Last night, the Austin City Council adopted the city’s budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
Austin’s $5 billion budget is largely similar to the proposed budget announced last month, and allocates funding based on “outcomes” such as safety or economic opportunity.
The final budget document will be published this fall. Until then, here’s a full breakdown on what’s being dedicated to those efforts + how spending compares to last year, according to the budget proposal and approved amendments.
Safety: ~$1.14 billion ($46.2 million more than last year)
- Police: $372 million
- Austin Energy: $235 million
- Fire: $199 million
Economic opportunity and affordability: ~$867 million ($41.9 million more than last year)
- Austin Energy: $567 million
- Austin Convention Center: $71.7 million
- Development services: $55.1 million
Government that works for all: ~$777 million ($51.1 million more than last year)
- Austin Energy: $274 million
- Support services: $173 million
- Austin Water: $126 million
Health and environment: ~$426 million ($19.1 million more than last year)
- Austin Water: $95.5 million
- Parks and Recreation: $93 million
- Austin Resource Recovery: $88.7 million
Mobility: ~$300 million ($47.2 million more than last year)
- Public works: $82.9 million
- Austin Transportation: $81.7 million
- Fleet Mobility Services: $67.4 million
Culture and lifelong learning: ~$98.3 million ($14 million more than last year)
- Austin Public Library: $53.7 million
- Economic development: $32.3 million
- Parks and Recreation: $7.3 million
Note: Interfund transfers and debt services, which totals $2.9 billion, are excluded above.
What’s the impact on residents?
Austinites may see rates for energy, waste services, and transportation increase in the next year. However, property taxes may decrease from 54 cents to 46 cents per $100 of valuation.
All in all, the estimated net impact for the “typical” Austin resident is estimated to be an increase of ~$170 in yearly charges.
There’s a lot more to understand about Austin’s budget — 971 pages worth, to be exact. Read the proposed budget yourself here, and check out the amendments that were approved last night.
