Austin has set forth its new proposal for the Fiscal Year 2025 city budget – and it is exactly what you would expect. 

The new budget initially proposed by unelected bureaucrat T.C. Broadnax, the City Manager, contains an incredible $5.9 BILLION dollars in spending, an increase beyond the previous year’s budget of $5.5 billion, that will raise property taxes and fees, and will inevitably lead to a more stagnant economy and make it harder for Austinites to make ends meet. 

The budget proposal itself even admits on page two that the new budget will “raise more total property taxes than last year’s budget.”

This new budget will cost the average Austin resident an additional $272.48 per year. Property taxes alone will increase by over $100 per tax-paying Austinite.

To break the budget down, energy costs are up $32.40, water is up $74.52, “resource recovery” is up $24.60, the clean community fee is up $5.40, transportation fees are up $18.72, drainage utilities are up $14.52, and of course, property taxes will rise by at least $102.26.

In fact, the city of Austin implemented the largest possible property tax increase permitted by municipalities under Texas state law. To put this budget increase in perspective, the number has nearly doubled from the $3.5 billion city budget from just 10 years ago.

Not only is the the budget a massive increase year over year, but it irresponsibly spends taxpayer money on new programs and expanding government bureaucracy, including: 

• A 4% increase in government salaries, 
• $3.6 million dollars in “tenant stabilization,” which is essentially taxpayer-funded bailouts for renters, and; 
• $1.5 million for the Mexican-American Cultural Center expansion 

These massive hikes in taxes and fees come in one of the most economically tumultuous and uncertain periods of American history, when taxpayers are already drowning in rampant inflation and cost of living expansion. Unfortunately, the city is notorious for electing fiscally irresponsible lawmakers. Austinites must stand up against these fiscally irresponsible measures, and hold their elected officials accountable. 

Texans for Fiscal Responsibility will continue the fight for restoring fiscal sanity in our state and local governments. We must actually cease the growth in misguided and irresponsible government spending at every level. TFR advocates for the implementation of spending caps on local governments, and the lowering of the No New Revenue Rate to that of the Voter Approval Rate, ensuring that corrupt city officials are unable to bleed their residents dry. 

Concerned citizens can contact the City of Austin here.

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