We鈥檙e still about a month away from March Madness, but Austin City Council members are already filling out their brackets.
The council is deliberating what to do with a $14 million budget surplus at mid-fiscal year 鈥� the result of higher-than-expected sales tax and development revenues. The council held one work session delving into the topic already; at , the council鈥檚 posted to take action spending all or part of the available surplus.
So what projects will council members fund?
As a starting point, they鈥檝e approved a list : the bulk of whatever they decide to fund will almost certainly come from those dozen topics. But a few other contenders have emerged as wild-cards, including funds to speed up a forensics testing backlog at the police department. ( asking the city manager for ways to do just that is on .)
Further hints about council members鈥� priorities emerged at on the surplus: funds for affordable housing will almost certainly be included in some form, although just how much will certainly be a subject of debate: Mayor Lee Leffingwell took a more conservative approach to the surplus than many of his colleagues, noting the city was already committed to spending on initiatives including Austin鈥檚 , and a civil-service system for all city employees, which .
With all these competing priorities, KUT News has taken a cue from playoff season and drawn up a bracket illustrating what priorities seem to have made it to the Final Four. (This isn鈥檛 the NCAA, so there doesn鈥檛 have to be one winner. Moreover, the following is provided for entertainment purposes only; KUT News cannot be held responsible if you are actually wonky enough to wager on municipal policy.)
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The council鈥檚 work session gets underway starting at 9 a.m. tomorrow. What do you think the city鈥檚 priorities should be going forward?
