Watson Wire: Hot off the Presses

It's hot outside. I'm working hard to address this issue. It's taking a little longer than I wanted, but, if I’m successful, you'll notice cooler temperatures around late October (if we’re lucky) but (unfortunately) more like early November.

In the meantime, the best I can offer is popsicles.

The other day, I visited a city summer camp with popsicles from Mom & Pops, and this evening Council Member José Velásquez and I will be at the?Pan Am Summer Hillside Concert Series?with cool treats from La Super Michoacana.

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Seriously, it's very hot. Pay attention to how you feel. Hydrate. Check on neighbors (especially elderly and those who need a little more help), watch the kids and take care of yourself.

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First Draft of the Budget

Tomorrow marks opening day of budget season for the City of Austin when we have our first work session related to?the proposed 2023-24 budget.

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Before you pull up the enormous budget document and do a quick search for the things you care about most, I’d ask that you take a step back because we’re doing some big things here to make local government work the way it ought to work and fix some of the big problems we inherited.

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This budget reflects a fundamental change in how our city is functioning. It shows how our City Council and City Management can work in concert to address complex challenges and improve the quality of life for every Austinite.

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Affordability:?The city is approaching the affordability crisis through several avenues. For city employees, the proposed budget includes a living wage increase to $20.80 and a 4 percent pay increase for all civilian employees. For taxpayers, we kept the bump in total taxes and fees to 2 percent for a “typical” homeowner.

To tackle housing affordability directly, we’ve taken a deep dive into the city’s development review process to determine how we can streamline how long it takes to get a site plan. That examination is almost done, and this budget includes funding to implement changes so the city will be able to move quicker and stop being an obstacle to creating essential housing and infrastructure.?

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Resilience:?As I’ve said before, Winter Storm Mara was a clarifying event that revealed there was a need for some significant changes at City Hall. That weather disaster exposed some serious deficiencies in our readiness, so we’re investing heavily in hardening Austin Energy’s distribution system as well as studying the feasibility of burying overhead power lines. There is funding for additional generators for city facilities, such as fire stations that lost power during the storm as well as a continued commitment to the Resilience Hub Network, which includes community-focused facilities that offer day-to-day services and support the community before, during and after a disaster.?

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Homelessness:?We’re taking a comprehensive approach to homelessness in this budget by investing in the entire continuum — including prevention, emergency sheltering and permanent supportive housing. All told, this proposed budget increases appropriations to homelessness response by 13 percent. Our job is to demonstrate results from that investment. In addition, the city will be consolidating the way we currently deal with trash and cleaning up encampments. We have a beautiful city and want to ensure public spaces are inviting to everyone.

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We’re in the enviable position of tackling these challenges from a platform of success. Unlike some cities, we’re not managing decline and decay. Instead, we’re working to manage the byproducts of success — and that creates opportunity.

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That also creates the expectation that we’re going to get it all done and done right. Things are never going to be perfect and there are going to be times when we try something that doesn’t work and we have to recalibrate and go in a different direction.

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But we’ll keep trying and innovating and exploring and working with anyone who wants to help make Austin work the way it oughta work.