The biggest change Council made to the city budget proposed by City Manager Spencer Cronk was to further increase the base wage offered to city workers.
After two long days of deliberation, City Council gave final approval late in the evening Thursday, Aug. 18, to a $5 billion all-funds. The General Fund, which is where your sales and property taxes go, accounts for about $1.3 billion of that budget, with more than 60% of that amount earmarked for public safety.
“A $20/hr living wage will provide Austinites with reliable and high-quality city services while also enabling our public employees to live in the city they serve,” Fuentes wrote in a statement following Council’s adoption of the budget. “High-quality city services” is a bit of a veiled reference to the dire staffing crisis facing practically every city department. Data from May shows a roughly 16% vacancy rate across all departments – about 2.5% of which had been vacant for more than a year.
And if you’ve kept up with budget coverage at the daily, you’ve likely already read the shocking headline – CMs voted to give themselves. Scandalous! Except that CM pay hasn’t increased since 2006, and Council staffers are also making less than their counterparts in peer cities. Even with the raise, CMs will earn less than Travis County commissioners, who have had no qualms with giving themselves raises over the years.
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