The Scrooge budget
A lump of coal for social service providers.
OK folks, here's my last pre-Christmas newsletter. I'm taking next week off. Happy Holidays!
In a Wednesday memo to City Council, City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced $5.27 million of cuts to social service contracts for the current fiscal year, bringing the total spent on such contracts to $74.2 million. In next year's budget, the city will aim to cut $16.8 million, he said. (Click on the memo and scroll down to look at the cuts for each contract)
The following day, City Council approved a four-year, $63 million contract with the Austin Firefighters Association.
The two facts are inextricably linked. The city didn't give the firefighters the hefty raises that it gave cops last year, but the rise in firefighter compensation will still likely outpace the rise in tax revenue in an anemic economy. This will keep pressure on the city to make more cuts from other programs and/or conduct a tax rate election in the coming years.
