Wednesday, January 14, 2026, 9:30 a.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall, 301 W 2nd St, Austin, TX 78701
Committee: Audit and Finance Committee
The Audit and Finance Committee, chaired by Mayor Watson, met on January 14, 2026 with a quorum and two additional council members present. The committee adopted amended draft minutes, received the fourth-quarter FY25 financial report from Budget Director Carrie Lang, and heard the City Auditor's presentation of the speed reduction audit, with Transportation and Public Works leadership responding to recommendations. The committee recommended adoption of a proposed Mayor and Council office expense and spending policy, with amendments to be offered at the January 22 full council meeting, and held a first discussion of a proposed ordinance creating a comprehensive efficiency assessment, targeting a possible February 5 vote. Staff presented a debt capacity update on a potential 2026 bond program, recommending no program larger than $750 million if the city proceeds, and discussion of the bond decision tree was deferred to a special called meeting. The meeting adjourned at 12:50 pm.
0:01 Well, good morning everybody.
0:02 It's nine 30 on January 14th, 2026, and I feel compelled to say happy new year, uh, since this is
0:10 the first time many of us have, uh, been on the dais and been back in council chambers
0:14 in, uh, the new year.
0:16 So, welcome everybody and happy new year to you.
0:19 Uh, I will call to order the audit and finance committee of the Austin City Council, uh, on
0:25 this January 14th, 2026. Um, we are meeting in City Council chambers, which are located in City Hall at 3 0 1
0:33 west second street, and we have a quorum of the City Council present.
0:38 Uh, the committee, uh, members present and we have, uh, we are also joined, uh, by two other
0:43 members of the two other members of the City Council, uh, that are not on the committee.
0:48 Council Member lane and Council Member Ellis.
0:49 We appreciate them also being with us.
0:52 Uh, if I call somebody by the wrong name, and it's because I'm not used to where everybody's
0:57 sitting yet, so, uh, when I, when I look and call you by the wrong name.
1:01 Uh, with that we will, uh, let me outline how I think we'll move 'cause we have a
1:05 very, uh, strong agenda, a lot on, a lot on the agenda.
1:09 We'll go to item one, which is the draft minutes in just a second.
1:13 Then what I thought we would do is go to item five, which is the financial report, uh,
1:18 from our director. Then item seven, which is a report on the speed reduction audit.
1:24 Then we will go to item three, item four.
1:27 And then since item six is so closely related to item number two, uh, I'm, I'm, I'm going
1:33 to bring those up together.
1:34 I'll bring up six and then two.
1:36 So 1, 5, 7, 3, 4, 6,
1:42 and two is the way we will go.
1:44 Um, like I say, it's a full agenda, so I anticipate we'll need to, um, we'll, we'll need
1:49 to keep that in mind as we try to keep everybody kind of on their schedules for the
1:52 day. Uh, the first item on the agenda is we will hear from, uh, speakers that have signed
1:57 up prior to the meeting being called to order.
1:59 And I'll, uh, ask that you call the name of the speaker, jeffrey bowen.
2:05 Mr. Bowen, welcome. Happy new year to you.
2:08 New you. Well, I'm all right.
2:11 See how you, whether you keep me in that mood, well, we'll try <laugh>.
2:17 No promises, no gain.
2:19 I appreciate it. Glad you're here.
2:21 Yeah, happy new year.
2:22 Uh, mr. Mayor, uh, jeff mc, we go.
2:26 Yeah, I've been off for a while too, so, um, happy new year.
2:30 Thank you, mr. Mayor.
2:32 Uh, council members, jeffrey bower, uh, resident of district eight, and I'm here representing myself and myself only.
2:40 So, uh, I'm here to speak on number on item number four, which is actually the audit.
2:45 And for many people know that I have been a very staunch advocate for an audit for, for
2:52 some time. And, um, in dealing with this, um, I recently got a new, one of the district
2:58 newsletters, which I get all of them, uh, that are out there.
3:02 And of course, I always try to pull out some highlights.
3:05 And, and one of 'em that I sent out, I, I put a little note on there that
3:08 said, once again, the council does not have a spending problem.
3:12 The budget issued was caused by the others state, federal, and the lack of the voters to understand
3:18 our financial issues. Little thought of the impact of the 20% tax increase of the citizens of Austin
3:25 increasing, uh, property increasing tax, oh, wait a minute, I'm sorry.
3:30 Uh, increasing taxes makes Austin more affordable.
3:33 How? Now in that regards, I got an answer back from one of the 200 people that, uh,
3:40 are on that, that's a neighborhood friend that was, uh, been around for a long time, and she
3:45 wrote back and she said, regardless how the Mayor and the council try to explain away their loss
3:50 of public support and failed financial planning, you and other strong voices are pushing transparency and accountability to
3:58 the forefront. Thank you for the work that you do, uh, for a serious review of the government
4:03 decisions. I know the city leadership are still trying to stay on a predetermined path, but it does
4:11 feel that there is a modicum of acknowledgement that some course correction is required.
4:18 Even as people's voices are stronger, big money still talks.
4:22 Your work to balance the scales is making a difference, and it's much appreciated.
4:28 This goes back to the same thing that the mayor's talked about, is the lack of trust.
4:35 There is still a lack of trust and a constant reminder of how do we rebuild that trust?
4:43 Um, I really appreciate the work going into the ordinance, which is calling for an audit and those
4:51 changes. But as many know, I'm also supporter of the other, the one for the charter amendment.
4:58 I still believe the charter amendment is the best way to go because there are an opportunity that
5:04 nine people can override the ordinances.
5:07 And we've already had ordinances that are on the books that are not being done, not being accomplished,
5:13 being ignored. And yet I still believe that there's many items in both of these that overlap each
5:23 other. They talk about the same thing.
5:26 We need to, it's my determination, and I really truly believe this, this needs to be part of
5:33 the charter amendment. Thank you.
5:35 Appreciate you being here.
5:36 Thank you very much.
5:39 Those are all the speakers that signed up, is that correct?
5:41 Yes, that's correct. Good deal.
5:42 Thank you, mr. Bowen. Yes, sir.
5:43 Thank you. Um, members, that'll take us to item number one, which is approval of the draft minutes.
5:48 Uh, let me first ask if there are any council members, members of the committee that have any
5:53 proposed amendments to the, um, I said, I hope I said draft minutes, not amendments, uh, to, to
5:59 the, the draft min minutes, I, I would suggest that in, um, at the top of the, the
6:05 minutes, it has a additional committee members that were present.
6:10 That should be cha that should be edited to be additional council members present.
6:16 And it listed Council Member lane.
6:18 And then under item number one, approval of the minutes.
6:22 Uh, this is a, just a minor deal, just second paragraph.
6:26 The minutes were approved on this.
6:27 The third, I would add an rd after the three.
6:30 So third day, uh, with those two proposed amendments to the minutes, is there, I I would offer
6:38 that up. And I seconded by Council Member Vela, I'll have made the motion.
6:42 Is there any discussion without objection?
6:45 The minutes with those two amendments is adopted or adopted.
6:48 That'll take us to item number five, which is the financial report.
6:53 And I will, uh, ask our, uh, director to come forward and give us a financial report.
6:59 And happy new year to you.
7:02 Happy new year feedback, really <laugh>.
7:11 Yes, I hope so.
7:15 Well, good morning, um, Mayor, Mayor <inaudible>, and, uh, council.
7:20 I'm carrie lang, the director of Austin budget and organizational excellence.
7:24 And today I will talk through the fourth quarter financial report.
7:29 Um, we distributed the report yesterday evening to the council, so you'll have all that backup detail to
7:36 read today. We'll just do high level highlights from the report.
7:40 And then, of course, if you all have any questions, I'm happy to answer those questions.
7:43 I know we are short on time, so I'll kind of go through this quickly and see if
7:46 you all have any questions.
7:47 I do wanna reiterate that these are our unaudited numbers.
7:51 Um, Austin financial services will be providing the full fiscal year 25 final, uh, numbers in the annual
7:58 comprehensive financial report, um, later this year.
8:04 And so I do wanna talk about as we, as we look at our, uh, financial report, and
8:08 as I talk through this presentation, and when you look at the report, I wanna make sure we
8:13 all understand that when we are creating our budgets, the timeline that we're looking at and how we're
8:19 talking about this, we're gonna talk a little bit about how fiscal year 25 ended compared to the
8:24 current year estimate. And then there's some conversation, of course, as looking at how we ended compared to
8:30 our adopted or amended budget for fiscal year 25.
8:33 When we do that, it's because we wanna give a clear picture of what was budgeted, but our
8:38 current year estimate is a really important number as well, because we use that in order to build
8:42 the fiscal year 26 budget.
8:44 And so this slide just kind of talks through, we're talking about our current year estimate, whether we
8:49 do, how we do compared to that current year estimate can impact what we're seeing in fiscal year
8:55 26 for our adopted budget, as well as what we, how we transfer or talk through the rest
9:00 of this fiscal year as we monitor fiscal year changes.
9:05 So when we look at our general fund highlights for fiscal year 25, I think there are some
9:09 key takeaways that we wanna make sure everyone understands.
9:12 For revenue, we did end revenue above our estimate 0.6 million or $600,000 above the estimate.
9:19 Our general fund expenditures have as a whole, were 3 million below our estimate for the fiscal year.
9:25 Overall in the end of the fiscal year, we are, um, moving $3.6 million to our reserves for this
9:33 for fiscal year 25.
9:35 When we look at our reserves level, um, we are ending the year.
9:39 We are projected to end the year at 16.2% compared to the 16.7% that was budgeted for fiscal
9:45 year 25. And most of that change, uh, that reduced, uh, reserves amount is because of the anticipated
9:54 fema payments that we thought we were gonna get in fiscal year 25.
9:57 That has not come in yet.
10:01 So we'll move on to revenue highlights.
10:03 Um, this chart here is just showing you our different major revenue sources.
10:07 And then walking through again, our amended budget for revenue, looking at where we are year to date,
10:13 um, our current year estimate for as of, uh, the end of ju June or early July for
10:19 our estimate, and then the percentages that we came in compared to our budget.
10:23 I will note that the sales tax revenue includes two month of accruals.
10:27 Um, as we, those, as you all know, those revenues come in on a lag.
10:32 Some key takeaways for our revenue, our sales tax, we are 11.9 million below our budget for fiscal year
10:40 25, but we are 3.5 million above our estimate for fiscal year 25.
10:44 So we did better than we estimated.
10:46 Um, during the, the proposed budget process, we are continuing to see flat revenue, um, in sales tax,
10:53 and we're continuing to monitor that and we'll be providing updates as the year goes forward.
10:58 And our ems billing, as we've mentioned over the last several months, ems did, um, receive additional revenue
11:04 over what was budgeted.
11:06 They actually did better than their cye, about 1.2 million over their cye.
11:11 They've continued to work on billing efficiencies over the last several years, and also they had a increased,
11:17 um, revenue from central health higher than anticipated, as well as their charity care came in higher than
11:23 budgeted. This slide again, goes through our, uh, our general fund departments so that you can see the,
11:33 the, um, changes for fiscal year end as well as compared to the amended budget and our estimate.
11:40 Um, and this just gives each department so you can see the numbers that they came in compared
11:44 to what was budgeted and estimated.
11:47 If we look at the highlights or the key takeaways for that, um, we identified in fiscal year
11:53 25, a 1.5% budget savings for the fiscal year to help make sure we were balanced in.
11:59 Um, by the end of 25, 8 of the 12 departments reached that target, so they reached that one
12:04 and a half percent savings.
12:06 Um, and then, um, those four that did not as animal services, fire parks and recreation and police,
12:13 however, animal services also exceeded their, uh, appropriation or their budget for fiscal year 25.
12:19 They went about $275,000 over budget.
12:22 Um, and that was primarily due to some of the, um, long-term or, um, responses to animal care
12:29 at the shelter that caused, uh, increased, uh, expenses for last fiscal year.
12:34 Our social service contracts came in at 99.62, so pretty much spent all of our social service contract
12:40 dollars for fiscal year 25.
12:42 And then when you look at our overall appropriation, we came in at 98.8% of our total appropriation
12:48 for last fiscal year.
12:50 Again, the one 1%, about 1% savings in department savings.
12:54 And then we had 2.8% savings in our non-departmental appropriations.
13:01 When we look at our enterprise departments, um, our fourth quarter report and all of our reports include,
13:07 um, our major enterprise funds.