Austin's Revised Budget Cuts Social Services, Public Safety After Prop Q Rejection

Last week’s voter rejection of a more than 20% city property tax increase, has sent Austin leaders back to the budgetary drawing board. Proposition Q would have generated nearly $110 million, helping the city balance a projected $33.4 million shortfall and increase funding for a variety of programs.

A revised 2025-26 spending plan released over the weekend by Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax raises property taxes by 3.5% – the maximum allowed under state law without voter approval – withdraws $14.1 million from the city’s savings account for social services and cuts and reallocates tens of millions of dollars.

The comparison chart Broadnax’s office released compares his proposal to the original budget adopted in August, which assumed passage of Prop Q, rather than last fiscal year’s budget. This makes the proposed cuts seem larger than they actually are as compared to what agencies received in 2024-25.

Some of the most notable line-item reductions include $6.3 million from Emergency Medical Services, $1 million from the Austin Fire Department, $5.2 million from the Parks and Recreation and $3.7 million from Municipal Courts.

The reductions to public safety agencies as compared to the August budget drew sharp rebuke over the weekend from the unions that represent Austin police, firefighters and emergency workers.

“Public safety must remain the foundation upon which all other city services depend,” the Austin EMS Association, Austin Firefighters Association and Austin Police Association wrote in a letter to Austin City Council on Sunday. “Inadequately funding EMS, fire, or police will weaken emergency response and magnify the negative effects of reductions elsewhere.”

However, EMS’ budget would actually increase under Broadnax’s proposal if you compare it to the sum the agency actually received during the last fiscal year. In the most recently adopted budget, EMS received $143 million; Under Broadnax’s new proposal, it would receive $148.2 million.

The single largest category of cut in Broadnax’s proposed budget is to social service contracts, including homelessness programs, which would see a $38.2 million reduction.

However, Broadnax also is proposing a $14.1 million withdrawal from city reserves to use as transitional funding for social services contracts that “can no longer be sustained within the current revenue constraints,” his office said in a memo to council.

The new budget also reallocates $5.3 million in existing social services contracts to council priorities brought up during the first budget process. The majority of the reallocated funds would go to rapid rehousing and other homelessness programs.

The 3.5% property tax rate increase would generate $5.25 million. Broadnax is proposing using that money on expenditures like raising wages for employees who earned less than $53,000, funding for emergency shelter operations at Marshaling Yard and 20 new positions for Parks and Recreation.

Overall, the city’s general fund will shrink by $1.8 million as compared to the August budget, including a $1.1 million reduction to the Housing Trust Fund and a $310,068 decrease to Austin Youth Development and Youth Corp and Travis County’s Summer Youth Employment program.

City staff is set to present the budget proposal to City Council on Thursday, as well as provide an updated five-year financial forecast. Members will be able to propose amendments to the spending plan at meetings next week and may adopt the new budget as soon as Nov. 20.