City Council

Wednesday, August 13, 2025, 10 a.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall

Video of the meeting

On the agenda

Roll-call votes

Documents

Summary

The Austin City Council met over two days (August 13-14, 2025) to adopt the FY 2025-26 budget amid a $33 million deficit and the expiration of federal ARPA funds. The meeting included six public hearings (property tax rate, Austin Water rates, Austin Energy rates, city fees/fines, Austin Resource Recovery rates, and drainage charges), followed by extensive public comment with 423 people signed up. Council debated dozens of budget amendments primarily organized around two sub-quorums proposing different spending scenarios. The final budget was adopted with a 5-cent tax rate election (TRE) package, ratified the property tax increase, and ordered a special election for November 4, 2025. The budget passed 10-1 with Council Member Duchen voting no.

Transcript

0:09 You are watching a meeting of the Austin City Council with Mayor Kirk Watson, Mayor pro, tim Vanessa

0:19 Fuentes, council members Natasha Harper Madison, José velazquez, chee bayla, Ryan Alter, crystal lane, Mike Siegel, Paige Ellis, zoe

0:42 cadre, mark uchin, city attorney, deborah thomas, city clerk erica brady, and city manager tc broad,

1:01 everybody. It's 10 o'clock in the morning on Wednesday, August 13th, 2025, and I will call to order the meeting

1:08 of the Austin City Council.

1:10 This is a council budget meeting.

1:12 We have a quorum of the Austin City Council present.

1:15 We are meeting in City Council chambers located in, uh, City Hall at 3 0 1 west second street in

1:22 Austin, texas. Um, welcome everybody.

1:25 The, uh, the order of the day, and I'll lay this out and I laid it out in

1:29 the message board post, uh, last night, but I wanna kind of lay it out for everybody.

1:33 And, and the council is, uh, what we'll do is we're gonna start with public hearings, and lemme

1:38 just tell everybody, we have 423 people that have signed up to speak.

1:44 So, uh, we'll be done by like 10 30 or 11 today.

1:48 Um, uh, and I mean, this morning, <laugh>.

1:51 Yeah. So, uh, no, obviously with 4 23 people, we're gonna have to work this in a very organized

1:57 way, and, uh, I tease about that, but we're glad that everybody is interested in this.

2:01 The way we're gonna do this is we're gonna go first to our public hearings.

2:06 There are six items that are scheduled that are, uh, on the agenda as public hearings.

2:12 We will take those up where we will open the public hearing, we will hear people that have

2:16 signed up in that public hearing, and then we will, uh, close that public hearing.

2:21 We will not vote on the related item.

2:24 However, until we've heard all public comment, we will go through those six items that are public hearings.

2:30 After that, we will go to speakers that are set up on all of the other items on

2:36 the agenda. Uh, for those that are familiar with the way we run, uh, council meetings generally, uh,

2:43 the way we'll do that is kind of how we do on the consent agenda.

2:46 On a typical Thursday, we will hear, we'll have the clerk's office call on this agenda item.

2:52 We will hear speakers on that agenda item.

2:54 Then we'll go to the next item and we'll go, we'll do that until we're completed in that.

2:59 Once we do that, we will then go to, uh, uh, the items that we're gonna vote on,

3:06 and we will start with item number five, which is in fact the budget, uh, adoption ordinance.

3:14 We will follow that with the fee and fine ordinance, and then we'll go through the, the various

3:18 other ordinances. But, uh, the way I anticipate the day going and members, uh, the professional finance staff

3:27 is going to bring forward a proposal, uh, that is kind of a combination of all the different

3:34 proposals that will end up being, uh, part of the primary motion on the budget.

3:41 As I explained on the message board last night, I anticipate that they will be completed to have

3:47 that completed and be ready to bring that forward to us in an hour, hour and a half.

3:52 And what we'll do at that point in time members is, uh, once we, I know about that,

3:57 and it's, it's, it'll be put in backup too, by the way, for everybody that's interested, uh, in

4:02 the public, it'll be put up, put in the backup so that you'll be able to see that.

4:06 But what I'll probably do at that point is pause the public comment, have them lay that out

4:13 for us, the professional staff, lay that out for us.

4:17 And, and we've asked so many questions about all this.

4:19 It's not gonna require that, but just get it laid out for us so that then our staffs

4:24 can work on any proposed amendments that we May want to be offering.

4:28 When we actually get to that item.

4:31 Um, I have put on the message board, uh, a proposal for how your staff should word the

4:40 amendments. We need these amendments to be in writing.

4:43 I'm anticipating we have more than a few, um, however that might get defined today.

4:49 And so, in order to make sure we have appropriate record and we have clarity about what it

4:55 is we're talking about, we need, I need to ask you to please put your amendments in writing

5:00 and, and utilize, uh, the language I put in the message board.

5:05 Have your staff utilize that language so that we have clarity about what the, what the amendment is.

5:11 The other thing that I'll point out is that if we are listening to public comment, uh, our,

5:16 uh, the procedures of the council say that it, we, we are not to go past 10 o'clock

5:22 unless there's a motion to extend the meeting past 10 o'clock.

5:27 Uh, what I have recommended is that if we are listening to speakers, uh, people who have been

5:32 here all day under the, those circumstance, and by the way, I'm now talking about 10:00 pm for those

5:37 that are keeping score, uh, at 10:00 pm what I anticipate if we're listening to speakers, that what we

5:44 will do is we will continue to listen to speakers until all of the speakers have been heard.

5:51 However, if we're at a point where we're in discussion or voting, we will recess the meeting and

6:01 come back tomorrow at nine o'clock.

6:03 Uh, it, this, this council and, and in the past we've taken the position that, uh, it big

6:09 important matters like the budget, for example, we should not be voting on, uh, late at night because

6:17 people aren't paying able to pay as much of attention to it.

6:20 And, um, some people feel like that, that's trying to ram something through when, uh, you ought to

6:26 be doing it in the daylight.

6:27 And I agree with that.

6:28 So, we'll, we'll come back, uh, at nine o'clock, uh, tomorrow morning if that's where we are.

6:33 I think I've covered everything.

6:35 Um, I'll just ask if there's any questions.

6:40 Yes, Mayor Pro Tem.

6:41 Thank you. Mayor is the 9:00 am for 'cause we'd be in recess.

6:45 You know, I would just ask that and we can decide later as we move on towards the

6:49 day. But any consideration for a 10:00 am start time just giving us that extra hour, depending on the

6:55 amendments that filed through, that's not a bad idea.

6:58 The reason I said nine was to give us extra time in case we needed it during the

7:02 day. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, but, but let's, let's see where we are.

7:05 Okay. And, and what I would also ask, that's the very good point, causes me to think of

7:10 as you're ready members to show your proposed amendments mm-hmm <affirmative>.

7:16 Um, let's go ahead and start getting those in the bloodstream, right, so that, we'll, we'll have a

7:21 better feel as we get later in the day about where we are on those.

7:24 Very good. So, yeah, let, I said nine o'clock.

7:27 You make a good point.

7:29 Let's wait until later in the day and make that decision when, uh, maybe we'll all be we'll

7:34 be done and we won't have to come back at all.

7:37 Um, let's keep hope alive, <laugh>.

7:39 Um, all right, with that being said, um, any, any other questions?

7:45 Okay. Um, then what I'm gonna do is, uh, we will go to agenda item number one

7:57 and that is a public hearing on agenda.

8:00 Item number one is related to the pro proposed property or a valorem tax rate of the city

8:06 of Austin. With that, unless there's objection with no objection, we will open the public hearing on agenda

8:13 item number one, the proposed property ad valorem tax rate of the city of Austin.

8:17 The public hearing is now open and I will turn to our city clerk to begin calling names.

8:22 Lemme just say also before she starts calling names, she's gonna call 2, 3, 4 names in a row, maybe

8:27 five, I don't know.

8:28 And, um, if she does that, if your name is called, please come down and pick one of

8:35 these seats and, and you don't need to, if you've got an open microphone, uh, nobody else is

8:41 talking. Go ahead and and begin your testimony by stating your name first for the record, and then

8:46 go ahead and begin that way.

8:47 Uh, part of the reason we wanna be efficient is with your time, but also for those people

8:52 that have signed up after you on some other item that are going to be here waiting all

8:56 day. The more efficient we are in terms of, of hearing testimony, the better it is for them

9:01 as well. Your, your cos speakers if you will.

9:03 So with that, I'll turn to the city clerk's office.

9:06 Thank you Mayor. We do have a few remote speakers, so I'll start with remote please.

9:10 Kayla reese.

9:15 Good morning, Mayor and council.

9:17 My name is kayla reese and I am the advocacy manager at Austin parks foundation.

9:21 Um, I am just calling to speak to the needs of the park depart parks department, um, and

9:28 to express that we know that there's a gap in what the parks department is currently able to

9:33 provide and what people expect, let alone best practice.

9:37 And the only way to fill that gap is more funding for the department.

9:41 The needs for parks maintenance and for funding land land management are crucial to providing quality of life

9:47 for austinite, and we know that people vote for parks.

9:50 So if any tre is going to be sold as a parks win, then it actually needs to

9:54 be substantially about parks and provide substantial funding for the parks department.

9:59 And we want parks to be a significant part of what is being voted on.

10:03 Um, I just wanted to share our thoughts on the need for the parks department and express thanks

10:08 for all the council members, um, and Mayor for thinking about the practice department, including those needs.

10:13 Thank you. Megan meisenbach.

10:22 Oh, um, hello, this is megan meisenbach, and I wanted to say that I feel that the budget

10:28 is overblown in certain areas and where, where it's really, oops, hello.

10:35 Where it's really important to, okay, great.

10:39 Uh, where it's really important to have, um, for the money and we don't have it there.

10:45 Uh, I think the budget needs to be looked at very carefully.

10:48 There's so many amendments, it's rather confusing to I think everybody, so I'd like you to delay the

10:56 budget and, uh, hone it down some more before it's overblown with silly things.

11:03 Thank you. John thomas ky.

11:13 Yes. Uh, my name is john toki and, uh, Mayor and cons, thank you for giving me this

11:18 opportunity to speak. Uh, just have a strong concern over the increase in taxes, especially as we start

11:27 to see, um, a number of significant layoffs and, uh, as well as, uh, housing availability if you

11:34 look at the, uh, supply, uh, numbers that are there.

11:38 So I'm all for improving our city.

11:42 I think that doing a property tax increase will, uh, limit as well as, uh, further push, uh,

11:52 affordability outside of the city.

11:55 So respectfully ask that it, we look at, uh, not increasing the property taxes.

12:00 Thank you for your time.

12:04 Nancy jetter.

12:13 Nancy, are you there?

12:16 Beverly luna,

12:21 my name is beverly luna.

12:23 I'm with Austin. Austin found pets and I would certainly support any increase in taxes that would increase

12:30 the budget of the Austin animal center, and I would note that I'm opposed.

12:33 The Austin animal services cuts for emergency and veterinary services in the proposed budgets budget.

12:38 These are essential services your constituents have relied on for years.

12:42 Aac staff stated in a response to Council Member vea that they chose to cut those services because

12:47 they're not required by law that is misleading.

12:50 The laws require the chief animal services officer to pick up all strays running at large within the

12:54 city of Austin and within travis county.

12:56 This practice abusing the emergency vet begin years ago when it was apparent that there needed to be

13:01 a solution for sicker injured dogs and cats that were found outside shelter hours that needed immediate vet

13:06 care. Three problems were dealt with by this, you did not allow the animal.

13:10 Often someone's escape, pet suffer needlessly.

13:13 The process allowed animal services to comply with the law while maximizing their live outcome rate.

13:18 And you don't shift the responsibility of animal services to the public and to law enforcement.

13:23 Are you increasing the budget of the police to address the additional calls they will get for these

13:27 suffering animals? Have you told the county that they will need to increase the budget of the sheriff's

13:31 office to deal with this?

13:32 Austin animal services does not have vets on staff after hours.

13:36 They leave at 4:30 pm and generally only work Monday through Friday.

13:40 If three one one gets a call at 8:00 pm that there's an inter german shepherd blocking a land on south

13:44 lamar, what is an a co or their police going to do?

13:47 There will be no vet staff at the shelter and no place for them to take the dog