM] including a financial literacy component. And even then, though, you know, for what it's worth, I appreciate the effort and the sentiment behind the effort. But what I found anecdotally is that what helps even more than education and information is advocacy. Case management folks not being exposed to the risk of fraudulent activity. All that to say, I'm not going to support this item in this iteration today, but I'd like very much to work with the mayor pro tem on some things that we've been working on that I think are similar, and address the issue from a different way. And with private funding secured, guaranteed already private funding, just no real effort to apply it to. But I think with that big brain of yours and mine put together, we'll come up with an initiative to where we can apply private dollars, which in my mind's eye, you know, real special care to real special groups like our older adults. I think in large part, the funding that the city will never have enough of is going to have to be [10:29:50 AM] enough of is going to have to be from the generosity, benevolence, and frankly, we all have. My grandmother used to call older adults raisins. She'd say, never forget about your raisins. We all have our raisins. And I think that's a community commitment that we're going to have to make with private dollars. So I, I support the effort, just not this item today. Thank you. >> Thank you, councilmember Barnes. Any further discussion? With that? In that case, based upon the discussion, without objection, Fuentes number two is as an amendment to budget addition one and item five, as amended, is adopted on a vote of nine to 1 to 1, with councilmember harper-madison being shown voting no and council member duchen abstain. Yes, mayor. >> I'll abstain. >> I'm sorry. >> I'll abstain just simply because of the how we're mapping today. >> Councilmember Ellis will also be shown abstaining. So the vote is eight one and two. Who called out? Yes, councilmember Laine. Yes. No. >> It was me. [10:30:50 AM] >> It was me. >> Oh I'm sorry. >> Councilmember. No, not councilmember. >> No. You don't want to be. You don't want that. You don't want that. Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you either. >> No, not at all. Not at all. I wanted to clarify on response for mayor pro tem. So the total amount of the amendments that you are bringing forth ongoing is 1.5 or 1.6 million total, and the impact is, if approved, is 17.44%. Reserves for fiscal year 26 is 6.8 million over the balance. Okay. >> Thank you. Please say that again. >> Sure. Total amendments. 1.6 million ongoing. >> Right. >> That will result in a fiscal year 26 reserve if approved at 17.44%. [10:31:50 AM] 17.44%. >> And can you run. >> 6.8 million above? That's a 6.8 million above the reserve requirement. >> But can you run through the rest of the time frame? So we all have that in front of us? >> Sure. Fiscal year 27 will be at 17.23. Fiscal year 28 16.36. Fiscal year 2915 .39. >> Thank you. All right, mayor pro tem, I'll recognize you on Fuentes three. >> Thank you. So, colleagues, with this one, it's continuation of our efforts. Our city council committed to making Austin an age friendly city. So this third amendment is about residents who can't prepare their own meals and who face economic hardship. These are home delivered meals that are practical, direct solution that helps austinites with dignity, Independence and peace of mind. Historically, this funding has supported meals on wheels of central Texas, [10:32:51 AM] on wheels of central Texas, which serves over 3300 residents in Austin area. But unfortunately, because of federal funding and staffing cuts, it's making it harder for meals on wheels to meet the demand. In fact, we have 170 austinites that are currently on the waiting list. And with this amendment, should it have your approval, will be able to provide the necessary funding to help with those individuals on the wait list. And it would translate to 35,000 more meals in our community. So I move to amend budget additions one by adding home delivered meals by $250,000. This is ongoing. Funds from the budget reserve surplus. >> Motion been made by the mayor pro tem, seconded by council member alter. Is there discussion on the item? Council member alter. >> I just want to a lot of good amendments here, but this is the one I just wanted to say a special. I think this is one of those types of investments that really has a much greater impact [10:33:51 AM] really has a much greater impact than this cost, right? Keeping seniors in their home, allowing for them to stay in their home is such a financial benefit. Beyond the $250,000 we're spending here. And I remember, mayor, in your senate office, we had the Watson meals on wheels route that our staff did. And just to see the joy that it brings them for someone to come to their door and deliver some meals, the money couldn't be spent better. So I just really appreciate this. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. Councilmember vela. >> And just wanted to echo the sentiments and just note that I believe that again, this is going to go through an rfp process, I assume, but meals on wheels is a likely better, but meals on wheels has suffered some pretty serious federal cuts as well. They have a really large and efficient operation, lots of volunteers, a great kitchen, just a really great institution in the community [10:34:53 AM] institution in the community that as again, as the federal government steps away from supporting these kinds of institutions, if they're going to survive and continue to have the impact, we're going to, at least in the short term, have to have to step up and provide some support. And it's a good item. And again, I thank the mayor pro tem for bringing it. >> Further discussion. Hearing none. Without objection, councilmember duchen will be shown. Yes, councilmember harper-madison. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My further discussion here will be sort of in a similar vein as my last. I really want to see how we as a city come up with more comprehensive plans for building in, you know, the sort of resilience that comes with food security. I mean, one of the things anecdotally that I can tell you affects our community and reaches over into indigent health care costs, etc, is folks not eating means they don't take their meds. Food is important for reasons that I don't even have to expand upon, in which case I'd like very much to [10:35:54 AM] case I'd like very much to support this as a one time item. However, I think the ongoing expenditure should be a part of a larger, more comprehensive package. That's so sort of like integrated. It extends beyond every iteration of this body. Our staff, the mayor, the city attorney. I think when we budget like this, what we're doing is setting our initiatives up for a short shelf shelf life. And so I would like to support this item as a one time expenditure, not as ongoing, in which case, if ongoing is where we're at, I'm going to abstain from this item. >> This is an ongoing item. So councilmember duchen, councilmember harper-madison will be shown abstaining without objection. Council member Ellis abstain. Okay. Council member duchen council member Ellis and council member harper-madison will all be shown abstaining. Councilmember Laine. Can I make a comment on this? Sure. Okay. I again want to really thank you [10:36:56 AM] again want to really thank you for bringing this forward. Mayor pro tem, meals on wheels is so vital in reaching every part of our city, the seniors, in every part of our city, and to be able to sustain an organization with with such a strong track record and who has been effective in this city in reaching so deeply, I am all for ongoing and a plan. So thank you. >> Any further discussion? Without objection. Fuentes number three, which is an amendment to budget edition one, item five, as amended, is adopted on a vote of eight to 0 to 3 with council members harper- madison, Ellis and duchen being shown abstaining. Mayor pro tem, you're recognized on Fuentes four. >> Thank you colleagues. This is for an expansion of academia cuauhtli, which is a bilingual stem academy that is housed within the Mexican American cultural center. And with that, I will move adoption to budget amendment budget additions [10:37:57 AM] amendment budget additions number one, by adding bilingual stem academy by 186,000. This is ongoing. Funds from the budget reserve surplus. Council member mayor pro tem moves approval of Fuentes for an amendment to the budget addition one which is and therefore. Item five, as amended, is seconded by councilmember Velazquez. Discussion. Councilmember duchen will be shown abstaining. Councilmember Ellis will be shown abstaining. Councilmember harper-madison will be shown abstaining. Do you wish to speak? Councilmember harper-madison? >> I do, thank you very much. I'm super interested in this subject matter and the time that I had to really sort of grow close to the Latino family, which, by the way, your kids don't have to be a Latino to be a Latino. And watching the critical addition to my kids, you know, sort of formative development that was being around kids that were practicing and studying steam and having that just sort of inherent inclusion of the fact that a lot [10:38:59 AM] inclusion of the fact that a lot of those kids just happen to be bilingual. It was rich and it was important. But this, again, it's one of those things where you probably see me leaning in direction today a lot because I don't want to see our social services always consistently. This is my sixth budget cycle. Every single one I've seen thus far. When we get to this stage of the discussions, it's all of the most critical social services where we're, you know, really piecing apart those last hundred thousand, 200,000, etcetera. It's not the big $10 million sidewalk project. It's $186,000. That goes to making certain that our scholars, our young minds, are being developed in a sense that they will be able to answer the call when the future makes it for their career choices. However, I really don't. I haven't to date seen how it benefits us when we revisit this discussion again next year about whether or not you know, this 186 is what we continue with. Do we raise it? Do we lower it? Do we eliminate it altogether? I just really [10:40:00 AM] it altogether? I just really struggle with seeing critical items go under ongoing, when I know the likelihood of the one time. And then I watch these organizations gear up for ongoing and have that rug snatched out from under. When you get the rug yoinked into an organization that's staffed up and manned up all that to get ready for ongoing. And then now you're back at one time, I really think it's a set up for some of our organizations, programs and initiatives to be anticipating city funded, ongoing. I, I find that that's helped. That doesn't often help the constituents that I've had the honor and privilege to represent, in which case I'm going to abstain from this one with full support for the initiative and the benefits of and really looking forward to continued conversations with my colleagues and spending this next 16 months in the copper building, coming up with longer term solutions that outlive all of our terms, all of our successors, terms that just exist in perpetuity, because it's a commitment we made as a city and as a community, as a combined effort. This these are [10:41:02 AM] combined effort. This these are not the kind of programmatic efforts I believe the municipality can take responsibility and stewardship for ongoing. I don't think it's realistic. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you, mayor pro tem, for bringing the item forward. I think it's very important. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember Laine. >> I, I want to voice my support for both this item as an ongoing and also for councilmember harper- madison for working together over the course of this year to create a more comprehensive plan along some of these lines, I would really welcome the opportunity to work with the mayor pro tem and you on that. I am very happy to support this particular item because I come to city council by way of organizing and support of stem education, and I see the very, very real opportunities, as I mentioned in las latinitas was here in sometime in the last couple of months. I am very interested in creating these connections all the way across our communities, and also well [10:42:03 AM] our communities, and also well aware of some interesting things at play in district six that could create a lot of opportunity to connect using the existing red line. As long as we can make it safe for our students to get to the stops and really build that partnership. So thank you so much for bringing it forward. I'm wholeheartedly in favor of this. It is a great way for our city to support our young minds and give them opportunities to reach as far as they want to go, regardless of what's going on in their on their home campus with funding. Thank you. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Without objection. Fuentes number four, which is an amendment to item budget addition one, item number five, as amended, is adopted a vote of eight to 0 to 3 with council member harper-madison, councilmembers Ellis and council member duchen abstaining. Mayor pro tem, you're recognized on Fuentes five. >> Thank you. Colleagues, this is regarding the family connects program, which is a service for [10:43:04 AM] program, which is a service for Austin families since 2018. This service offers in-home nurse visits that provide not only medical care but peace of mind. Visiting nurses deliver critical postpartum support, including emotional care and reassurance for parents, blood pressure checks for new mothers, essentially newborn support. And so with that, I will move to amend budget additions. Number one, by adding family connects by 170,000. This is ongoing and would come from the budget reserve surplus. >> Mayor pro tem moves adoption of Fuentes five as an amendment to item number five, as amended, is second by councilmember Velazquez. Councilmember duchen will be shown abstaining. >> Mayor, I'd like to be voting. Show voting show no on this, please. >> Okay. >> And this. >> Is one time or ongoing. >> This is ongoing. >> Out of reserves? >> Yes. >> I'll abstain. >> Councilmember harper-madison. [10:44:07 AM] >> Councilmember harper-madison. >> Yes. Mr. Mayor. >> Do you wish to abstain on this item? >> Oh, I'm sorry, that's kind of what my commentary was leading you to earlier. I think you can operate on the assumption train without error. >> Very good. Thank you, thank you. All right. Further discussion. Without objection. Fuentes, five, is adopted on a vote of seven to 2 to 2, with councilmember duchen and the mayor being shown voting no. And council members Ellis and Harper abstaining. Fuentes number five is adopted. That will take us to number six. Mayor pro tem, you're recognized. >> Thank you. Colleagues, this is a small amendment. This is to help with the impacts, which is a viral disease that spreads through close contact. We know that underserved communities are often the hardest hit, awesome public health offers impacts vaccinations. But with this amendment, which comes as a [10:45:07 AM] amendment, which comes as a recommendation from the lgbtq commission, we're able to expand services at a time critical. So with that, I move to amend budget additions one by adding impacts and other vaccines by $50,000. This is ongoing. Funds from the budget reserve surplus. >> A motion is made by mayor pro tem Fuentes to adopt Fuentes six as an amendment to the budget additions. Number one, item number five, as amended. It is seconded by council member Velazquez. Discussion with regard to the item. Councilmember Ellis, I'm I'm just going to look to you. Make sure I get the right vote. I've got council member duchen and councilmember harper-madison abstaining. >> I'll join them. >> All right. Any further discussion? Without objection, Fuentes number six is adopted on a vote of eight to 0 to 3. Councilmembers harper-madison, Ellis and duchen being shown abstaining. That'll take us to [10:46:07 AM] abstaining. That'll take us to Fuentes, number seven. And I will recognize the mayor pro tem. >> Thank you. Colleagues, this amendment is to maintain the amount of classrooms we have in partnership to ensure that we have pre-k available in our school districts. Again, this is to maintain the eight classrooms that we have, and this comes as a recommendation from the joint inclusion committee in early childhood council, as well as the United Way success by six. So with that, I move to amend budget additions number one, by adding pre-k start up costs by $42,266. Ongoing funds from the budget surplus from the budget reserve surplus. >> Mayor pro tem moves approval of the seconded by council member Velazquez. Discussion. With. Without objection. You. Are you good? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. All right. Without objection. And I'm going to call out the vote. And if I miss something, you you all feel [10:47:09 AM] miss something, you you all feel free to stop me on this on a vote of 7 to 1 to 3 to 3, the motion is adopted with council members harper-madison, Ellis and duchen being shown abstaining and the mayor voting no. Fuentes, number seven is adopted. That will take us to Fuentes. Number ten. Mayor pro tem, I recognize you. >> Okay, colleagues, this is my last amendment. This is regarding the historic preservation office. We know that just last year, we adopted the equity based preservation plan. So knowing that the real work of implementing our plans requires resources and staff capacity, this amendment will add critical fte to the historic preservation office so that they can carry out the plan and then allocate some funding to produce a comprehensive package of recommendations for historic preservation incentives. This is supported by preservation Austin. So with that, I move to amend budget additions one by adding historic preservation office by $439,000 778 ongoing funds from the budget reserves [10:48:15 AM] funds from the budget reserves surplus. >> Mayor pro tem Fuentes moves approval of item number ten as an amendment to budget additions. Number one, item number five, as amended. It is seconded by council member Velazquez. Discussion. Council member Siegel. >> Thank you, mayor, and thank you mayor pro tem and team for bringing this forward. I definitely support the equity based preservation plan and would love to see it better implemented, especially in our zoning case review process. But my team just asked me to ask a few questions so we can better understand what this is. And so mayor pro tem, these could be questions for you or to planning staff potentially. But I guess the first question is how would the fte dollars support the code mandated review. >> The code mandated review of the equity base preservation plan? >> Yes, please. >> So part of what this amendment does, it allocates one permanent staffing position in the office to support the implementation of the plan. It [10:49:15 AM] implementation of the plan. It also allocates another case manager to address the increase in plan reviews due to increased demolition, construction activity and other requirements. With that, just a couple of things I wanted to note here that this has been called out and included in the mayor's anti- displacement task force and the people's plan have been calling for expanded historic districts to help preserve vulnerable communities, especially in neighborhoods and high risk of displacement. So as part of implementing the plan, this would add staff capacity to help with that. But you know, if you would like more details, I would invite our planning office to speak specifically to the code review. >> I think, you know, that's that's a wonderful response. And then one additional question, my understanding is the equity based preservation plan does have 14 recommendations in it. So could you share a little bit more about how the recommendations requested here would be different from what are already in the plan? >> Oh, it would be the staff [10:50:15 AM] >> Oh, it would be the staff support. Essentially, it will resource the office. >> To implement those recommendations as to which one would be prioritized. I think that is still up to the historic preservation office at the rate in which they implement, but it will give them the necessary staff so that they can move forward with that work. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Councilmember Laine. >> I have a question on this one. Are we at a point if this is approved, where I will be able to activate my office can actively engage on which areas are currently at risk for displacement? Or are we too far down that process, or is that something we should pick up off offline? >> I'd love to continue the conversation with you. I think the plan kind of prescribes and lays out an implementation cycle and as well as the strategies to follow through, but as far as focus areas, I think there's probably room for guidance and direction. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Thanks. Councilmember members. Unless there's further discussion, I'm going to count [10:51:16 AM] discussion, I'm going to count the three abstentions that are that we've been going with. Councilmember duchen. >> I wish to be shown voting no on this. >> All right. Members, without objection, Fuentes, ten, is adopted on a vote of seven to 2 to 2, with two abstentions, that being councilmember harper-madison and councilmember Ellis, two noes being the mayor and council member duchen Fuentes, ten is adopted as an amendment to item number five, as amended. Congratulations, council mayor pro tem, that will now take us to what I'm going to do. Members, unless there's objection is I'm going to go to vela four and then I'm going to go to qadri one, two and three. Since he has not been recognized for any amendments, that's a little bit out of order the way I've been doing it, but I want to go ahead and do it that way just because he has not been recognized. Councilmember vela. >> Thank you. Mayor vela four is the amendment to provide a one [10:52:17 AM] the amendment to provide a one time stipend of $500 stipend for our employees who are not eligible for remote work. Again, remote work has been a tremendous benefit for our employees, really for employees, broadly speaking, and I'm glad that we're able to do that. But there's a big chunk of employees, particularly in our enterprise departments, you know, water, electric, airport who cannot work from home. They've got to come in. This is just a little pat on the back saying, you know, we see you. We appreciate you. Thank you so much. $800,000 one time. Let's look at this again next year and see where we are. And I move passage. >> Motion I'm sorry. Motion is made by councilmember vela to approve amendment number labeled vela, for which is an amendment to item five, as amended. It is seconded by council member [10:53:22 AM] seconded by council member Laine. Discussion. Councilmember duchen. >> I wish to be shown voting no on this. >> All right. >> And I'll vote yes on this one. >> Councilmember harper-madison. >> Mr. Mayor, I'm sorry, councilmember vela, you did say one time, correct? >> Yes, that's right. Councilmember. We're going to do one time and we'll take another look at it again next year. >> I really appreciate that perspective. And for what it's worth, my staff and I, what we're going to do is just sort of compile, just let my colleagues know where we're at. What we're going to do is compile the areas where I was reflected as an abstention, fully support the effort and initiative. And honestly, you know, it's sort of like when you tell your friends, we have to get together and we do that thing from the dais, we should work to know you guys, literally, let's work together. I mean, it's on the record now. We said these things are important to us, but they need support long term. So, councilmember vela, I appreciate you bringing the item forward. And, you know, recognizing [10:54:22 AM] And, you know, recognizing that's the beauty of that's something that I will never be able to do for us is recognize that there are nuances when it comes to human capital. And so I really look forward to working with you. As, you know, the member of the body that brought this forward on how do we address these types of gaps moving forward. For what it's worth, some of the people that come and testify for us, they are the ones that present the gaps to us. And so I really look forward to just having a more comprehensive opportunity as a municipality, as an organization, to compile what our gaps are, have a plan for addressing them, have, you know, sort of chronological timeline that our constituents can follow and just transparently address that we're not perfect and that god's still working on our city? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, council member, for bringing this important item forward. >> Thank you. >> Council member. Thank you. Councilmember. Any further discussion? Without objection, vela number four is adopted on a vote of 10 to 1, with councilmember duchen being shown voting no. Very good. Vela four [10:55:23 AM] voting no. Very good. Vela four is a mends item number five as amended. Members that will now take us to the yellow sheet that you have been recently handed that have qadri one, two and three. As I understand it, the sheet that he had handed out earlier that was a motion sheet to amend budget addition one is amended to include three items, has been broken into three items and three separate proposed amendments. So we'll take them up as three separate proposed amendments. I want to make sure financial staff. Sorry. >> What's up? >> I was thinking they were putting on the screen I think. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Good. So what we'll do is we'll because this is a sheet that came to us today. I'll read out what the and I'll read what we're referring to. And then I'll recognize councilmember [10:56:23 AM] I'll recognize councilmember qadri qadri one. The reference is safety. One it's a motion to amend budget additions, one by adding a line titled safety one adding $1,118,884 in reserves ongoing from for ems basic life support bls unit. Councilmember qadri, you're recognized. >> Thank you. Mayor. I had, I guess, general remarks on on all three. So I'll just do my remarks and we'll go one by one. So, you know, I believe as a diocese, it's important for us to make sure that we strengthen Austin's emergency medical response to keep pace with the growing city and rising call volumes. I want to make sure that we continue to be fast and reliable as it relates to ems, so every resident gets help when they need it most. I want to make sure that we continue to invest in the people, the equipment and the coordination that save lives every single day, and I want to make sure that we continue to build capacity to respond to both everyday emergencies and large scale crisis. So the and like I said, to clarify, there's three [10:57:24 AM] said, to clarify, there's three different amendments qadri one, two and three. The amendments, you know, they range from investing in ems staffing and resources to keep pace with Austin's growing needs. That's more ambulances, communication staff and clinical navigation teams to respond faster and save lives, and ambulance staffing to meet increased call volume and reduced response times. It's funding additional basic life support ambulance units to expand citywide coverage, and it's increasing ems communication staff to ensure faster dispatch and better coordination during emergencies. >> Great councilmember zo qadri moves the adoption of qadri one, an amendment to budget addition one, item number five, as amended. It's seconded by councilmember Velazquez. Discussion. Councilmember duchen. >> Thank you, mayor. This is tough because I really want to support councilmember qadri. >> You should you. >> Can amendment. Well, I don't know if I've got what's what you might call a track record. >> He's he's made it very easy. [10:58:24 AM] >> He's he's made it very easy. >> For people. >> People change all the time. >> Yeah. >> But but here's my central challenge is I'm not hearing a lot of ideas and I don't want to single this particular item out. Although it is somewhat expensive relative to the other amendments we've been talking about. But I haven't heard really any ideas calling for how we're going to pay for this outside of what we're calling the reserve surplus. And so I'm just going to see if there's any appetite for any other thoughts that we've got. We could easily trim rapid rehousing by a fifth and still wind up with 240 beds, or find some other place that we can find those dollars without having to dip into further the reserves, which. I'm not sure if my questioning regarding the sensitivity of the future had any impact, but I certainly worry about small things changing, then changing our outlook for even the next year. I know we've got a ton of [10:59:25 AM] I know we've got a ton of priorities that we're responsible for, and I'm trying to be thoughtful as I vote to balance those things. What would really be useful is to have the opportunity to review and understand all of these, you know, with a lot more foresight and time before we vote on them. So I'm inclined to abstain on these, but I'd really like to be there. It's just I feel like we're we're all answering the same thing, which is take them out of reserves instead of doing what could be some very difficult. But I think productive work is finding some other places where we find those dollars. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Further discussion. Hearing none. Without objection. Qadri one is adopted on a vote of ten to 0 to 1, with councilmember duchen being shown abstaining. Well, hang on a second. Councilmember. Councilmember harper-madison, I just voted you a yes on that. I can't hear you. >> My apologies. Turn on the [11:00:25 AM] >> My apologies. Turn on the camera, not the mic. I said you did, but in this instance you were wrong. I am an abstention on this one. I agree with most of the commentary that councilmember duchen presented, including the price tag on this one. >> Fair enough. Thank you. >> Thank you. The vote is nine to 0 to 2, with council members harper-madison and duchen being shown voting no. That will take it so that qadri one is adopted as an amendment to budget additions. One item number five, as amended. Qadri number two. Councilmember qadri has. He's already spoken to this. Councilmember qadri moves adoption of item number two by adding a line title safety oh three and adding $327,806 in reserves ongoing for ems commander's. He's already spoken to this. It is seconded by council member Velazquez. Discussion on qadri number two. Hearing none. Without objection. [11:01:25 AM] Hearing none. Without objection. Qadri number two is adopted. A vote of nine to 0 to 2 with council members harper-madison and. Okay, I missed it again, did I? >> Councilmember harper-madison. >> I'm a yes on this one. >> Mr. Mayor. Okay. >> On a vote of ten to 0 to 1, with councilmember duchen being shown abstaining from the vote on this item. Qadri number two, as an amendment to budget edition. Number one, item number five, as amended, is approved qadri number three. He has already spoken to this councilmember. Qadri moves approval of qadri number three as an amendment to budget addition one, item number five, as amended, by adding a line titled safety for adding $394,164 in ongoing in reserves for an ongoing item for ems communications. It is seconded by council member alter discussion. Go ahead, go. Go ahead please. Sorry. [11:02:29 AM] ahead please. Sorry. >> It's okay. Could I hear a little bit more about the specific improvements in communications, or how this increase in funding will be used differently as it relates specifically to communications? >> Yeah, it will be adding four additional ftes. >> For I'm sorry for to accomplish what exactly? >> I mean I mean just just streamline the communications process faster responses. >> Okay. And okay. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> For the. >> Call taker. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> It's for call takers. Yeah. >> Further discussion. Hearing none. Qadri number three is approved on a vote of ten to 0 to 1, with councilmember duchen abstaining. And I hear no objection the way I called that. So qadri number three is adopted as an amendment to budget addition one, item number five, as amended. Thank you, councilmember qadri. Congratulations. Now, members, [11:03:29 AM] Congratulations. Now, members, what we will do is we will go back to the second set of items that we had. Actually, for these purposes, I think it would be easier if what we do is we go to the if you have it, but there's an email that was put out this morning at 1012 by Katy powers. It has five items on it which are council member alter amendments, councilmember alter the. These are labeled differently than what we had them labeled. So I want to call them out for purposes of our record. And by earlier I mean the other sheet we just finished with because it has d5 dash, alter dash zero two through d5, alter dash zero eight. It's three, two, three, four, seven and eight members. The reason I wanted to do that is because we have already had an alter three, [11:04:29 AM] have already had an alter three, and I want to make sure that there is no confusion with regard to this. So when I get to d5 alter three, I'm going to call that d5 alter three a just so that we have it as something different. I just want to make sure that when our record is complete and we're adding all this up, we get it that way. So having done that, I will now turn to councilmember alter on d5. Alter two. >> Thank you very much. This is $50,000 for one time debt to enhance our park safety lighting and the two parks that would be impacted. Here are the zilker playscape and the Dittmar park, both of them very close to district five, but in neighboring districts two and eight, and out of abundance of caution from advice of counsel, we just need to waive the policy 12 around capital items financed [11:05:33 AM] 12 around capital items financed with non voter approved debt, just in case any of these end up costing less than $10,000. We have to waive that financial policy. So that's just a an abundance of caution. And I'd move passage of d5 alter two members. >> Councilmember alter has moved passage of d5 alter two, including waiving of appropriate financial policy to effectuate d5. Alter two. It is seconded by mayor pro tem. Discussion. Councilmember Laine. >> I'd like to abstain from this one. >> Okay. >> Any other abstentions? Councilmember duchen. >> Yes, I thought we were doing a. >> Default abstention there. >> I just want I want to see if you're awake. All right, so we've got any any other discussion. All right. On d5, alter two is adopted on a vote [11:06:35 AM] alter two is adopted on a vote of nine to 1 to 1, with the mayor being shown voting no and councilmember Laine being shown abstaining. So congratulations, that's passed d5 alter three, which is now d5. Alter three a. >> Great and I think even my colleague here, councilmember duchen is might support this one. This has zero fiscal impact. It is just adding an fte that is going to be funded by the private by philanthropy. But to allow for the parkland stewardship and community initiated parks project program manager definitely need to rename that title. But basically, if somebody came to the parks department and said, you know, I'd really like to be able to improve this park or that park, we have to have someone to be able to manage that program and say, yes, this is these are the steps you need to go through. So this really leverages community involvement in improving our parks and is [11:07:36 AM] in improving our parks and is just an fte, but is funded externally. And I move. >> Passage councilmember alter moves passage of d5 alter three a an amendment to item number five as amended. It is seconded by the mayor pro tem discussion. >> I do wish to be shown voting yes on this. >> All right. Council. I'm not. I don't know how to call that out. >> I've got to. >> Mix it up. Yeah. >> Any further discussion? Without objection. D5 alter three is adopted. Is adopted 11 to 0. I need to go back to d5 alter two because I think I may have called it wrong. I called it as a911 vote with councilmember Laine abstaining. That you were abstaining on that as well, right? >> That's right. >> Mayor. >> I apologize, I wrote it down wrong. So it's eight 1 to 2 and [11:08:37 AM] wrong. So it's eight 1 to 2 and council member duchen will also be shown abstaining on that. Thank you for that clarification. I apologize that will take us to d5 alter four and I'll recognize councilmember alter. >> Great d5 alter four is no impact to the general fund. It is $248,000 that comes from our enterprise departments, as well as $75,000 in debt to allow for the parks department to pilot the use of electric and electric riding, lawnmower, and other electric lawn care equipment. There's infrastructure involved that has to be built. We don't want these to catch on fire. And so you have to make sure you have the proper charging infrastructure in place. But ultimately this can if this is successful, you allow us to purchase less fuel, have less maintenance and hopefully be a cost savings if we can expand this program once we pilot it out. So I would move adoption of d5 alter four okay. >> Councilmember alter moves adoption of d5 alter four as an amendment to item number five, [11:09:39 AM] amendment to item number five, as amended. It is seconded by council member Ellis. Discussion. Councilmember duchen. >> Councilmember alter, can you expand on the funding from the enterprise funds and cip? >> Yes. So fleets and I saw Mr. Benigno there lean in. So I don't know if he is also something to add, but it would be fleet services would help cover some of this cost, because there is a fuel surcharge that we utilize internally to pay for moving away from utilizing fuel. And then additionally, that was the only question about just the enterprise piece of it, correct? >> No. I asked about the cip. >> Yes. So that would be certificates of obligation to allow for the purchase or probably either cos or cos contractual obligations depending on the lifespan of the [11:10:39 AM] depending on the lifespan of the product. But debt that we would utilize for purchasing the product. >> Thank you. >> Any further discussion or questions. All right members, we are voting on d5 alter four as a proposed amendment to item number five as amended. There being no further discussion. Without objection, d5 alter four is adopted with councilmember duchen being shown voting no. >> Abstain. >> Abstaining. Okay, council member duchen will be voting no. So it's adopted on a vote. I'm sorry, I keep trying to get you to vote no don't I? Yeah it's a it's a it's a ten to 0 to 1 vote with councilmember duchen being shown voting no I apologize. Now that'll take us so that d5 ultra four is adopted as an amendment to item number five, as amended. That will take us to d5 alter [11:11:40 AM] That will take us to d5 alter seven. >> This is restoring the neighborhood partnering program, which is really an impactful program on a micro level. You know, we all often focus on our large infrastructure projects. But as councilmember Laine has pointed out when talking about sidewalks, and I know councilmember Ellis, who champions all of our infrastructure and mobility projects, this allows for neighborhoods to say, you know what, I need this fixed here, and for them to leverage their money with city dollars to make it go further and get those really neighborhood level improvements done. This would come out of the enterprise fund. So no impact to the general fund in the amount of 686,689. And I would move adoption of d5 alter seven. >> Councilmember alter has moved adoption of d5 ultra seven as an amendment to item number five, as amended. It is seconded by [11:12:40 AM] as amended. It is seconded by council member Ellis. Councilmember Laine, you're recognized. >> Thank you very much for bringing this forward. And you're right. This is exactly the type of program that I fully support. I think it is so important to engage with our community in ways that help us move forward to doing things differently than we always have before. That is what we're called upon to do as a city in this moment, in my opinion. I also hope that as we move, I will be voting yes, and I hope that as we move forward, we can also look at where in the city have we succeeded in partnering in the past, and where have we not? Because the only way that we will find better and new solutions that are most appropriate to our moment now is by engaging across our entire city. And I fear there are large parts of the city that have not had the same levels of participation as some of the areas that you all represent. Thank you. >> Mayor pro tem. >> Thank you. Just also want to echo my support for this item. Thank you, councilmember alder, [11:13:41 AM] Thank you, councilmember alder, for bringing this forward. The neighborhood partnering program is an essential program that we have for our community. It's a great way for residents to engage with the city of Austin. You kind of build a little grassroots group with your neighbors and bring forward a project to the city, and you get matching funds, and it's just a great way for us to engage, and I'm really pleased to see it restored with this pending approval. >> Thank you. Mayor pro tem councilmember duchen. >> Thank you. I just had the same question regarding the enterprise fund funding. Is this also from fleet or somewhere else? >> This is the tough it would be $0.09 on the tough. >> Council member. Can I just verify this is an ongoing addition. Not one time. >> It's it indicates in the motion. It's a one time enterprise fund. >> Yeah. One time. And I think we need to address the long term of this program next budget. I have it as one time at the moment. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Councilmember Ellis. >> I'll add I'm comfortable either way, but was also thinking of having a tough [11:14:41 AM] thinking of having a tough conversation after we adopt budget. So we can kind of wrap this in and do a comprehensive look forward. >> Many of these conversations are tough conversations. All right. Anything else, tough or otherwise. All right. The motion is to adopt d5 alter seven. An amendment to budget addition one, which is item five as amended. There being no further discussion. It is without objection d5 alter seven is adopted, with councilmember duchen being shown abstaining. So it's a vote of ten to 0 to 1. Okay, members that will now take us to d5 alter eight I recognize councilmember alter members. >> This is a is the non-sworn public safety pilot talked about last week. I am not going to be offering this at the moment, but [11:15:42 AM] offering this at the moment, but I do just want to take a moment to raise that. We're we're not offering it, not because it's not something we don't want to pursue in the future, just still working with our public safety departments to figure out what exactly this program will look like. I've had the chance to work with the chair of the public safety committee here on this, and we have recognized the need to utilize our non-sworn or utilize non-sworn staff to do jobs that free up our sworn staff to do the kind of work we all want them to do. And, you know, there was a study done internally by a consultant that we hired that recognized this is one of the ways we address our staffing needs, and I look forward to working with staff, with chair Velasquez here to come back later this year and figure out what would this pilot program look like, and how do we fund it. To councilmember Duncan's point, maybe there is funding within our departments to cover this, because [11:16:43 AM] to cover this, because ultimately we want to bend the cost curve of public safety. Some of the things we've done as ems and other departments, the goal is always to deliver services more efficiently. And so that's what the hope is to do here. >> Councilmember. >> Councilmember alter moves approval. >> Of. Not moving. >> Okay, so wouldn't making no motion on that. All right. Good speech. >> My hand is raised. >> Councilmember Laine. Councilmember vela. >> Thank you so much for your work on this. Councilmember alter. Councilmember Velasquez vice chair of public safety over here. Would love to join the conversation. As I have seen the this issue raised by councilmember harper-madison as something that's desired to come before public safety, and I see it also arising across multiple departments. Just would love to be part of the earlier part of that conversation, because, you know, that will save me a lot of words on the dais later. Thank you. >> Councilmember vela. >> I just wanted to there's not a lot of ways to save money in the public safety realm. It's a [11:17:46 AM] the public safety realm. It's a very human resource intensive kind of area. There's no kind of automation or those kinds of things like that. This is one of the few ways we can kind of take our, our sworn officers and have them dedicated to responding to calls in supplement them with folks. An example, honestly, would be the retired reserve force that was started about a couple of years ago for events and security. Again, just creative ways to leave our sworn officers in the position to do patrol and to do those kinds of things like that and use retired or reserve or non-sworn officers in supplementary roles. Again, support it and look forward to discussing this down the road. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember duchen. >> Thank you, mayor. I appreciate councilmember alter's ideas around this. I do want to throw out one idea that I know I've been contemplating and [11:18:47 AM] I've been contemplating and talking about for over a year now, which is to figure out if there's a way to do a similar pilot for something like hero the highway emergency response operators, which would, I think, be a really valuable subset. What I want to be really wary about is two things. One is finding the right roles. Right? I'm not sure that non-sworn folks are appropriate for certain things. When I saw a first, I think, original draft floating around at this included like robberies and all kinds of other things that I'm not sure that would be a very wise thing to do. And the second concern would just be the overhead from APD and our other public safety agencies on managing the non-sworn component. So I think if there's an existing model that we can follow, like hero, that we know works, that we know creates savings, that'd be a great place to start. And I'd be happy to work with you on that. >> Yeah. That's great. >> Great. Thank you. All right. Now that will take us to the, the what I believe to be the final proposed amendment. Unless you all surprise me in some way. And that is duchen one members. [11:19:50 AM] And that is duchen one members. That was on one of the sheets that we were provided yesterday. Duchen number one and councilmember duchen. Going to be cool to see you abstain on your own. >> But yeah. >> It's yours. You have the floor. >> Thank you mayor. So this amendment increases the Austin energy utility fees and attempts to essentially address the shortfall this year when my when a is supposed to complete its resiliency study by the end of the year, I'm requesting that the net revenue is allocated for as much as can be responsibly spent on things like hardening and weatherization and infrastructure to meet our resiliency goals. Part of that is out of a concern of having extreme weather events now, for whatever reasons happening every other year. And then I think [11:20:50 AM] other year. And then I think whatever can't be allocated to work to addressing resiliency, to be allocated towards working capital, because one of my concerns and I probably should have had this out before, but I'll pass it around, is that we're dipping for four years below our 200 day. Below our 200 day. Cash on hand. In fact, there's even though that's supposed to be an industry standard, there's another kind of guardrail at 150 days that we're slipping through. And I just want to tell a really super brief story about kind of why those sort of working capital things are important. When the microburst storm came through back at the end of may, it hit our community pretty hard and to the point where we had, you know, a third of the units, which we're talking about, 70 plus units having either water intrusion, flooding or other kinds of roofing and chimney damage. And that's left us in a [11:21:50 AM] damage. And that's left us in a place where we're struggling with working capital, and we're lucky we have a assessment coming in from the last time we had a storm, the ice storm that will hopefully help our capital issues to pay for all the repairs. But the bottom line is those things become important when you have extreme weather events. As apparently often as we seem to be having. A couple other things quickly. And first, let me address, I think the mayor's point, which is it may seem a little illogical to oppose a lot of these increases and amendments we're talking about, but supporting increases to fees to Austin energy. I think the most obvious answer is I am wondering if there is never going to be a better time than now to do an additional fee increase. And that's partly because right now the average customer is getting a $5 a month, essentially decrease in their bill, with commercial customers getting a $7 a month decrease in their bill. And so if there's [11:22:52 AM] their bill. And so if there's any time that we could, I think, add on to whatever the utility fee increase would be, it would be a time where we they're not going to experience any increase. And so the original proposal was to zero out the amount so that there's no increase or decrease for the average customer. But the reality is this is not unlike this entire process we're going through with the pennies and the TRE, where you could go between zero to about 8.7%, which gets you to zero out every, I think. Interim director Riley can tell us what each percent is worth, but if we went halfway there, for instance, to the point that people still got a discount on their bill this year, you'd still generate about $31.5 million of additional revenue for Austin energy. And as we know, they're running a deficit of $43 million a year. They're paying through that through working capital. My understanding is that somewhat [11:23:53 AM] understanding is that somewhat of an unusual circumstance, because it's an organization that's based on cost of service. And I think, as I've said, there are implications to that payment in the terms of it's hitting our our cash on hand. Over the next four years, we finally get back up to close to where we're supposed to be by 2030. I think another benefit is that you're talking about potentially decreasing the rate change that we'd have, the increase in rates, which are projected to be 5% per year for the next several years. So we're potentially able to offer them a decreased rate in a time where they may not be able to see a on their bill. So I suspect there is a benefit there also. I've talked about the extreme weather events, but I would just reemphasize that even among the conversations I've had with people that are sort of the budget hawks and the Austin energy critics of the general fund transfer, one distinction I [11:24:54 AM] fund transfer, one distinction I really want to draw is I think there's appetite for this when people know that it's going towards things that they can directly connect the increase to. When I say that, I mean we are connecting it strictly to two things. One is to a deficit this year and two, it's to important hardening work. I'll remind y'all in our survey, you utilities was number two on people's priority list in part, I think from all the different weather events that we've had. But I think, again, if there's ever a time to contemplate a higher increase, whatever that value is that we can discuss on the dais, it would hopefully be this year. So it could be a 2%, it could be a 4%. So when I say 2 or 4, I mean a net of 7 to 9. I also want to mention that Austin and again would welcome any questions that you all have for interim GM Riley. But you [11:25:57 AM] for interim GM Riley. But you know, Austin energy I think has softened a bit because they're also feel like they've done a lot of work investing in their five year plan. I do want to touch on a couple other why we might want a lesser amount. One is because I understand Austin energy and other folks have communicated out to taxpayers and ratepayers that they are getting this discounted year. So again, I would offer the idea of maybe going part of the way. They're not all the way there. If there's a way to still ensure that they get that discount this year. I'd also say people have raised the idea of, you know, 13.7% would be a rate shock and might trigger certain things. And again, another case for maybe going part of the way there and not all the way. But I'll also say that there are other utilities that have passed similar rate increases across the country for various other needs and circumstances, and that's also in Austin energy slides that we went through last week. So all to say, I'd welcome a conversation around what the [11:26:58 AM] a conversation around what the appropriate rate increase, if any, would be, because again, I'd reinforce if there ever is a time to do it, it would be this year. What we don't want to be is in a position where we are two years from now and have an emergency, and we don't have the requisite cash on hand to go deal with that. So with that, I move to amend budget amendment one by adding a line titled Austin energy rates and fees, by adding $63 million in revenues for paying down revenue shortfalls and investing in planned resiliency programs. But I'm open to any amendment to take that down to a percentage that people here feel more comfortable knowing that we can balance that out in the same way that we're balancing out our pennies. >> Thank you. >> Members, you've heard the motion by councilmember duchen. Is there a second? Is there a second? Councilmember Laine you second the motion. Councilmember Laine seconds the motion. So we have a motion and a second discussion. And I'd like to start the discussion because I find it kind of ironic, even the argument about how we ought to [11:27:59 AM] argument about how we ought to increase fees because we're decreasing fees, and this is a good time to do that. That is some of the argument that has been used for some of the tax increase and that you've been opposed to. So I find it a little bit ironic, particularly when this is the only item where the city, as we as we balance and we try to come up with a disciplined approach to addressing affordability. At the same time, we're needing to raise revenue in terms of rates, fees and taxes from somebody because there's a natural tension there, an inherent tension between asking for that money and for quality services and affordability. This is the only item where we're actually decreasing it on behalf of the ratepayer in this situation. And members, my concern on this is [11:29:00 AM] members, my concern on this is that Austin energy has worked very hard to come up with an incremental rate increase so that we address it in an incremental way, even though we they have increasing costs, they have worked to do it in that way. And as I indicate here, we are trying to deal with affordability in our city. And this is the one area where actually providing break in this budget. The other part that I think needs to be said is that the customer assistance programs that we have at Austin energy are really some of the best in the country, and people are proud of those things. And this current proposal reduces the cap participants bills by almost $7 a month. And that and that's real money. It's affordability that I'd like to see us keeping, particularly when we have the opportunity for better outcomes for customers. So I think we ought to we ought to do that. [11:30:00 AM] ought to we ought to do that. And then the last thing I will say I've got I can go into more detail, but I don't I'm not going to do that. But about about specifics. But the truth of the matter is, if this is as we are working very hard as a council to come up with the right and we may not get it exactly right, there's no way it's going to be perfect. But as we're trying to get it right with regard to the tension between affordability and needing to pay for additional services so that we have quality of life and quality services, if Austin energy, which is very important to us, brings us a well thought out proposal that deals with incremental rate increases, I think we ought to seize that and not not deflect it with that. Councilmember Siegel followed by council member Lang. >> Thank you, mayor, and I'd like to ask if GM Riley has a couple of minutes. Mr. Riley, just like you, to share an [11:31:03 AM] just like you, to share an overview of why Austin energy made the recommendation it made. And also whether you think it takes care of this resiliency question of our utility. Thank you. Good morning. >> Sure. Good morning. Stuart Riley interim general manager, Austin energy. When we were looking at our financial forecast back in January, February and we saw we've been dealing with rising costs for the past several years, skyrocketing costs, and we saw a shortfall in our revenues to cover our costs. And we came up with a five year plan, a five year plan that we could build into the budget that is based on gradualism, incrementalism. We've heard that from our customers. We've heard that in rate review processes in the past, that we don't want to engage in anything that could be perceived as rate shock. And so at that point, when we came up with this five year plan to get [11:32:04 AM] with this five year plan to get our finances in order, we decided that in this budget year that we're planning for fy 26, what we did not want to do was kicking the can down the road in terms of our resiliency investments. And so what we decided we would do was invest in our system appropriately for fy 26, which is going to leave us with the $43 million shortfall that council member duchen mentioned. And we would make up that shortfall in the coming years. And over this five year plan. So we decided that we would not wait to do the right thing in terms of investing in our system, investing in resiliency. But we would have to partner with council to be on this five year plan to get our finances in order to be able to pay for those investments. >> Thank you, Mr. Riley. And I would just like to say I really want to support the professional managers of our electric utility and coming up with a sound long term plan. I don't think that we [11:33:04 AM] term plan. I don't think that we should interfere with the strategy they've laid out. So I'll be voting no on this item. >> Councilmember Laine. >> Thank you. So I seconded this item to allow for some discussion as that I value that I will have questions for both council member duchen and Jim Riley. Councilmember duchen, can I clarify if this passes, could these revenues be used to jump start some of them be used to jump start the vegetation trimming, particularly in the areas that still haven't received the full trimming post? >> Sherry they can be used for whatever we direct them to. The men. I mentioned the resiliency because they've got that resiliency plan that's due at the end of the year that I think director interim GM Riley can speak more to. But yeah, I think it would be perhaps useful to direct them, to spend them on certain priorities and then maybe also indicate that there's [11:34:05 AM] maybe also indicate that there's flexibility down the line, as we've maybe addressed those priorities when that time has come. And I'll also just say reinforce the idea of happy to entertain the idea of a friendly amendment that takes us, again, somewhere between 0 and 60 3 million or 0 and five and 13.7%. >> I did understand that to be possible. I just wanted to confirm it, and I appreciate that. Some of you may not know that if there was one single event that caused me to run for city council, it was the experience of large areas of my neighborhood. During Yuri with reliability and resilience. And GM Riley and I have discussed extensively that I love the fact that Austin is cutting edge in so many areas. I'm glad that we've made those investments. However, at this point in time, we must ensure that all parts of our city are keeping the lights on reliably. And when I took office, as we discussed, you know, there was an elementary school that was having outages far outside of the range of [11:35:07 AM] far outside of the range of typical that had been going on since Yuri and hadn't had trees trimmed yet. Post Yuri and I thank you very much for moving that forward in the plan. But I, as someone who represents areas and it is not just my areas, I've heard stories across all of the northern suburbs of continuing to have outages similar to what was experienced in Yuri, and while it may feel okay if to some who are not experiencing these to take seven years to address that TRE trimming investment, I can tell you reliability, resilience, being able to react to the weather events in a timely fashion before the next one comes on top of it, is critically important to my entire district and as you, mayor Watson, have also shared with me that when you are in my district, it is one of the issues that gets raised consistently. Will we make it through the winter? Will we make it through the summer? I know people who have moved out of the area because of the concerns around reliability of electric [11:36:09 AM] around reliability of electric service. So I say all of that to say, I would be remiss as far as representing this city as a whole and not just my district. If I did not raise at least the possibility of some additional upfront investment in finding a way to clear out some of the long standing issues that some of us continue to face. So that is one of the reasons that I'm asking about that. And whatever the outcome of this is, I know that we will continue our conversations around this, and I hope that we as a council, can prioritize moving forward some of those investments. So that's the longest comment that I'm going to make. And the rest will I have a few more questions. I really value the customer assistance program assistance programs that we have as a city. I think they're so important to providing more stability for so many of our residents. Is there a possibility council member duchen of investing any of these additional revenues into enhancing those programs, and [11:37:09 AM] enhancing those programs, and perhaps changing thresholds for who qualifies for them? Because in that way, we could make upfront capital investment by taking action now and also smooth out the impact on those those customers who most need that. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> And I know we've had conversations with Austin energy about the challenges around the way that the volumetric fees work and how in some cases, they may impact certain people in some ways, in a way that doesn't seem to make a lot of logical sense. That is to say, sometimes you've got larger people that are paying more in their bill. They're the ones that can't afford the improvements that would actually decrease their bill. So yeah, I'd be happy to entertain those ideas. And I think those are incredibly valuable programs we already offer. >> And I know we as a council, have also had conversations about the importance of increasing the access to weatherization programs for renters. And these are the types of things that, you know, we could use this type of income to address. So I'd also like to [11:38:11 AM] address. So I'd also like to turn now to I, I understand the balancing act that we do in terms of rate setting, and I certainly am not here to upend a long process that began before me in terms of incremental increases and this type of approach. However, as you know, and I don't know if y'all know, I, I we have been having conversations about the importance of when we look at our targets as a city, including Wright on the same table, data around what our peer cities are doing. And that is the next as as a former appraiser, data. Data is king. Comparing to our peer cities is so important. And again I will say if we as a city want to do the right thing in our current climate, I do think it's important that we base our decisions on what is effective and supportable and strong management practice, and I do [11:39:11 AM] management practice, and I do not at all dispute that. The plan that you have brought forward is an example of that. I think that it is very well thought out. I also think that it is worthy of consideration as we think about how rate increases will be perceived in the broader community beyond just the city of Austin. What are our peer cities doing in terms of the next year of rate increase? Because right now you've built an, you know, a very steady 5% increase. But our peer cities doing increases for next year of around 5%, because we've had a lot of discussions throughout this process about it gets so dicey to predict out so far. But we really should focus in on what's happening in the next year. And so can you share with us a little bit about the peer city data on rate increases in the coming year? >> Certainly, when we've looked at what's going on nationally and around Texas, the cost pressures that we're facing at Austin energy are not unique. Other utilities are raising [11:40:12 AM] Other utilities are raising rates. Other rates are. Other utilities are raising rates at a 5% or more clip. And many of them have signaled their plans for multiyear rate increases. And in fact, we've seen that begin with several peer utilities doing, you know, four and a half or 5% kind of year after year, as we've seen, these cost increases. And so other utilities are trying to keep up with these rising costs in a similar fashion to what we've proposed, many are are raising rates at at a higher percentage than what we've proposed. And, you know, really we're as council member duchen mentioned, we're cost based utility. We are looking at what our costs will be over the next five years. We cannot predict those perfectly. So when people ask me what rates are going to do in five years, I'll say what our costs are going to do in five years, because then I can tell you what our rates are going to do. So as a cost based utility, we are [11:41:14 AM] a cost based utility, we are forecasting with, you know, the most certainty we can what what that's going to be. And that's the kind of the plan that we've laid out. And later this year we will have the resiliency, the comprehensive resiliency plan that may influence things. We may have additional work that is identified there that will be able to make some progress on. And, you know, I do just want to address a couple of the things that that you all have mentioned, which is that, you know, additional funding could accomplish additional resiliency work. And what we've done in our budget is we've we've basically decided we're already going to build that in. That's why we have the shortfall. If we had provided a budget at this point, that was balanced, kind of like we did last year, where we deferred $60 million of costs before we ever even got to council. You know, we were cutting costs, but you can't really cut costs. You can you can defer them until later. So some of these projects are going to come to a head at some point. [11:42:15 AM] to come to a head at some point. And here we are. And we've decided we need to go ahead and do that. So any incremental increase beyond the 5% at this point is already revenues that would account for costs that are already spoken for. So we're not waiting on doing that. We've got over $30 million budgeted for vegetation management in terms of peer cities. We spend more on vegetation management now than what we're seeing on a per customer basis than peer utilities. We've got more than $50 million worth in resilience related costs in this budget, so we're not waiting to do those things. And in terms of our peer cities, we also have better reliability numbers than peer cities. But we're also recognizing the reality that you bring up, which is that some customers aren't experiencing, that there are pockets where the customer is experiencing far too many outages. And so while we have we overall we compare very well. We compare very well in terms of the bill because of some of these other utility adjustments that other utilities are doing. We're about to have, once again, the lowest [11:43:17 AM] once again, the lowest residential bills in the state. So that's just, you know, some some data points for you. >> So I appreciate that information. It's always great to talk with you about these things. It isn't surprising to me that we're currently spending more on vegetation management, because we took a decade off of following best practices. And as you mentioned, you don't really avoid those costs. You just postpone them. And I would say for the people who have had the experiences of extreme outages in Yuri and in and continuing to have them, as we've had additional storms since then, I, I would submit that those community members are tired of waiting for us to go through a seven year cycle of catching up. So different experiences in different spots. I maybe just know a lot of those pockets. But I will mention that I also want to talk a little bit about our. Financial rating and the slippage that has occurred in our financial rating and the [11:44:17 AM] our financial rating and the importance, in my view. And I, I'm sure council member Ellis is with me on this. And council member duchen and in taking steps to bring that financial rating back to the strongest possible level, and I will submit, mayor Watson, that part of the reason that I would like to have this discussion in public is so that we, as a council, affirm our commitment to taking the steps that will show those rating agencies that we have reduced our risk. And I do intend to bring something like that forward in the Austin energy meeting. One more question about our peer cities. So I'm looking at the data that you shared with me previously, at which point we had the third lowest residential bills in Texas, the second lowest in ercot. And I know you shared some more current data that is along the same lines while you were speaking. And this is what I'm talking about. Like if we are worried about Austin energy being an outlier. The way that we are an outlier is in how low [11:45:18 AM] we are an outlier is in how low we've kept our bills. And I personally believe that we have done that in part by not making as many capital investments in a timely way, measured over the course of the last decade. And so I hope that we'll find ways to catch that up, because I do know that our city will benefit immensely from our residents and our businesses, all of them experiencing more reliability and our financial rating institutions, seeing that we are taking the steps necessary to truly be resilient and serve our community. I guess I didn't tell the truth when I said I wasn't going to comment further, but I do very much appreciate the opportunity to bring these issues to light. And I also, along with my colleague, very much want to support our interim general manager in the very measured and careful plan that he has brought out. And at this early point in my term, I, I will not vote against that plan. And I also welcome continuing this conversation over the next year, and I hope that we will be [11:46:19 AM] year, and I hope that we will be able to take it up in the Austin energy meeting. >> Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember vela. >> Thank you. Mayor. I'm a no on this item. Austin energy has a structured as you mentioned. I really just want to reiterate yours and council member Siegel's comments. They have a long term plan to address rates. It's a good plan. It's not going to have a sticker shock on any ratepayers. And I would just note that, you know, the property tax is fundamentally a Progressive tax. It's not an income tax, but it is Progressive electric rates are really a regressive form of it's not a tax. But they hit the poor quite substantially. So we have to be really I think delicate when we're looking at rates. We do that because we have an excellent customer assistance [11:47:19 AM] excellent customer assistance program. We really try hard. We have a Progressive rate structure, but I just don't want to disrupt any of that. Again, I think Austin energy's got a good plan. I support it and I'll be voting no on this item. >> Thank you. Councilmember vela. Any further discussion? Councilmember duchen, I'll let you close because of the length of the debate on this item, if briefly, and then. Well, and I'll tell you what next steps are. Councilmember duchen. >> All right. Thank you. Mayor. I just want to address a couple of items. One is I do appreciate the work that the whole Austin energy team has done to get us this far and come up with, I think, a very sensible plan. The question of whether there is there some margin beyond that plan that would make sense in terms of addressing either the cash on hand challenge that we'll have for the next four years or future programing that may be unbudgeted. And we also don't know what the resilience resiliency study will conclude in December and how much additional need there will be [11:48:20 AM] additional need there will be beyond their. So I think there is opportunity to figure out if there is new purpose for some of those dollars and whether they can either ensure safety in a time of, I think, some unpredictability or whether they can go towards programing that we may want to invest in, not this year, but subsequent years, that we're not, that we either don't know the full cost of, or we may want to add on to. I want to address a couple of the mayor's comments real quick, and also, council member Velez, you know, I would argue a little bit differently that because of the way that the structure works for the billing, that it's volumetric, that ideally this is a bill that could be incentivize people to save and that customers that are have smaller homes or less needs would be able to potentially incur less of a cost than those that are larger customers. I'd also say there's a bit of a difference between the operational cost of [11:49:20 AM] between the operational cost of programing that we've been investing in over the last day relative to something that's just really straight up revenue for the programing. We don't know really what their future cost is. We don't not sure we've got great data on kpis and outcomes. And so for me, there's a really large distinction between when you talk about adding new programing versus adding a flat fee increase. And the last thing I'll just say is I think part of this is a question of do you have the initial discount now in a time where people can absorb it, or do you have it in the future where they're going to see their bills go up, potentially for the next 4 or 5 straight years? If we do it now, those dollars that we're generating now are going to be worth more. They're going to be represented in future bills. When we talk about rate shock, I'm not sure how much other than from a strictly PUC perspective, whether it makes that much of a difference, whether you've got a higher bill [11:50:20 AM] whether you've got a higher bill now or the same bill in five years because you've done successive 5% increases, which we could potentially lower if we make a different decision today. So either way, you're talking about having coming, you know, fast forwarding 4 or 5 years where people's bills are going up, potentially substantially to pay for all of the cip improvements that Austin energy has outlined and maybe some that it hasn't. So with that said, I again would be happy to entertain any number between 0 and $63 million if there's a value to both. Addressing some of the concerns that I've raised. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember duchen is closed on duchen one, which is a proposed amendment to budget edition one, item number five, as amended. All those in favor of the item, please raise your hand. There being one in favor and ten in opposition. The motion to amend is fails. All [11:51:20 AM] motion to amend is fails. All right, members, what that will do is now take us. Here's what I would outline is our next steps. I believe we have covered every proposed amendment that any body wanted to bring forward. However, there were a couple of members that had items that they were considering bringing forward, and they want to just comment briefly on those because they're not bringing them forward. And I'm going to recognize them. Then I'm going to recognize the manager to say a few words. And then what I'm going to recommend we do is we take about a 30 minute break, make sure that financial staff is ready for us to know all the numbers, vote, see if there's anything that is an outlier, something that we want. And at that point we will. After that break, we will return and we will take a vote on item number five as amended. So with that councilmember duchen, I'm going [11:52:21 AM] councilmember duchen, I'm going to recognize you. It's my understanding you had another possible amendment that you have decided not to offer, but you want to make a brief comment about it. >> Yes. Thank you. Mayor. I had originally intended, like some of my colleagues, to offer an amendment. This would have encouraged and advised our city staff and the city manager. And I've already had some conversations with Mr. Broadnax about this to implement the kind of performance review, and which includes a number of items, includes an organizational review. Includes a spending review. Includes a potential forensic audit that some other cities, like Houston and Milwaukee, have performed that have helped them. Both implement better ways to evaluate programmatic expenses, to evaluate, to make sure that certain metrics are in line. For instance, staff to hr, staff to managers, etc. Help them flatten organizations. In some cases where that made sense, even purchasing decisions, [11:53:24 AM] purchasing decisions, discovering departments having the same, having the same contractors, or sourcing from the same places where there could be buying power. Discounts can go into much greater detail. I alluded to some of this in the message board post from I think two days ago, but I do sense that there's a lot of opportunity there. Houston has implemented this program and is in the process of actually implementing their findings. I think to date, they've saved about or found about $122 million of efficiencies. All of this started with a ten week engagement with Ernst and young that had city staff shadow them to learn that process. But through that, just some extraordinary findings from my perspective, and I'm happy to share the slides with anybody interested. But, for instance, they might have found that an organization across the 190 or so programmatic organizations in the city, they found in most cases, they were just reporting the outputs of those [11:54:24 AM] the outputs of those organizations, if they had any kpis at all. And there so they were not reporting on efficiencies, they were not reporting on equities. They were not reporting on outputs, outcomes. So I think there's a lot of work to do. And again, grateful that the manager has already started performance. Austin, texas.gov to help us start to get there. But my hope is that this could help build on that, give us really good data to and also get us programmatic budgets to work with that will list out not not just by line item, but by what their function is and how many ftes are involved, so that we can figure out what to build on and what's working well, and then make smarter decisions going forward. So my hope is that we can have a more robust conversation around that in the coming weeks. >> Thank you. Councilmember. All right, members, I'm going to recognize the manager. He to say a few words and then I'm going to recommend we take a break to let staff do its magic. And then [11:55:24 AM] let staff do its magic. And then we come back and we'll vote on item number five as amended. Manager. >> Thank you mayor. And just briefly after my comments before we do break, I think the team can share some big picture numbers on kind of where we settled, but then go and clean those up so that then we can provide those in writing for the council and the public. And so first of all, thank you for recognizing me, mayor. I felt somewhat quiet, obviously, during the whole lengthy, lengthy debate, which probably is unusual to people who know me, but I felt like I was in a situation of double Dutch where I didn't know when to break in, when in fact folks were sharing their amendments. And so I wanted to just at least put some perspective. Obviously, as we propose, the budget in July and then this last several weeks, as we've talked through, whether it's amendments and or just better clarity on what we were doing and recommending as a team, from directors to the [11:56:25 AM] team, from directors to the financial staff, the process that I think is unfolded, which I think has been wonderfully done, particularly around framing what this entire conversation over the last weeks have been about, related to a TRE and why and what I think. And then this process of amendments, whether some folks feel that we got far enough or not, I think has focused rightfully on the sustainability of the resources. If, in fact, we are going to put forward a tax rate election. And I think the conversations, particularly late last night and today, particularly surrounding the reserves, I just want to make a specific comment because I feel like I need to, particularly when I look through and think through all the amendments that have taken place. And while many of them, I think are great things that we should be doing for the community and or what is expected for us to do, I think if there was one statement I [11:57:25 AM] if there was one statement I wanted to make as the manager, particularly as we think about how we are settling in on what that number will be, I really would pick on and or state the ongoing nature or even framing the things that are truly ongoing and or one time just wanted to provide the perspective to whether it's the public or the council that even coming off of council member Duncan's last statement between now and three, five or however many years forward, just using the word ongoing one, the nature of those things. Yes, there's something we'd have to do every year if they were added and put in, but they may be things that we will not be able to sustain or continue to do. And I don't want to create a false perception, whether that's for the social service providers. When we start line item in certain things, that just because it's in the budget in 2026, the expectation is that it might be here in 2028 or 30, just depending on the cost and [11:58:27 AM] just depending on the cost and or the nature of which. In fact, there's some discussion about whether or not we as a city should be doing those things over and above our core services. And so what I've seen is that built in inertia in some respect of if nobody else is going to be there to fund certain things, that there's an expectation or a thought that the city has got to be the one to step up. And I heard later in these conversations today that we need to ask our other levels of government, our philanthropic community and the private sector, in some cases, to sit at the table with us to figure out some of these issues that impact everyone. And so I just when we begin to settle in on whatever this number is going to be, I just want to point to the sustainability of it. And obviously one time funding or the amount that we don't put in reserves that ultimately will come due one day of what we need to be doing to continue the sustainability. And so I just wanted to make sure I said that because I think it's [11:59:30 AM] because I think it's interesting, because I know my team has put in a lot of hard work, and we like to deliver for the community as well. As the council. But I just really would just say to the council the concern, if any, over the bulk of these amendments, while they're all great things and many of them came from our departments, but we weren't able to fund is to just be cognizant of the long term sustainability of ongoing expenses and the pressure that puts on our future reserves and or just some of the basic services that we do. And to council member Duncan's point, to not really feel as though we need to be directed to find efficiencies and look for ways to save money. Those are things that we are already doing and we will be doing more of, not just by choice, but because we're going to have to do that to ensure that we continue to one excel at what we do, but also provide the services that we need. And so I just wanted to provide that perspective, and [12:00:30 PM] provide that perspective, and I'm going to ask Carrie briefly to share the fundamental question that's been asked every time we've gone through. And we've added an item where we are with the reserve levels that we would be able to replenish in the next fiscal year, and then the next two, just to provide the same information after we've gone through probably about $3 million plus more of ads. So with that, I'll turn it over to Carrie and then turn it back over to you, mayor. So thank you for allowing me to share that. >> Sure. Thank you. >> Thank you, city manager. So when we look at the amendments that have been approved to so far in fiscal year 26, we are balanced with a 17.25% reserve. That's $3.9 million over the reserve in fiscal year 27. We are balanced. Our reserves is at 16.90% percent. That's 1.6 million below the reserve policy. In fiscal year 28, we begin seeing an operating operating [12:01:33 PM] seeing an operating operating deficit of 5.3 million and a 15.9% reserve. That's 18.7 million below the reserve policy. And in fiscal year 29, we have a $9.2 million deficit in operating and a 14.8% reserve. That's 38.7 million below the reserve policy. >> Thank you members. Any questions manager. Anything you want to add? >> Yes. And just to close it out as Kerry went through those numbers, it's my understanding and belief that as you saw that number going down as we further went out, that's primarily driven by the recurring nature and ongoing nature of some of the expenditures that we added. And so that is a finer point of really what I was trying to illuminate, just for perspective, for those who are having a difficulty keeping up on the other side of the dais. So thank you very much. And thank you, team. >> Thank you members. [12:02:34 PM] >> Thank you members. >> Just clarifying one of the numbers. >> Council member. >> Ellis. >> What was the third year, the 15.9% in reserves. What was the number. >> That that. 5.3 million. 5.3 million operating deficit and 18.7 million below the reserve policy. >> Thank you. >> Other questions before we take a break and let them get this where we can put it up for the public. Yeah. Councilmember alter. >> Can you remind us just what that structural deficit was in the budget before we even started talking about a TRE? As we look to the out years, looking in fiscal year 2829, because I don't want the public to be confused that somehow this this deficit in fiscal year 28 and 29 is because of the amendments or things we've done today and last night. But we started this process with a structural challenge that we still need to address. And so I wonder if you could just remind us of those numbers real quick. >> It's in the realm of 30 to [12:03:59 PM] >> It's in the realm of 30 to $40 million as we approach the out years. Although I would note that that's inclusive of planned transfers to restore the reserves to 17%. So the comparable number in this scenario would be looking at that $38.7 million reserve shortfall by fy 29, in combination with the $9 million operating shortfall. >> Right. >> Very good. I just want to put that in context. Thank you. >> All right members, with that, what we will do is unless there's objection, we will recess until 1235, at which point we will return. And it is anticipated we will take a vote on item number five, as amended. Without objection, we are recessed until 1235. It 1235 we have there's some work [12:35:39 PM] 1235 we have there's some work going on. And so what we're going to do is stay in recess for a little bit longer until 1:00. So we'll be in recess until 1:00, and we'll be back at that point in time. Thank you. Back to order. It's 1:35 P.M. [1:35:49 PM] Back to order. It's 1:35 P.M. And we have been in recess. I called the city council back to order on August 14th to continue with our meeting. Members. The first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to ask our professional staff to update us on where we are, and then I will. >> It just adds precast articles. >> Okay. Let me let me turn to the professional staff. >> Do we have a planner? That's not what we want. >> Yes, ma'am. [1:36:56 PM] >> Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you. Mayor. We provided the updated amendments based on the motions that the decisions that were made prior to the recess. So you have the document fiscal year 2526 amendments as of eight, 14, 25 that lists all of the amendments that action were taken on to. To this point. >> Members, you have any questions of staff? Okay. Yes. Alright. The. I hate to have called to order in two minutes later, need to recess, but I it's my understanding that a member or two or 3 or 4 have a have something they would like for us to consider as part of the budget. And I would like to give everybody that opportunity. But in order to do it, as I understand it, they want to make a motion to. To amend the budget. Here's what I'll attempt [1:38:04 PM] budget. Here's what I'll attempt to do for clarity purposes so that we can move forward. Members. You've been provided a document that stated council qadri motion one, version two. What I it's a motion. The motion would be to reallocate budget additions 1 to 1 time funding for the following items. And there are multiple items listed there. What I we don't have, except in the bottom part of this, starting with d6 Laine oh four and then alter three, Fuentes one, Fuentes three, and Fuentes four. We don't have the same identifying items for the previous ones. The way I would handle this, which would not be the world's greatest parliamentary procedure, but I will beg flexibility among the council members is I would [1:39:06 PM] council members is I would consider first a notion to reconsider the amendments to item five, as amended. For each one of these items. We would do that as a blanket motion to reconsider those items. And if that were to pass, then we would consider this as a single motion. I'm not entirely comfortable with that, but it would allow for us to have the discussion. But part of the part of the problem I'm having is it doesn't fully identify. The amendments. So, so. I guess what I could do, subject to getting [1:40:13 PM] I could do, subject to getting any objection at all from council, any member of the council is considered a motion to reconsider. A motion to reconsider of the amendment to item to budget addition one, item five, as amended, for the item identified in this, and then we can we know what one's went to one time. Housing and homelessness three. Diversion 5000. Housing and homelessness three. Diversion 5000. And just make that assumption. Yes. Councilmember Siegel. >> Mayor, just a brief clarification of the motion items one through ten on this list refer to line items that were in the bulk motion. >> So that's part of the problem, right? >> But that's the only so for these items that are in this bulk motion, they don't have the identifiers of the standalone [1:41:13 PM] identifiers of the standalone motions. So this is the best I believe that could be done with the paperwork we have. Gaar cronk. >> Well that's that's not even. Mayor. Can I. >> Council member alter. >> What our amendment, if you remember the narrative form of that, we added things to staff's budget additions. We modified things to staff's budget additions. But I'll I'll point you to a line three here. Housing and homelessness. Nine community shelters at $2 million. We didn't touch that in our amendment. So we can't bundle all ten of these as as staff has labeled them be amendment oh one, because some of these were not impacted in [1:42:15 PM] of these were not impacted in that. And yeah. >> Yeah, members I and those that have worked during the recess to put this together, I apologize, but I'm going to have to as, as as chair presiding officer, rule this motion out of order, because I don't think we can provide the clarity that we need to provide with regard to the budget. And typically you can't have a and I'm going to badly overgeneralize here, but an amendment that takes out a motion to reconsider so that we can amend an amendment that's already passed would not be appropriate. But I was going to try to be flexible to do that. But because this doesn't provide the identity that I think we need to provide with any sort of specificity, I'm going to rule that out of order. And I'm sorry that that's the situation we're in, but I don't this is not what I expected that I was going to [1:43:17 PM] I expected that I was going to get to see. So that takes us back now to the main motion. I'm sorry. Do you have something? Council member. >> I'm just going to wait until we have a motion that I can raise your hand for. >> Okay. Members, the vote that we are about to take is on the main motion, as amended. The main motion is item number five, as amended. Item number five is the budget item. And that includes all of the amendments that have been have been put on it up until this that have been put on it. This is a roll call vote. So at the appropriate time, I'm going to ask the clerk to please call the roll as required by state law, so that each council members vote is recorded. But for now, let's go to discussion and council member Laine, since you indicated you [1:44:18 PM] Laine, since you indicated you wanted to discuss, we'll start with you. >> Thank you. It's been a real I'm so I'm so happy to have the honor to participate in this budget process at such an important time in our city. I want to speak to the intent of what was brought forward, which is to address as many of the considerations, particularly around fiscal responsibility, as possible, in order to allow the most council members to get behind this as possible. I fully respect your decision to not allow that. I am somewhat troubled about how challenging it was to get information last night, and then be in the situation now. I'm also somewhat troubled knowing my constituents and the level of questions that I will get about the financial prudence. I certainly have heard much discussion about the challenges with projection out three and four years, and I agree. I agree with that. And so I think it would benefit us as a body if we found a way to bring [1:45:21 PM] body if we found a way to bring more council members on board. And I fear that if we don't have an opportunity to present this, we will have more no votes than our anticipated. But at the end of the day, we all vote on what's before us. So thank you for allowing me to put some comments around what you saw here. That's all I have. Thanks. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember alter. >> I'm gonna have some comments about the budget. But first, and I'd like to get back to that after we have this piece of the discussion. But we've had a lot of discussion about and I tell me if I'm wrong, but I think the concern has been around what the reserves percentages in the out years. It seems like that is what has been the primary concern. And I think the motivation behind this amendment. >> And do you want me to clarify? >> I'm going to assume. And so I went and took a look at our ratings, our credit ratings. And [1:46:21 PM] ratings, our credit ratings. And I'll tell you, we are from our Fitch ratings, who has downgraded us to aa+ when it comes to our reserves. We are at a triple-a and wouldn't fall below a triple-a until we go below 10%. They view 10% reserves as triple-a, and we're talking about 17 being over 17 in this fiscal year and within a 10th of a percent of 17 next fiscal year. When you look at S&P, who has rated us triple-a, their number that they cite that they want us to stay at more than 15%. Once again, we're doing that. We are being very fiscally responsible from a reserves perspective. We are being overly responsible in some regards when and that's good. We have to be we have to be safe. But the insinuation that we're [1:47:22 PM] But the insinuation that we're going to be downgraded because of this reserves question, and that's going to have an impact on our our bonds. That's not what the credit ratings are telling us. The agencies. And so I have like I said, I'll have comments about the budget later. But I think that's really important because we have to actually look to the agencies of what they care about and what they care about is, quite frankly, it was our fire pension, which we have since fixed, and some of our other pension benefits that we need to get ahold of. But I just want to frame that because I think it's really important, as we have this discussion about the reserve question. >> Councilmember vela. >> Mayor out of I think this is a good budget. I think we're getting to a very good place out of respect to my colleagues, and I want everybody to be happy and have the time to kind of [1:48:23 PM] have the time to kind of consider and work on this. I would ask for another short recess to let folks get to a place where where they're comfortable with, you know, to clarify some of the again, I'm happy to consider any motion that that comes from the dais. I don't think we're quite there. And again, just in the spirit of moving forward as a united council, maybe another 15 minutes, something like that, to see if we can get to a good place. >> With 15 minutes be enough. Councilmember Ellis. >> I'll insert myself. Thank you. I appreciate that because I think we're all trying to get to a good place here. And this obviously has been a very tedious and stressful process. The despite the best of our abilities to try to streamline, I think everyone's really trying to streamline this. Is there something we can do to make this motion germane and something that we could at least bring a [1:49:23 PM] that we could at least bring a motion and, and discuss? >> Yes, we would need to identify the specific item we'd need to define the. And we'll deal with staff after we finish this discussion. Thank you. We would need to identify the specific item in a way that we would know specifically what the amendment is. Frankly, what I would suggest you do for each is number, each one of these items and correspondent to a correspondent to a full description with an attached exhibit, so that we make sure we know what it is we're referring to. >> Okay. So let me just make sure I'm understanding this. I think what councilmember Siegel was, was trying to say is that there is an email that Kerri Lang had sent out while we were in recess, came out at 1:01 P.M. Main motion, as amended, is [1:50:24 PM] Main motion, as amended, is another one of the amazing big spreadsheets that we've been able to reference through this process that is still hard to read, even at 11 by 17. So we were working off of those numbers because that is the as of 1 P.M, the base motion that was communicated. >> To us make that an exhibit so that we everybody will know. I didn't know what what what the references were. >> Okay, we'll we'll print out both of those documents because it has the 11 by 17 spreadsheet with updated numbers, with all the amendments that were voted on previously. And it also has another one that looks more like this one with the purple header that has everything itemized by one time and ongoing. So we'll just print those documents from 1 P.M. And then this should be more clear. >> I think. >> Probably so. Miss Lang, do you have anything you can add to this? Councilmember harper-madison, I got you and I'll call on you as soon as we hear from we finish this part. >> Thank you. Mayor. Yes. If we [1:51:24 PM] >> Thank you. Mayor. Yes. If we look at the final document, version two, fiscal year 2526 amendments as of 814 2025 1pmv2 updated. I think we should be able to follow, for example, the first amendment listed if it was said B amendment oh one housing and homelessness oh three on page two. That would allow us to follow. >> There you go. >> The existing amendment that we are working from to see what other amendments are needed. >> Y'all hear that? >> I think that's clear enough for us. >> Yeah. >> Councilmember qadri then followed by the mayor pro well, I'm sorry. Councilmember harper- madison, then councilmember qadri and followed by the mayor pro tem. >> My turn might have came too soon. Mr. Mayor. I was about to get spicy, but this is feeling very much like everybody's working collaboratively towards [1:52:25 PM] working collaboratively towards consensus. That's what I was going to respectfully request. I frankly really appreciated, more often than not, the way that you chair and conduct us as a body and throughout the course of a meeting. But I think shutting it down without further discussion really sort of felt like a blow that wasn't necessary. And so I. >> Appreciate you. I appreciate your criticism, councilmember qadri. >> The difficult position you're in. But this is what I would say in terms of addition to this discussion. I like where it's headed now, and for what it's worth, you might have noticed my lone wolf status up until today. I sort of was staying out of the fray in large part. But for what it's worth, this the latest iteration of this discussion. But I don't like when we belabor processes and when we wait till the 11th hour and when amendments are flying around, the day is day of minutes, hours of I think it's sloppy governance, frankly. And that's a criticism that I have to eat some of myself. I'm a part of this body too. That's it. I don't think this process has to [1:53:26 PM] don't think this process has to be like this. And because we just do what we've always done, I'd really love, in addition to us taking a beat and continuing this discussion basically also in full recognition, we still have tomorrow, you guys. We don't have to rush it. That said, if we do take this opportunity to continue the discussion, I'd like to just contribute for consideration a part of why I am actively moving in the direction of wanting to continue the discussion is that it feels more like that thing I say all the time. When compromise goes well, everybody feels like they lost something. This feels more like we're moving in a direction where more people feel more comfortable about our direction and the longevity of it. How will our decisions in the coming days age? That was one thing I wanted to put out there for my colleagues consideration. The other thing is, I hope we take this opportunity, especially ahead of y'all, potentially bringing in new colleagues on this body. We don't have to do things the way we've always done [1:54:27 PM] things the way we've always done them. This is stressful for our staff, for our professional staff, for everybody in the building. I've been praytell. I've been, you know, with the unfortunate but fortunate opportunity to be doing this from home. But I've been hearing people talk about the palpable, stressful nature of the copper building this week. And it doesn't have to be like this. I hope we take the opportunity to, as we move forward into considerations for next year's budget, a revamp of how we do the budget process altogether is what I propose as a body. But thank you to everybody who's willing to give us a little more time to keep talking. I feel like the direction feels better than it did earlier this afternoon. >> Thank you. >> Councilmember qadri, followed by the mayor pro tem, councilmember Laine, you want to talk? Okay. >> I got clarification from the manager. >> Okay. Councilmember mayor pro tem. >> Thank you. Colleagues, just based on our previous conversation this morning and yesterday's conversation, I can see here from the intent on the proposed motion, that it seems to be an effort to move funds [1:55:27 PM] to be an effort to move funds into one time to keep us at a 17% in the out years. And so I wanted to offer this to you all for consideration and ask miss Lang if we moved the public health social services core public health grants at risk, which is a $1.5 million allocation that we have in the amended budget at this time, if we move that alone to a one time fund, would that just that one allocation to one time? Would that keep us at a 17% reserve rate in fiscal year 27? And as they are crunching the numbers there to look at that, I think with that one, I would feel most comfortable as chair of our public health in moving that to one time funds, because we know in coordination from staff, this these are a long list of contracts and grants that have been deemed at risk. But there is uncertainty with it as it [1:56:27 PM] is uncertainty with it as it stands. And we certainly want to prepare for the worst, which is why we want to bake it into our budget proposal. But knowing that this is an area where we can be a little bit more flexible with and have another consideration next process, this might be an appropriate item for us to consider moving to one time. That will then, because it's a significant amount, keep us at a 17% for that fiscal year 27. So two years out. >> It looks like it would put us at 17.02% projected for fy 2717. >> Okay. Thank you. And I just want to offer that colleagues, I know we're about to recess, but just for consideration, I know, I know this is an important piece for your as part of your vote process and just want to offer that as a way to, to meet, to see what the intent is here and to do it in a way that I think would bring the [1:57:29 PM] think would bring the supermajority of us on board. >> Thank you. Mayor pro tem, councilmember Laine. Councilmember zo qadri. >> Thank you. I very much appreciate council member harper-madison comments. I, I think we began from a point of wanting to get to consensus, and I'm grateful that we're working on it. I did want to clarify, as far as the financial ratings go, it's not just an issue of the percentage as it relates to the ratings agencies. It is the reliability of this council in following its own financial policies. The more that we can follow our own financial policies, the better we will do in this area. At a time when we, as many have said, we're only at the beginning of the challenges. So I did want to clarify that. And I also want to note that from from the time that we began this process, I've heard our our city manager has not inserted himself very often, but from the dais. But I've heard him again and again tell us, part of the reason for looking at two years is to become more realistic as we're going out about what we [1:58:30 PM] we're going out about what we can sustain. And so I do find it very important to support our staff and what they're telling us. And, and I know that this isn't how people would want these things to be reduced forever, but I think I appreciate the willingness to consider it. That's all. >> Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember qadri. >> Yeah. Question for Kerry and staff. And I'm not sure if you all have the answer, but in years three and four, do we and I mean, I just want to clarification, do we ever dip below 15? >> We show a projected reserves level of 14.80% in fy 29. >> Okay. So that's your four. So your three we're still above 15. 15.9 15.9. Great. And then and then also just clarification when it comes to the ratings for S&P for S&P and asking for clarification, I believe when you dip below 15 then you you [1:59:32 PM] you dip below 15 then you you drop a rating under under S&P. Is that right. >> They have their criteria but it's not a single okay. It's not a single criteria. So we might score slightly lower if we were to drop below 15% on that one metric. But they're looking at a lot of different metrics. So there's not a single determinant that if you go below 15% you would be downgraded. That's just they look at things more holistically than just a single metric okay. >> Appreciate the clarification. >> Okay members. What I would recommend is a 30 minute recess. Unless there's objection we will be in recess. Councilmember. >> Just going off of what happened last recess, I, I'd ask if we could get 45 minutes. >> All right, 45 minutes. 245. We'll recess until it's 249 and I'll call back to [2:49:05 PM] it's 249 and I'll call back to order the Austin city council after a brief recess. We took a recess so that there would be an opportunity for there to be a little additional work on a potential motion. And what I'm going to, again, I'm going to indicate that. I hope the council will allow me a little flexibility as presiding officer in an effort to get us to where I think the council as a whole wants to go. I will recognize council member qadri for a potential motion. >> Thank you. Mayor. Yeah, I we have a everyone should have a motion in front of y'all. Qadri motion number one, version four. It's been passed out. There's a red line copy in front of everyone. But, you know, we're facing a very tough couple of years ahead of us with the federal administration. And who knows how long beyond that. I'm proud of all the bold investments we're standing together on, and it's a noble goal to also protect the near [2:50:06 PM] goal to also protect the near future well-being of our community and the challenges that we will face. After hearing feedback from my colleagues on the dais. We propose to keep family stabilization grant, parent support specialist and homeless and housing, navigation and ongoing. But our proposal to move the other items listed to a one time funding would keep reserves at a stable 17% by year three, and only just below the that stable level in year four, which is if I could get confirmation from Ed on that. >> That's correct. >> Okay. Thank you. We'd be in the green for at least three years. From the start. Our goal has been a balanced budget. This is as close as we can get to that. And this is how we protect our city from potential federal cuts while meeting the needs of our community. We aim to shift about $8.2 million from ongoing to one time funding. Making this change will bring that year closer to balance and help strengthen our reserves. This one time funding shift is how we can how we can meet in the middle, and it doesn't have to [2:51:07 PM] middle, and it doesn't have to come at the cost of compromising the most immediate needs of our community. We can say yes to everything we all want and gives us breathing room to fight again next year. As we move into next year. With conversations beyond the 2026 bond package. We need to ensure that we leave space on the table for the general fund to support personnel, personnel, operations and maintenance and around our future bond funded projects. The amount of energy and conversations that have gone into this budget process is a direct reflection of how complicated and challenging our decision today will be. We have a responsibility to address the budgetary shortfalls caused by factors out of our control. This is our way of meeting the moment while still understanding we have. We each have to make sacrifices. The community asked us to prioritize the essentials, and while and while we like these programs, we need to support an Austin for all. Not just this year, but 2 or 3. Not just this year, but also two, three, and four years from now. Yes, it's a rainy day now. We recognize the severity of our situation, and we want to make clear we are not gutting this [2:52:08 PM] clear we are not gutting this funding. But there are other rainy days we need to be prepared for in our community needs to know they'll be taken care of. >> Thank you. Council members. Council member qadri has moved approval of a motion to item one. I'm sorry. Item five, as amended, the motion that council member qadri is making is labeled item five. August 14th, 2025. Council qadri motion 1-v4. It also reads on the top on the document labeled fy 2025 2026. Amendments as of eight, 1425, 1:00 P M v2 updated. He moves to reallocate the following line items from ongoing to one time funding. For purposes of our record, the document that he is referring to that is labeled fy 2025 2026 amendments as of eight 1425 1:00 P M v2 version two [2:53:11 PM] 1425 1:00 P M v2 version two updated. It is this document that everybody has. The reason I call attention to that is in his motion sheet on the left hand side, he has pages marked where you can then find the amendment beginning at the top of the page, page two, and going all the way down to page eight. Also, there's a reference. If the reference is made to does not mention a council member's name. That reference is again on this version two on this document, but it is a reference to the original or the amended. I don't remember now, but but in both it was actually in both budget additions. One. And if it mentions a council member's name, it has a specific identification, a specific identification for a specific amendment. Did I say that the [2:54:13 PM] amendment. Did I say that the way you would want me to? Council member qadri. Exactly. All right. Very good. Is there a second to the motion? Second is made by council member Ellis. Members, I'm going to ask for any discussion on the item. Council member duchen followed by the mayor pro tem. >> Thank you. Mayor. I really appreciate my colleagues trying to figure out ways to be responsible about the budget. However, I'm increasingly concerned about the direction this is taking. It it worries me that we are continuing to refuse to recognize that we've got a structural deficit. And if we don't address that structural. The structural issues with what I'm going to call structural thinking, we're going to be in the same place maybe every year. Maybe even a worse place. Because by labeling what are clearly going to be ongoing [2:55:14 PM] clearly going to be ongoing expenses of one time expenses. I'm not sure that's the problem we're trying to solve here. >> I had some. >> What's that? >> Sorry. He asked me if I needed something, and I didn't turn off my mic before I answered. >> So just a little context here. You know, a few years ago, we used arpa dollars to fund rapid rehousing. And there were those at that time that were concerned about that because that was an unreliable funding mechanism for that kind of expense, and might lead to the sort of fiscal situation if those funds dried up. And now those funds have dried up. And we're, you know, we're essentially raising taxes to cover an idea and a hole left in the budget from that. So, yeah, I'm concerned about the way this is going because it's basically saying, I mean, we're going to have a legitimate discussion next year about every single item that's on the list and decide whether or not those are going to be one time or ongoing expenses. So this is hard for me to get behind. Thank you. [2:56:16 PM] to get behind. Thank you. >> Thank you. Councilmember duchen. Mayor pro tem. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Councilmember qadri, for bringing forward this amendment. I appreciate that it is updated to ensure that the family stabilization grant, which has broad support on council, is put forth as a permanent line item in our budget given the support and efficacy of the program. I am disappointed to see that this amendment now moves the programing, the part time programing in our parks and rec department for our older adults. These are individuals who be helping support programing at the Gus Garcia rec center, northwest recreation center, Hancock recreation, Virginia brown recreation, turner recreation center, Dolores Duffey recreation, Mendez, pan am, Zaragoza, montopolis, dove springs, Dittmer rec, south Austin recreation, Alamo, Dottie Jordan, picfair, Austin recreation center, and Camacho. It would force this much needed funding to be one time, so we [2:57:19 PM] funding to be one time, so we would have to have that conversation again next year. It also makes the home delivered meals for our seniors one time. So but I'm appreciate what is the intent here to ensure that we're able to have this gap funding for this year, along with our bilingual stem program, which is located at the Mac center and the pre-k start up costs. And I think overall, the effort here and I understand what you're raising as important to you to ensure that our rainy day fund is maintained at a 17% in fiscal year 27 and 28, excuse me, 28 and 29. So I will be supporting this amendment today. But I just wanted to highlight that those items would be just funded as one time expenses. And we'll have to have the conversation next year. >> Thank you, mayor pro tem. Is there anyone else wishing to speak on the item? Other council members. Otherwise, I will recognize councilmember qadri to [2:58:19 PM] recognize councilmember qadri to close. >> Thank you mayor. And I just want to chime in to the mayor pro tem comments. We're trying to do something right now to bring us all together. And I've heard from from my colleagues that ensuring the reserve level in future years helps people vote yes on the budget. And so to me, the goal here is to have as consolidated council as possible in pursuit of these great programmatic goals that are laid out in the budget. And I'll just say that my support for this motion by no means indicates lack of support for the programs that you just laid out, and I would be committed to joining you in ensuring they continue. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember vela. >> And similar. And I'm sorry I had to step off for just a second, but I'm going to vote for it. I just want to note that the regional adoption center is on there, and in my view, that's more than a one year type of commitment. But again, we'll we'll revisit next year. But I just want to announce my intent to continue to support the creation of another kind of a [2:59:19 PM] creation of another kind of a satellite animal center. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember qadri, to close on the motion. >> Great. Thank you. Mayor. I think councilmember Siegel actually said a lot of the things that I was going to say. But, you know, my, my. I just want to I just want to say how thankful I am for this dais. I mean, this wasn't easy, as folks have been watching how many times we've recessed and some of us have disappeared longer than we should have. >> It was not a quorum break. >> We were not in Chicago. But, you know, you know, a lot of this just comes from just a deep love of the community and, you know, just making sure that we get this right, that we bring as many of us, you know, on board as we can. And going off of what councilmember Siegel said, you know, I so appreciate the work that the mayor pro tem has done, especially around our older austinites. So, you know, while a lot of these items might be one time funding, you know, I have no doubt they'll they'll come back up and in future budget cycles. And I would be honored to be a co-sponsor on those. So yeah, with that I move adoption of motion one by qadri [3:00:21 PM] adoption of motion one by qadri members. >> You've heard the motion. It has been seconded. There being no further discussion. Without objection. Council qadri council member qadri motion one. Version four is adopted with council member duchen being shown voting no. >> Or I'll abstain. >> All right. Councilmember qadri council member duchen will be shown abstaining, so it passes on a vote of ten to 0 to 1 with council member Harper. I'm sorry. Nine to 0 to 1. With councilmember harper- madison temporarily off the Dyess and not present. Where that brings us is back to the main motion. The and the main motion is. Thank you. The main motion is item five as amended, including [3:01:23 PM] item five as amended, including the most recent amendment. We just finished with. Is there discussion on the main motion as amended? This would be the time to do any discussion and hopefully it will. We will not filibuster the main motion. Council member alter followed by council member Ellis. >> Thank you very much. I will keep my comments brief, but I just want to take a moment to say how proud of this budget I really am, because it puts people first. You know, when we started this process, the picture was incredibly grim. You know, in Washington, the president was slashing vital programs that feed families, save lives and keep people in their homes. And here in Texas, the state continued to hoard [3:02:23 PM] the state continued to hoard record surpluses, shortchange our schools, and tie the hands of communities and cities like ours from even keeping up with inflation. And on top of that, we faced a $33 million deficit. And we had a choice. We could follow the state and federal example and walk away from austinites and say, sorry, you're on your own. Or we could do what Austin does best, which is take care of each other. And today we chose people. We fully funded our homeless response system. We safeguarded Austin's social safety net, we expanded affordable housing, supported workers, maintained our parks, increased resilience and improved public safety. And we did all of it while investing in solutions that save money in the long run. But today's vote is just the beginning. Now it's time for us as neighbors, as the community, to prove what Austin [3:03:25 PM] community, to prove what Austin stands for. And this November, Austin's values will be on the ballot. I know we're going to show the state, show the nation and ourselves that we can build a more vibrant, safe and prosperous city together. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember Ellis, followed by the mayor pro tem and council member Velazquez. >> Thank you. Mayor. This is our first round going through a TRE process like this. So I know that there's been a lot of lively debate. I think hopefully that shows there's a lot of passion on this dais for the goals and priorities that we are each individually setting, and how willing we are to work across the table to be able to get big things done together. From the very beginning, when we started realizing that there was going to be a need to go through with this process, I had said I was comfortable at around a 4 to 5 penny TRE, and so I'm really, really happy that we were able to accomplish that goal. I'm [3:04:26 PM] to accomplish that goal. I'm also really appreciative. I know there was some folks that would have gone higher, but wanted to make sure there was enough consensus that we are showing a united front, that these are the priorities that our community deserves, and that they are asking for. My vision for a TRE is to make sure that it helps provide long term stability in our reserves, looking at what sort of deficits we have been facing has not been easy. There's a lot of need that we need to be addressing and that work will continue. But being able to hit a point where we now have at least three years out, where we're going to be able to hit our 17% reserves, is hugely important for me, and I want to call out a few of the great things that we were able to include in this budget. 250,000 for living street barricades, 50,000 for the street TRE replenishment, $117,000 to help connect the meridian neighborhood to escarpment boulevard near the gray rock golf course, a circle C dog park. Phase one helping our firefighters with some of their [3:05:28 PM] firefighters with some of their financial needs to make sure that we are protecting our first responders the way that they do so for us, increases for the needs for medics. We have part time temporary employee benefits for folks that are working less than 30 hours a week, feasibility studies for libraries to be able to make sure that we're expanding, the ones that we have, that our community desperately needs. Parks, maintenance, gold standard. Being able to hit some of these metrics is really important, and to be able to have more library materials that was listed in the community investment budget. So there's a lot of great things in here. I know a lot of the focus tends to end up on the nitty gritty at the very end about how to really squeeze every dollar that we can possibly get out of this, but I think this is just part of the public process. This is what our constituents deserve. These are the biggest votes that we take all year to be able to say what we can and cannot do for our community. So I appreciate the spirited debate and look forward to moving on to some of the other amazing topics that we still have left ahead of us [3:06:28 PM] still have left ahead of us today. >> Thank you. Council member, mayor pro tem, followed by council member Velasquez and then council member Carter. >> Thank you. Thank you colleagues. I certainly this has been, I think, the toughest budget cycle that I've been a part of. And I'm really grateful to serve on a body with you all throughout this process, and I appreciate everyone's time and attention. I know we all worked very hard, and I'm really pleased with the budget proposal that we now get to put forth to our community. This budget reflects a belief, a strong belief that the city of Austin is a force for good, a force that leads with an unapologetic commitment to serving and helping the people we represent. Whether it's a first time parent or an adult looking to age with dignity, a city worker who wants to live in Austin, the community in which they serve, or someone looking to rebuild their life through stable and reliable housing. This budget reflects how we've approached this process, which couldn't be more different than what we're seeing from our federal government. While they choose [3:07:28 PM] government. While they choose gridlock, we here are choosing decisive action. While they have abandoned essential life saving programs, we are strengthening them. And while they've initiated one of the largest upward wealth transfers in our nation's history, we're focusing on smart, responsible investment that create long term stability for all austinites. In other words, we are choosing to meet the moment with or without their help. Because when austinites call 911, we deserve an immediate and robust response and we visit our parks. We deserve clean, safe and welcoming public spaces. And when an Austin family is on the brink of eviction, we deserve a city that is willing to step up with what they need to stay housed and stable and to these budgets. Don't just meet these commitments, they strengthen them. And I want to give a special shout out to our public health committee, who put forth a policy recommendation to this body that laid the groundwork for us to have a homelessness response plan that has guided [3:08:30 PM] response plan that has guided our conversation. So I'm really grateful to the public health committee, and I'm thankful to mayor Watson for your leadership on homelessness and everything that you have done. I'm really proud of what this budget includes and just also want to share my appreciation. >> Thank you. Thank you. Mayor pro tem, council member Velazquez. Council member qadri. >> Thank you. Mayor. First, I just want to say that I'm so excited for the or thankful for the break that the other quorum asked for. It seemed like everybody went in the back and had a cupcake because everybody came out a lot better spirits than we left, so thank you for that. All jokes aside, thank you to my colleagues, to our dedicated city staff, to our office staff, because I know this is not been easy for any of them, but most importantly to the community that showed up and showed out, and not just today, but throughout the year. This has been a ridiculously hard year for our community and partners, but people have continued to show up and show an immense care for each other, and [3:09:32 PM] immense care for each other, and I wanted to take this time to acknowledge the community and say that I am so proud of the way that Austin is showing up. As I stated, this year's budget has not been easy because of deep federal and state funding cuts that have left damaging holes in our social safety net. We've had to make very tough decisions, but we are redefining what essential services mean to this city, because essential means very different things to very different people. For some, essential is public safety and keeping the lights on. For me, essential is those things and affordable housing and paying our essential employees who keep the city running during bad weather, during weather emergencies and trauma recovery, and food pantries and safe spaces for victims of abuse. The questions for me have always been how do we support our most vulnerable neighbors? How do we show up when hell is crashing down? Because that's what real leaders do. They don't look for the show. They look for the [3:10:33 PM] the show. They look for the hustle. They want to stand in the gap. This budget is not only an investment in our city, but a necessary commitment to the communities we are elected to serve. This is not an easy decision for this council to make, but I do believe it's the right one, and it strikes a necessary balance between essential community supports and ensuring that we are not overburdening those most at risk of displacement. Thank you again to everybody that has been a part of this process. Thank you to this dais for sticking together through this. Mayor. Thank you for your leadership and let's rock and roll. >> Thank you sir. >> I hate that I have to go after that. Yeah. So that's my misfortune. But no, I want to thank the manager and the mayor for their leadership this budget cycle. I want to thank everyone. I got to work with part of the Sturrup quorum, and I know folks that weren't part of the quorum. I obviously saw nothing but love for the city and the work and the amendments and the words [3:11:33 PM] the amendments and the words that they laid out, and I want to thank our, our, our professional city staff. But I also want to thank our professional council staff, who many of them were up for long nights, making sure because they care deeply about the city that that this, this budget that we, many of us call a moral document, which I believe to be such was was positioned to be as effective as possible and to be as digestible and to be something that works for as many people as possible. And I know many of us did social media post around the budget. And I think the common theme was in Austin that works for everyone. And that's what I hope that this budget and the upcoming tiara will do that we are going to be in a city that truly works for everyone. So I want to just keep my comments short, but just very much appreciate everyone for the work and the hours and the time and the love that they put in the. The time we have on the council is short. You know, there's always an end date. So it's whatever time that we have just doing as much good as we can in this, in this limited [3:12:33 PM] can in this, in this limited time, I think so important to so many of us. So, you know, excited to vote, which I don't know if everyone is, but I am. And also I hope the three new council members, councilmember duchen, Siegel and Laine, I hope you all had a had a blast of a of a budget cycle. >> Council member duchen. >> Thank you mayor. I want to first build on councilmember Velasquez and his comments. I really want to thank all the folks that came out yesterday in force and took the time to call in or come to city hall and share their concerns about the budget and this process. From what I heard from their testimony, there were a lot of really understandable fears about our area's skyrocketing cost of living. And then there were other folks that came on behalf of a lot of community groups and organizations worried about the impacts of funding cuts on a lot of vulnerable residents. And even after this whole process, I still believe [3:13:34 PM] whole process, I still believe that raising their taxes is still going to make the city less affordable and hurt all of them. And so my intent is still to vote against this costly TRE proposal. And I've said, we have a longstanding spending problem that I think I heard the city manager touched on earlier. And whatever voters decide to do in November, I believe, is our leadership here. We need to take a closer look at our expenditures, find smarter ways of managing public dollars. We've got to ensure that, as others have said, our first responders and core services are funded, but also that our financial outlook remains reliable over not just this year, but future years. Even as we continue to face difficult financial choices. So I think that this budget that will pass, I fear it's a band-aid that will be forced to address some of these problems, including ones [3:14:36 PM] these problems, including ones we voted on not less than five minutes ago in the very near future. So I'm going to try and end on a positive note here, which is in the spirit of some of the my comments earlier about an independent third party audit or other approaches that we can take to rein in some of the municipal spending or make sure that we're being efficient with every dollar. I've mentioned that the city of Houston, among other cities, has conducted these kind of efforts with great success. My hope is that we can follow suit and identify areas where we can stretch those public dollars and avoid the need for future tax increases. So I'm hoping to build on that work with my colleagues as manager, the mayor and staff, and that we'll be hearing more about this effort going forward. And just to wrap up, I mean, this has been a challenging process for, I think, everybody here. And so I want to emphasize how grateful I am for the work that the mayor and my colleagues [3:15:37 PM] that the mayor and my colleagues have done here over the last couple of weeks, not just days. Having said that, I'm really confident that as time goes on, as we gather more experience ourselves, we're going to be able to do better. We're going to be able to make sure we can come into these discussions really focused on how to spend money wisely, and make sure that we can continue to earn public trust. Thanks. >> Thank you. Councilmember duchen. Councilmember harper-madison, did I see your hand up, please? >> You did, Mr. Mayor. I was very, very unfortunately indisposed a moment ago and I missed a critical vote. I can't expect that my colleagues would have waited around for me, but I'm certain you guys didn't anticipate that I was going to be looking forward to missing that vote. So I'd like very much to request reconsideration, please. >> What we'll do is, is as soon as we've taken since we have discussion going on, on a motion right now, as as soon as that is over, I will ask if there's unanimous consent to show you voting in favor of that amendment. We'll take it up at [3:16:37 PM] amendment. We'll take it up at that time. >> I appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. >> Thank. All right. Well, I'll close it out before we take the vote, I want to start off by saying thank you to our professional staff. Nobody will know how hard they work. They do a great work for us, and I, I know I speak for everybody on the council when I say how appreciative we are and how available you are and how patient you all are. So thank you very, very much. Now I want to for everybody paying attention to this, I want to point out we've got some other votes that are going to be coming. But this this is the big one, as they say. And so I think it's appropriate for us to pause and thank you. I also want to say thank you to all of the members of the city council and their staffs lot. A lot of work has gone into this, and I have [3:17:38 PM] has gone into this, and I have very much appreciated over the last couple of years the team approach that we take to things, even when there's not always 100% agreement, but there's rarely 100% agreement on anything. But I want to say thank you to all of them. And then I want to point out that now it is time for us to trust our voters. It is time for us to trust our voters. And as we go forward with this, I want to point out that one of the things I'm proud of about what this council has done, getting us to this point, is that the community was asking us to look at whether or not we should have a tax rate election. Individual council members, we all of us, looked at whether or not we ought to have a tax rate election. And this effort that has gone into this has been an enormously transparent process to try to get us to this vote that we're getting ready to [3:18:39 PM] that we're getting ready to take. It was a very transparent process that even included the recognition that, as council member Ellis pointed out, this is the first time we've had a TRE budget. We created a new process for that TRE budget, where we worked through the audit and finance committee. We worked through our financial staff and the manager's office to get to a point where we actually were doing certain types of analyzes that were not typically done, or at least not typically laid out over and over again by committees and by council. So that's that's a very important point. The goal, I believe, has always been certainly my goal has been, and I believe it has been shared by everybody, is to have a discipline and a balance between making sure we put affordability first in our community, but at the same time recognize that we need additional revenue in order [3:19:40 PM] need additional revenue in order to make sure we can provide the quality of life that our citizens want and deserve and the quality of services that they want and deserve. And we've recognized that there is an inherent tension between asking people to pay rates, fees and taxes for services and the issue of affordability. We have worked very hard to be disciplined in that regard. It is imperfect. It is not going to be a perfect way of getting there. And in fact, I'll just say, and everybody up here knows there are parts of this that aren't necessarily to my liking, but that is part of the legislative process that gets us here. And importantly for coming up in November, it is a part of what it means to live in a big, diverse city where people have lots of different [3:20:42 PM] people have lots of different points of view. It's not always going to meet our concept of perfection, but we need to look at ways to achieve good results. And I say frequently that some of the greatest challenges in Austin, Texas are a result of our success. Typically, we are not managing decay in this community like some other places, but I will tell you, I believe it in my heart that if we're not making the kinds of investments we need to make in our people and our services, we will be managing decay in a very short period of time. And part of the effort at the discipline, so that we can have the revenue to pay for those services and pay for the needs that people have is to avoid having managing decay. So we have now we were getting ready to provide our voters an opportunity to make a key decision. From my [3:21:42 PM] key decision. From my perspective, the best parts of this budget are, as the mayor pro tem has pointed out, what we're doing to fully fund our homeless strategy office. That was my highest goal in this budget, and we've achieved that. And it will make a world of difference in where we are in a in a very short period of time when it comes to our our neighbors living homeless. I'm also very pleased with the changes that we've made with regard to public safety. That will be part of this tax rate election. And I thank councilmember qadri for his amendment even today on that. So we're getting ready to vote for the budget, and then we're going to give voters a chance to make an important decision. And I look forward to that discussion as we go forward. And I look forward to a result that will be the best benefit of our community. And with that, I will turn to the city clerk and I will ask the city clerk to please call the roll as required [3:22:42 PM] please call the roll as required by state law, so that each council members vote is recorded. >> Thank you. Mayor. Mayor Watson. >> Yes. >> Mayor pro tem Fuentes. >> Yes. >> Council member. Harper-madison. >> Yes. >> Council member. Velasquez. >> Yes. >> Council member. Vela. >> Yes. >> Council member. Alter. >> Yes. >> Council member. Laine. Yes. Council member. Siegel. >> Yes. >> Council member. Ellis. >> Yes. >> Council member. Qadri. >> Yes. >> And council member duchen. >> No. >> Members there being ten yeses one. No. The budget is approved on all three readings. Members. Council member harper-madison had to be [3:23:43 PM] harper-madison had to be temporarily away when we voted on council member qadri. Motion one, version four. Without objection, she would like to be shown voting in favor. As you've heard, it would not change the outcome of the vote. So without objection, council member harper-madison will be voting in favor of council member qadri. Motion to amend number one. Version four. Without objection, so ordered. Mr. City manager, I'll recognize you. >> Thank you, mayor, and members of the council. First, let me say thank the mayor and the council for the kind words that were expressed related to our financial staff as well as our overall team. I also like to thank the city council for y'all's opportunity to allow us to present and reflect on the things that we felt were important and the dialog that was undertaken to get to the budget that was just approved. I also want to thank the [3:24:44 PM] also want to thank the department directors and assistant directors, as well as the men and women who make up the body of individuals who call themselves city of Austin employees for their efforts. For all the thoughtfulness and guidance that you provided and shared with me as we presented and or prepared this budget and just want to say that while this year's budget was a little different because we had a TRE in the mix, the expectations going forward is that we're going to work equally as hard, be just as thoughtful, and continue to try to work on the behalf of what residents and the council tell us are important. And I wanted to just thank you, as the city manager for what you've done over these last several months to prepare this budget that the council just approved. So, again, mayor, thank you for that opportunity to share and express my happiness as well as my thankfulness for this council as well as the team that helped get us to this point. >> Thank you manager. And as I understand it, the next budget [3:25:45 PM] understand it, the next budget process starts Monday, right? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right. We'll wait till. Yeah. Too soon. You're right. You're too soon. Okay. Members that will take us to item number four. So we're almost done. Item number four. Fees, fines and other charges. Adoption related to fees, fines and other charges. Members. This will also require a roll call vote and seven votes in order to pass on all three readings. This ordinance authorizes fees, fines, and other charges to be set or charged by the city for fiscal year 2025 2026. The main motion that I will take right now is the one that was originally proposed, and then we will also have a proposed staff amendment, but I'd like to get a main motion. Councilmember Velasquez moves that we adopt the main the initial proposal. It is seconded by mayor pro tem. Is there a members you've had you have in front of you and [3:26:48 PM] you have in front of you and miss Lang. Everybody make sure I get this the right way. But you have in front of you a version two. It's a document labeled eight, 14, 20, 25. At the top of the page it says version two or v2. Updated 814 1:30 P.M. 1:30 P.M. This document is a redline document that has a number of proposed changes in the redline document. This is and it's a three page document. This this is. This is the staff recommended amendments to the main motion on item number four. Miss Lang, do you want to say anything? >> No, sir. >> Okay. Is there a motion and to approve the amendments recommended by staff to the ordinance of fees, fines and other charges made by council [3:27:49 PM] other charges made by council member vela, seconded by council member Ellis? Is there any discussion on that motion? Yes. Council member. Velasquez. >> Mayor. I had to withdraw my motion from that. Yes. I don't know when you wanted me to do that. I just. >> Want to check. Why don't you do that now and explain what it was you did, so that people will understand what you're doing. This is a good time to do that. >> Okay, colleagues, I brought a motion to change the food, established permit fees on page 212 of exhibit a, I will be withdrawing that motion. I will also be voting against the fee schedule primarily because of that. While I'm withdrawing my motion on this item, I'm going to be working on a solution to the issue and will continue to advocate for small businesses and look for a more equitable approach to this. We've been hearing, and I'm sure a number of you have been hearing from a number of small businesses in the food industry that have raised serious concerns about these changes, this fundamental change to food establishment permit fees will drastically impact Austin's independent [3:28:50 PM] impact Austin's independent businesses, legacy businesses, and small and micro businesses. A lot of these businesses could not absorb the increased costs that come with an across the board policy change that could double or triple their permit fees. I also want to express my disappointment that the small businesses had not been made aware of, consulted or collaborated with on this change as they had been in the past. With the previous fee schedule. We needed to be better about how we're communicating and treating our small business owners. >> Thank you. Councilmember, any any further discussion on the motion to amend the motion to amend that's recommended by staff to the ordinances for fee fees, fines and other charges. Councilmember vela. >> Just to clarify, mayor, this is because I have an amendment as well. >> This you. >> Got it. Just want to make sure the staff amendment and then we'll go to mine. >> Yes, that's what we're going to do. Any further discussion hearing. Yes. Councilmember harper- madison. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I, I unfortunately I just hustled [3:29:51 PM] unfortunately I just hustled over to contact my staff about this. I was like, how is it possible that me and my, my ace aren't talking about this thing if this is on both of our radars? So just for what it's worth, councilmember, I absolutely was hoping that we would be able to show up and show out for our small businesses during the course of this budget process in a way that we just weren't. And this fee issue is one that my office has been working on, both very much in real time. And, you know, just in anticipation of challenges that our, our folks are facing in the future. So we'd like very much to get together and have a unified effort on this discussion around the fees and what some of our opportunities are with mitigating the challenge of meeting the fees, but also just addressing what gaps are present in the system to where we got here in the first place. And I think in a lot of ways, a lot of our systems need that audit. So I'd like very much to continue the conversation in the future. I'm super hopeful that we're going to find a good place and we're well on our way. It just [3:30:52 PM] we're well on our way. It just wasn't something that my team and I were able to get to in time. And while I have you, Mr. Mayor, I didn't get an opportunity to do any grandstanding or soapboxing about the budget. I don't intend to. My commentary will be very limited, but I would like to say a few things and acknowledge a few folks at some point that you deem appropriate. >> Let's get through this item and then I'll recognize you. Okay. Thank you. All right. The motion before us is the staff recommendations for change, for amendments to the ordinance for fees, fines and other charges. Is there any further discussion with regard to that motion to amend? And again, for clarity purposes, it is a motion to amend item number four, hearing none. Without objection, the motion to amend is adopted, with council member Velasquez being shown voting no. Okay. Thank you all. >> Mr. Mayor. My hand is raised. Hi there. I'm also a no vote on [3:31:53 PM] Hi there. I'm also a no vote on this item. >> Okay. Council member Velasquez and council member harper-madison are shown voting no. That means there are there are nine votes in favor and two opposed. We are now ready to recognize and discuss any amendments that council members may have to the item number for the ordinance for fees, fines and other charges. And the chair recognizes council member vela. >> Thank you, mayor. This is an amendment to cap free fee increases for essentially homeowner inspections and other residential type inspections to an increase of no more than 10%. And just a very brief background, the development has slowed substantially. And so revenues, permit and revenues have dropped for the department. And they're raising some of their fees in response to that. And I understand, but we have [3:32:54 PM] And I understand, but we have worked so much on affordability, especially at that smaller residential level, that I wanted to carve out the in particular, the fee increases that affected that kind of four units and below area. So that's what this amendment would do. The amendment has an attached list of fees that are to be capped at no more than a 10% increase. We've worked through this with the stakeholders. We've worked through this with dsd, and I would offer this for this amendment to item four. >> Members. Council member vela has moved to amend item number four with with a document that you have in front of you. 813 it's labeled eight 1325 item four fee schedule C M vela motion one cap fee increases for homeowner inspections and [3:33:54 PM] homeowner inspections and residential review to 10%. Is there a second to the motion? Second by council member alter members? We have a motion and a second to council member vela amendment to item number four the ordinance for fees, fines and other charges, as amended. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. Without objection, the motion to amend by council member vela, item number four, as amended, is adopted members that there are no other, do you? >> Item four. >> Councilman, mayor pro tem. [3:35:57 PM] >> Councilman, mayor pro tem. >> Colleagues, this is an. I have a motion on item number four which is adding updating our ordinance on our waiver program, our fee waiver program, and other charges for our child care centers. There's also a corresponding ifc. This just updates our fee schedule to ensure that new child care facilities can also qualify and participate in our child care fee waiver program. So with that, I move to amend ordinance for item number four. >> The mayor pro tem moves to amend item number four, as amended. She's described that. Is there a second by councilmember Velazquez? Discussion. Hearing none. Without objection. The mayor pro tem Fuentes motion number one to item number four, as amended, is adopted. Are there any other council originated amendments? And miss Lang, I want to I want to ask you to look with me on page three of the fee schedule amendments and tell me, because [3:37:00 PM] amendments and tell me, because that indicates there's council initiated amendments, but we've adopted those other than the one that council member vela and the mayor pro tem just put out. I want to make sure I'm not missing something. >> Correct. The tp or transportation and public works amendment is based on the re installation of the npp program. And so that adjusts the tough rates accordingly. And then the parking and towing. Give me one second on the parking and towing rates. The parking is simply increasing the nonconsent item for towing. And so that one was brought forward as well. >> Members. Just so that we are real clear and make sure that [3:38:02 PM] real clear and make sure that everything passes the way we want to, because the motion I took the first motion and I said it multiple times that it was a it was staff recommendations for the amendment. And this item is labeled and I apologize. I didn't realize on page three it was labeled differently than the staff amendments on page one and two. So for purposes of clarity, to make sure we've got everything adopted appropriately, what I will ask for is another. I will ask for a motion, and the motion is to amend item number four, as amended by adopting page three of version two, updated 814 130, labeled fy 20 2526 fee schedule amendments. Council initiated amendments as described by miss Lang just now. I'll make the motion. Is there a second? [3:39:02 PM] motion. Is there a second? Seconded by council member Siegel. Is there any discussion? Without objection, the motion to amend item four, as amended, as amended, is adopted and that will put any council initiated amendments on page three in as part of an amendment. All right, members, that will now take us back to the main motion, the main motion. And we have a motion and a second to approve the ordinance for fees, fines and other charges, as amended. Is there any discussion on the fees, fines and other charges ordinance as amended? Will the clerk please call the roll so that each council members vote is recorded? >> Mayor Watson. Yes. >> Mayor pro tem Fuentes. >> Yes. >> Council member harper-madison. >> Yes. >> Council member. Velasquez. >> Yes. >> Council member. Vela. >> Yes. >> Council member. Alter. [3:40:02 PM] >> Council member. Alter. >> Yes. >> Council member. Laine. Yes. Council member. Siegel. >> Yes. >> Council member. Ellis. >> Yes. >> Council member. Qadri. >> Yes. >> And council member duchen. >> Yes. >> There being 11 yeses and zero nos. The motion to approve the ordinance for fees, fines and other charges, as amended, is adopted on all three readings. Members. We will now go to item number six. Item number six is the fire department classifications. So we will take up item six approving an ordinance establishing establishing classifications and positions in the classified service of the Austin fire department. Is there a motion and a second on item six to approve the ordinance? Councilmember Ellis moves approval. Is there a second? [3:41:03 PM] approval. Is there a second? Seconded by mayor pro tem, we have a motion and a second to adopt the Austin fire department classifications ordinance. Are there any amendments or discussion? Is there any discussion? Members, we have a motion and a second to adopt the Austin fire department classifications, there being no further discussion. Without objection, the motion is adopted unanimously and it passes on all three readings. Councilmember harper-madison, I promised you that I would go to you after we pass the fees ordinance, and I didn't do it because I got on a roll, so I apologize. Why don't we call on you now and give you the floor? >> Well, Mr. Mayor, I didn't interrupt because you were, in fact, on a roll. It was smooth, so I didn't even bother. And [3:42:04 PM] so I didn't even bother. And what I'd like to say is relatively short and sweet one. I'm just happy to get through this process one more time. I got one more to go in my in my time up here at in the copper building. And so I'm happy to get through the process and always happy to feel like we've made progress towards the next time being better. And I very much feel like that was the case today. So bravo everybody. And then I would like very much to acknowledge a person, but I want to make certain that the adjacent folks, the supporting cast, recognize, you know, when the Oscar gets handed out, it's not just that person, it's all the everybody. The machine that made it happen. But, you know, I used this analogy before, I am I often say I don't want to be anybody's champion. Champions get rocks thrown at them when you lose. So you know when you're winning, it's happy. Everybody's right behind you when it goes to poo and things aren't that great. You're oftentimes standing by yourself. [3:43:05 PM] oftentimes standing by yourself. And so as we are in celebratory mode, I want us to recognize the celebration. But I want that to carry over into had things not gone as well, if things out in the general public are received a certain way, there's one head that's on the steak right now, and we all know who that is. And so without her permission, it's a two parter. In recognition of Kerri Lang, the first parter is. That lady worked really freaking hard to earn her title and again without her permission. I want to acknowledge how it personally made me feel. I got to stand up to say it too. As a proud black woman. Watch a black woman. The director of budget and operational excellence lead us through the project. It did, however, make me feel a way every time one of us referred to [3:44:05 PM] every time one of us referred to her as Carrie. That is director Lang, whose team and her saw us through this process. Thank you, director Lang and team for seeing us through this process. I will personally make sure that although you are so kind and it's easy to be familiar with you, I will personally make certain to direct my commentary and what I refer to you as by the well earned title. Thank you for getting us through this process. You and your team and all the adjacent supporting cast members. That's all, Mr. Mayor. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, council member Robert Madison. Members that will take us to item number seven, which is the emergency medical services department classifications. This would be [3:45:06 PM] classifications. This would be to approve an ordinance establishing classifications, positions in the classified service of the emergency medical services department. Is there a motion on item seven to approve the ordinance? Motion is made by council member qadri. Is there a second? Is council member Siegel seconds the motion. So we have a motion and a second to adopt the emergency medical services department classification ordinance. Is there any discussion without there being no discussion? Without objection, the motion to adopt the ordinance, the emergency medical services department classification ordinance passes unanimously on an 11 to 0 vote. We will now take up item number eight, approving an ordinance establishing classifications and positions in the classified service of the Austin police department. Is there a motion and a second on item number eight to approve the ordinance? [3:46:08 PM] eight to approve the ordinance? Motion is made by council member duchen. Is there a second? Seconded by council member vela. We have a motion and a second to adopt the Austin police department classifications ordinance. Is there any discussion? Hearing? None. Without objection, the motion is adopted unanimously and the motion to adopt the police department classifications ordinance passes on a vote of 11 to 0. Members. That will take us to item number nine. This vote is to ratify the tax increase in the budget. I want to note for the record that this vote is in addition to and separate from a [3:47:08 PM] addition to and separate from a vote to adopt the budget and the vote that sets the tax rate. So and I'm going to make I'm going to read the words of the motion so that we make sure that the motion is in the exact form that we need it to be. We're going to consider item nine to ratify the property tax increase reflected in the budget, as required by state law. This is not the vote on the tax rate. We will take a separate vote on the tax rate after this vote. Is there a motion to ratify the property tax increase reflected in the fiscal year 2025 2026 budget that was adopted by council today? Motion is made by the mayor pro tem, seconded by council member Ellis members. We have a motion and a second to ratify the property tax increase reflected in the fiscal year 20 2526 2026 budget. Is there any discussion? Without objection, the motion is adopted and the [3:48:13 PM] the motion is adopted and the budget the motion to ratify the property tax increase reflected in the fiscal year 2025 2026 budget passes on a vote of 11 to 0. We will now go to item number one members. This will require a roll call vote. We will now take up item number one to approve an ordinance. To approve an ordinance adopting and levying a property or ad valorem tax rate for the city of Austin for fiscal year 20 2526. We already conducted the public hearing for this item. It was conducted yesterday. State law requires this to be, as I've indicated, a roll call vote and requires the motion to be made as follows I move that the property tax rate [3:49:15 PM] move that the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of 0.57401 $0.07 per $100 valuation, which is effectively an 18.8% increase in the tax rate. >> Mr. Mayor, I think we have that wrinkle about saying since. >> Yes. >> It would be it's not 0.5 $0.07. >> Please tell me how you want me to say it and I'll say it. >> I think just 0.574017. >> Okay, members, here's the motion that I'll accept. I move that the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of. $0.574017 dollars per $100 valuation, which is effectively an 18.8% increase in the tax rate. Is there a motion? [3:50:17 PM] the tax rate. Is there a motion? Motion made by council member alter? Is there a second? Seconded by council member vela. Is there discussion? Members? We have a motion and a second. Will the clerk please call the roll as required by state law. So that each council members vote is recorded? >> Mayor Watson. Yes. >> Mayor pro tem Fuentes. >> Yes. >> Council member harper-madison. >> Yes. >> Council member. Velasquez. >> Yes. >> Council member. Vela. >> Yes. >> Council member. Alter. >> Yes. >> Council member. Laine. Yes. Council member. Siegel. >> Yes. >> Council member. Ellis. Yes. Council member. Qadri. >> Yes. >> And council member. Duchen. >> Yes. >> The motion to approve the ordinance to adopt a property tax rate passes on a vote of 11 to 0. Thank you. Members. And [3:51:19 PM] to 0. Thank you. Members. And thank you, staff for making sure we say it right. Members that will take us to items 11 through 27. Items 11 through 27, as you know, are ifcs of council. My recommendation is that we take these up as a consent agenda. We take these up as a consent agenda. I'll take one motion with regard to these items, and then I will recognize anybody [3:52:19 PM] then I will recognize anybody that wants to, as I typically do with the consent agenda that wishes to abstain, recuse themselves from a vote or vote. No. The motion to adopt items 11 through 27 as a consent agenda is made by council member vela. It is seconded by council member Siegel. Members. Let me start with is there any discussion on these items? Hearing none. Is there anyone wishing to abstain from a vote on any item on the consent agenda? Council member duchen. Can you clarify quickly exactly which items are on consent. >> 11 through 27? >> On 12? On 2122? No. On 23. And I believe that's it. Thank [3:53:26 PM] And I believe that's it. Thank you. >> I have you voting abstaining on 12, 21 and 22 and voting no on 23. Is that correct? Yes. Very good. Thank you. Council member Ellis. >> I'm abstaining on 19. >> Anyone else wishing to be shown abstaining on a vote on the consent agenda as read. All right. Anyone wishing to be recused themselves from any vote on the. Yes, councilmember. >> I'm sorry, I'm not recusing myself, but I'd like to be added as a co-sponsor on items 20 and 24 members. >> Without objection, council member qadri will be shown as a co-sponsor of items 20 and 24. There being no objection, you will be shown as such. Anyone wishing to recuse themselves on any of the items on the consent agenda. Members. Anyone wishing to be [3:54:36 PM] Members. Anyone wishing to be shown voting no. Councilmember duchen is indicated a no vote on item 23. I will be voting no on 16. And 19. Anyone else wishing to be shown voting no on an item on the consent agenda? Okay. Very good. Then any any discussion? I've asked for that, but I'll ask again. Any discussion on the consent agenda? Items 11 through 27? Yes, councilmember Laine. >> I'll keep this very brief. Thank you so much for the support of so many of the things that we've considered today. I do want to note that item number 19, universal spay ifc. I want to acknowledge the productive conversation that's gone on with Austin pets alive and with senior staff, and I look forward to working on that issue more in the future. I will also note that the ifc is simply direction to come back with [3:55:37 PM] to come back with recommendation, and I do anticipate that we will move to a better place and certainly appreciate the passage of this ifc, along with the budget amendment that is so necessary to restore emergency vet care. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Council member. Any further discusson? All right. The motion is to adopt items 11 through 27. For those that are following along and want to make sure we have the record complete, the motion is the version that is in the backup of these items. In some instances, that will be a version two. The motion is to adopt items 11 through 27, the version that's in the backup. In some cases that will be a version number two, there being no further discussion. Without objection, the consent agenda items 11 through 27 is adopt or is adopted, with council member duchen being shown abstaining on items 12, 21 and 22 and council member Ellis abstaining on item [3:56:41 PM] member Ellis abstaining on item 19. Council member duchen is shown voting no on item 23, and the mayor is shown voting no on item 16 and 19. Members there being. A unanimous vote on item number 27, which is a city code amendment on department names and the information security office that passes also on all three readings. >> Yes. >> Members, for clarity purposes and to make sure that our record is complete on item number one. We have already passed that. That was the tax levying the ad valorem taxes, the version that is that is to be utilized, that was utilized on that is version two. It is in the backup, but it [3:57:42 PM] two. It is in the backup, but it is also the red line version. And I want to make sure that our record is complete on that. Members that will take us to item number ten, which is a special tax rate election ordinance. This is being passed in a way that requires eight votes to pass on all three readings. And so I mentioned that to you. I'm going to call [3:58:44 PM] that to you. I'm going to call this item up and then and make sure that we follow the state law requirements. We will now consider item number ten to approve an ordinance ordering a special municipal election to take the tax rate we have adopted to the voters for their approval. This is a requirement of state law, because the tax rate we have adopted is above the voter approval rate as defined in the state law. State law also has strict requirements for the language we use for this item. To comply with state law, we have posted specific proposition language for this item. Therefore, any substantive changes to the proposition language could not be adopted today and would have to take place at a special budget meeting to be called for that purpose. On Monday, the 18th of August, 2025, the last day to call the election in the backup in the backup for item number [3:59:45 PM] in the backup for item number ten is version two. It's labeled version two, redline. Version two redline. And that is the item that we will be voting on. The ordinance that we'll be voting on. Members. Is there a motion to approve the ordinance ordering a special municipal election to be held in the city of Austin on November 4th, 2025 to submit to the voters a proposition on the prove the approval of an ad valorem tax rate of $0.574017 per $100 valuation in the city of Austin for the current year, a rate that is $0.05 higher per $100 valuation than the voter approval tax rate of the city of Austin. For the purpose of [4:00:47 PM] Austin. For the purpose of funding or expanding programs intended to increase housing affordability and reduce homelessness, improve parks and recreation facilities and services, enhance public health services and public safety. Ensure financial stability and provide for other general fund maintenance and operation expenditures included in the fiscal year 2025 2026 budget, as approved or amended by city council. Last year, the ad valorem tax rate in the city of Austin was $0.4776 per $100 valuation, providing for the conduct of the special election, authorizing the city clerk to enter into joint election agreements with other local political subdivisions, as may be necessary for the orderly conduct of the election and declaring an emergency. Members. [4:01:48 PM] declaring an emergency. Members. That is the motion that I will accept. The motion is made by the mayor pro tem. It is seconded by council member Velasquez. Well, you know, I just lean that direction. Sorry about that. I'll. I'll do better on the next one. Members, we have a motion and a second to adopt an ordinance calling of for the calling of a special election to receive voter approval of the city's tax rate and declaring an emergency. Before I ask for any discussion, I want to look out at legal and financial professional staff and see if I'm okay. I've got more than one thumbs up on that one, so I'm all right. There you go. Thank you. Members. Is there any or is anybody have any [4:02:48 PM] or is anybody have any discussion with regard to the motion on item number ten? Hearing none I'll ask the clerk to call the roll. >> Mayor Watson. >> Yes. >> Mayor pro tem Fuentes. >> Yes. >> Councilmember harper-madison. >> Yes. >> Council member. Velasquez. >> Yes. >> Council member. Vela. >> Yes. >> Council member. Alter. >> Yes. >> Council member. Laine. >> Yes. >> Council member. Siegel. >> Yes. >> Council member. Ellis. >> Yes. >> Council member. Qadri. Yes. And council member duchen. >> Yes. >> Members. There are 11 yeses and zero nos. So the motion for an order to call for an ordinance to calling for a special election on November 4th, to receive voter approval of the city's tax rate for. For. Fiscal year 20 2526, providing [4:03:52 PM] Fiscal year 20 2526, providing for the conduct of that election. Authorizing the city clerk to enter into joint agreements, and declaring an emergency passes on a vote of 11 to 0. Members. I'm going to double check with my staff and anybody that's out there that wants to make sure I get this right, but there does not appear to be any more business to come before the Austin city council at this meeting of the Austin city council, we do have two other meetings that we have to conduct. But I'm going to say congratulations, everybody. And without objection, we will adjourn the meeting of the Austin city council at 4:04 P.M