Thursday, July 30, 2026, 10 a.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall
The Austin City Council met on July 30, 2026 to discuss the proposed FY 2026-2027 budget, take up the maximum proposed property tax rate, consider 14 proposed city charter amendments, and approve an efficiency study contract. Dozens of public speakers urged adoption of the community investment budget, keeping the police budget flat, and restoring social service cuts, while others supported preserving increases for police, fire, and EMS. The council set the maximum proposed property tax rate at $0.579948 per $100 valuation (9 in favor, two members off the dais), adopted charter amendments 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e, 3g, 3k, and the petition-initiated 3m for the November ballot, and rejected or failed 3f, 3h, 3i, and 3l. The council unanimously approved a contract with Public Works LLC for a comprehensive efficiency assessment, and postponed the budget vote to the August 12-14 meetings.
0:01 Good morning everybody. It's 10:00 in the morning on July 30th, 2026, and I will call to order this meeting of the Austin City Council.
0:09 We have a quorum of the City Council president. In fact, all members are present. And we are meeting in the City Council chambers,
0:17 which are located in City Hall at 301 west second street in Austin,
0:22 texas. Let me quickly run through what we're going to do today.
0:26 Item number one on the agenda is the presentation and discussion of the city manager's fiscal year 2026 2027 proposed budget. What we're going to do is we have a number of people that have signed up to speak on this item. We're going to go to speakers on item number one, and then we will have the presentation and the discussion with regard to that item.
0:45 Item number two is a resolution related to the maximum proposed property tax rate.
0:52 We have a couple speakers there. We'll do that. And then we will have that discussion. Item number three relates to the city charter and whether or not we are going to have a
1:02 number of items on the proposed charter election this year.
1:07 We will bring that up. We have some people to speak on that, and then we will also walk through those.
1:13 Everybody will be allowed to speak on individual items with regard to that.
1:18 So they'll speak on item three, a, three, b3c, and that's how we the council will take those up. We will vote on each of those individually about whether to put them on the ballot.
1:30 Item number four is related to a financial services contract. And then depending upon where we are today, we May recess at that point and come back for
1:39 the 3:00 public hearing related to the city of Austin budget for fiscal year 2026 and
1:44 2027. And we have a number of speakers signed up on that for purposes of the calendar.
1:52 And everybody kind of keep up with where we are on the calendar. I've just gone through today's agenda. But next Tuesday, August 4th, we have not currently put any items related
2:05 to the budget, but we are currently scheduled to have a meeting on the fourth to address a
2:10 potential bond election. We May have some issues related to the budget on that day.
2:18 However, the fourth is the day that by the end of business on the fourth, we have asked that council members and the Mayor have any proposed amendments to the
2:27 budget and any proposed i-fcs items from council.
2:32 To the budget by the business on the fourth. On August 6th, we will have at that point in time a discussion by the council regarding
2:42 those proposed amendments and proposed ifcs. We will also take up issues related to the ordering of a general election,
2:50 special charter election and a special bond election, if that's necessary. Then Wednesday, August 12th, Thursday, August 13th and Friday, August 14th. We will have the issues related to the budget approval.
3:04 So members. With that, we will now go to item number one, which is the presentation and discussion of the city manager's fiscal year 2026 2027 proposed budget. And I will turn to the city clerk and ask for you to please call people
3:16 so that they can speak on item number one. What I will say to those of all that are here, the way she will do this is she will call three, 4 or 5 names at a time.
3:27 We would ask that if you're here and you wish to be heard, that you go ahead and get up and come down front. And if there's an empty seat here at the table, take one of those empty seats. That way we'll know that you're here. If there's not an empty seat. But your name has been called, please take one of these seats at the front of the auditorium here, and we'll make sure that you're heard.
3:47 We ask that you please state your name for the record before you begin your testimony. With that, I'll turn it over to the city clerk. Unless council. Do you have any questions or comments? Okay. Thank you. Thank you Mayor.
3:58 I've got a couple remote speakers. We'll start there with gabe reed.
4:07 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, council people.
4:12 I want to start by thanking you for your service to the people of Austin.
4:18 I am representing the universal tech movement,
4:24 and I want to be clear that I support the community investment budget.
4:31 And just to highlight some of our work, right. Last year we served over 300 unique clients. And this year we have over 500 more clients with applications we have received.
4:44 And. The average wage increase that we see is,
4:51 3000. Among the clients that we serve with, the. From occupational training, job placement support, even services along the lines of digital equity helping them get access to wi-fi
5:04 computers, teaching them how to use emails and the skills to enterprise pipeline.
5:12 And just want to emphasize that, you know, we are humbled to,
5:18 to speak before you all. And, you know, this is why we support the community investment budget,
5:24 because we are seeing lives transformed among austinites.
5:30 And we only want to continue to see austinites lives transformed particularly
5:36 those that May be come from vulnerable backgrounds,
5:41 whether that is unhoused, whether that is reducing recidivism.
5:47 I was just talking to a client yesterday that said he's sleeping in his car. Another client that just signed up said that he just got out of penitentiary.
5:58 So really want the the people's hearts to be moved to support this.
6:08 Thank you. Stephanie hernandez.
6:15 Hi. Good morning. My name is stephanie hernandez and I am the unit supervisor for
6:21 the rapid rehousing department of family elder care. What is rapid rehousing? It's a lot what it sounds like. We work on we work one on one with older adults experiencing homelessness and quickly
6:34 get them into housing. Almost all of our clients have been chronically homeless, and our job is to get them to a place of stability. Finding housing is the crucial first step, because it's nearly impossible to get ahead
6:47 when you don't have a place to sleep at night. But honestly, that's when the real work starts. Once our clients are housed, the goal is to get them healthier find work,
6:57 increase their income, and enroll them in benefits so that when our assistant ends, they can remain stable, housed. However, this takes very close intense case management.
7:10 On an interesting personal note, I was once in a somewhat similar situation because of a fad. Because of a few bad breaks. My husband and I were also unable to afford the place that we lived in.
7:23 So we moved in with my mother in law. However, she created weekly tasks for us similar to how we do with our clients
7:31 individual service plan. And we just kind of had to learn how to budget, spruce up the resume, you know, apply to different jobs, take online education courses.
7:41 And we had to show her each week what we had done. And it worked. It actually worked. But not everyone is as lucky as I am to have a mother in law or a support system like I
7:52 did. Many people have nowhere to turn to and that's where family elder care steps in.
7:57 I'm proud to say that the last year alone, 82% of our clients enrolled were able to find
8:03 income, maintain it, or increase it because of the support that they received from family elder care. We cannot go backwards now. We have so much momentum, especially in our rapid rehousing program. We have learned so much and thank you very much.
8:18 So many tweaks to our program. Jennifer palmero. Hi, I'm jennifer palermo.
8:28 Good morning. I see that you guys got my message from last week about funding the safe alliance. Thank you. Please be sure to go ahead and formally contact them again this
8:37 year. However, here it comes. I finished going through the proposed budget and I noticed that as far as cuts,
8:45 they were generally directed towards schools and persecuted social groups, asian immigrant communities, black business, mexican arts, and other latino groups. I make no commentary about intention.
8:58 However, I am hereby formally demanding a racial and educational equity impact
9:05 statement on the proposed budget to make sure that this is not unjustly impacting those
9:10 groups, or to simply raise the funding for the community investment budget.
9:16 Speaking of impact, just so you guys know, in case you didn't already, there are people planning a rally for antonio williams outside of City Hall today at 6
9:25 p.m.. He was the victim of a suicide by cop that resulted in his fatality.
9:31 You guys have already heard the statistics before, but suicide by cop is the cause of up to one third of all killings by cops.
9:38 And there's actually training to prevent that that has been offered to a p d suggested
9:44 pushed on a p d multiple times before, and they continued to refuse to actually take that training. Now, no matter how you feel about police politics, a p d et cetera. Et cetera. Often cannot cut funding to schools and persecuted social groups while giving raises
10:00 to police who are refusing to be schooled and who are involved in deaths and suicides of
10:05 members of those groups. So again, I am formally demanding an equity impact statement or that you raise the cib as
10:13 we've been asking. Also, no raises for apd and require the suicide by
10:19 cop prevention training. Thank you so much. I'm reporting in from the district of rich harmon niloufer tanner.
10:33 Hello. Good morning. This is niloofar tanner from universal tech movement as the director
10:39 of strategic partnerships and global impact. I support the community investment budget at utm. We address community safety and stability at its root by replacing economic vulnerability
10:52 with workforce readiness, structured tech education, and systematic barrier removal for communication for communities and individuals
11:00 in need. In our last year's program, we served around 380 unique clients,
11:07 earning industry credentials and securing high tech roles, with an average annual salary increase of $30,000, providing that workforce development and training serve as far better preventive
11:20 measures to enhance safety and reduce crime. Thank you, and thank you for your service and this opportunity for testimony. Have a good day. Courtney jones.
11:38 Good morning, Mayor and council members. My name is courtney jones. I proudly serve on the board of directors for family elder care. I am also a social worker, the founder of change one, and someone who has experienced both foster care and homelessness.
11:53 Those experiences have taught me that things that I will never forget.
11:59 Public safety starts long before a 911 phone call. I know what it feels like to need support before crisis becomes an emergency.
12:09 I also know what happens when that support isn't there. That's why organizations like family elder care matters every day.
12:17 Family elder care helps older adults and adults with disabilities remain safely
12:22 housed, connected to care, and supported before they reach a crisis.
12:28 These services prevent emergencies, and they also reduce the strain on public
12:34 systems and strengthen our communities. As you May have to make this difficult budget decision, I ask that you view the support services from an investment, not an expense. When we reduce funding from prevention,
12:50 the need doesn't just disappear. It simply becomes more expensive through emergency rooms, shelters, law enforcement and other crisis responses.
13:00 Before reducing funding from essential community services, I urge you to exhaust every opportunity to find other ways to preserve this funding for
13:11 our community. Supporting family elder care is not compassionate.
13:16 It is a financial responsible thing to do.
13:20 When Austin is invested in prevention, Austin is stronger. Thank you so much, I appreciate you. Alexis hayworth. Hi, my name is alexis harris.
13:36 I'm a concerned citizen reporting from district six. Crystal lane. So next year, city employees are getting a 3% raise,
13:45 which is mostly consumed by the 33% increase in their health care premiums and a tripling
13:49 of er visit costs. Vital city programs like parks and rec and Austin community college
13:54 are struggling with funding and staffing that they have, and they're looking at hiring freezes and layoffs. Jobs are scarce. Food is unaffordable, housing is unaffordable. Meanwhile, the proposed budget suggests giving a permanent 6% raise to the already
14:09 bloated apd budget. Apd is already over a third of the entire budget,