Watson Wire: Talking About the Dough

My first budgeting experience was when I was about 8 and sold donuts door to door. On Saturdays, I’d buy 12 dozen donuts at the nearby donut shop, and they’d throw in another dozen for free. I’d drag those donuts around in a wagon. My pitch at the door was if you bought my product, you wouldn’t have to cook breakfast the next day before church. I also may have told folks that I was saving for college.?

The budget was simple — have enough dough to buy 12 dozen donuts, and the extra dozen would be my profit margin. At some point, my parents “convinced” me I should cut my younger brother Kyle in on this enterprise. I gave him a dime for pulling the wagon. I had to budget for his questionable work. Kyle still claims he was badly, if not illegally, underpaid.

Budgeting Austin’s Dough

It’s budget time at City Hall. On July 14th, the first cut at the FY 2023-24 Budget will be made public. And we’re talking about more than donut money.

To illustrate, the FY 2022-23 All Funds Operating Budget for the City of Austin was $5.0 billion, which includes Austin Energy, Austin Water, the airport. The City allocated just under $1.3 billion — about 25% of the All Funds budget — for the General Fund that covers things like public safety (Police, Fire and EMS), parks and libraries. Police, Fire and EMS were almost 62% of the General Fund. Most of the money in the General Fund comes from sales and property taxes with some coming from utility transfers, fines and fees.

The Enterprise Funds make up the biggest chunk of spending. Austin Energy, Austin Water and Aviation account for the biggest expenditures and are primarily funded by rates paid by customers.

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The Timeline and Transparency

When I was in the Texas Senate, I served on the Finance Committee for several years. From the beginning of my time in the Senate, I pushed for more openness in the budgeting process. I called it my “Honesty Agenda” and I’m proud we made some significant changes that allowed for items to be laid out for longer time periods so that the public had more of a chance to know what was happening, legislators could better know what they were voting on and, overall, there were fewer surprises.

Last Friday, I laid out an outline for the process the City Council can use to get us to a good outcome. It will assure transparency and efficiency in the process.

I’m anticipating this will be a very collaborative budget process. The City Council has done a good job this year of breaking down barriers between the policymaking body and the administrative functions.

Here’s the outline. Of course, we will be appropriately flexible and there likely will be some adjustments along the way.

Friday, July 14, 2023:

The City Manager will file the draft budget with the City Clerk, and it will be delivered to the Mayor and Council Members.

July 14th?starts the Council Budget Questions process. The public can see the questions and answers asked throughout the process.

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Wednesday, July 19th, 2023:

A work session at which the City Manager will present the budget to Mayor and Council. After the presentation, Council will ask questions and get specific briefings on parts of the budget.

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Wednesday, July 26th, 2023:

A council meeting focused on the City’s General Fund.?The meeting will begin with public comment at 10:00 am.

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Tuesday, August 1st, 2023:

We will also have a work session focused on Enterprise Funds.

We will hold a public hearing on the maximum tax rate and public comment regarding any budget aspect at 3:00 pm.?We will then set the maximum tax rate.

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Thursday, August 3rd, 2023:

This date is held for a potential meeting if needed.

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Monday, August 7th, 2023:

We’ll have a goal of filing proposed Budget Amendments and Budget Items from Council (IFCs) by close of business.

“Budget Amendments” are items where a Council Member seeks to amend an appropriation in the budget. “Budget IFCs” are items from a Council Member that address policy that a member wishes to be made as part of the budget process.

Thursday, August 8th, 2023:

This date is held for a potential meeting if needed.

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Thursday, August 10th, 2023:

A work session for Council Members to publicly lay out proposed Budget Amendments and IFCs to provide greater transparency and less surprises for the public and the Council.

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Wednesday, August 16th—Friday, August 18th:

We will vote on the budget.