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The Austin City Council Monday night took the first steps toward the 2025 tax levy and budget with mixed views of how to proceed into the future. 

Mayor Steve King’s proposed budget of $9.96 million represents a 13.85% increase over 2024’s $8.75 million budget and has the council currently split on where to go during the next stages. 

Still, King argued that the increase is necessary while adding that Austin isn’t alone in dealing with increases.

“I want a functioning city,” King said. “Other cities and municipalities are struggling with the same thing. At this point it’s a proposed 13.8% levy increase knowing full well there is going to be council discussion to decrease this.”

Should the increase stay as is, it would represent an annual tax increase of $88 and for many on the board that is simply asking too much.

“I can’t live with 14%,” Ward 1’s Geoff Baker said. “I personally would like the next two weeks to go through this. Hear what the taxpayers have to say.”

Ward 2’s Jason Baskin agreed.

“Everything costs more and I think we’re making really good investments,” he said. “At the same time the reality is the taxpayers are feeling massive pressure too.”

The biggest thing driving these costs are investments in the city’s employees and the requests to add staffing in areas of the government including a new Housing Resource and Code Enforcement Officer, something King has been advocating for over the last couple of years and would deal with the subject of dilapidated buildings in Austin rather than rely on the reporting of neighbors.

The cost of that position is estimated at $125,000, however, several on the council wondered at the need at this point for the position and considered it more of a want than a need.

“I haven’t seen the new numbers and it still feels like a nice idea that can’t play out financially,” Baskin said.

Another position request is that of a Human Resources Generalist that would handle both HR duties as well as employee communication. That position would cost another estimated $109,000.

It has also been proposed to add three new firefighters (one on each shift), a graduate engineer for the Engineer Department, a new position in the Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department that would help coordinate emerald ash borer efforts as well as an advancement for a current employee to the new title of assistant parks supervisor.

Those positions together would have cost a combined estimated punch to the budget of $609,112 but those positions have been left off the budget.

However, Ward 3’s Paul Fischer argued that while the overall levy is high, it’s not possible to continue cuts and leave things off the budget to this magnitude.

“It seems like a big number because of the fact we’ve been so low over the past few years,” he said. “We’ve been cutting for way too long, for too many years.”

Fischer went on to point out that in a previous meeting, Director of Administrative Services, Tom Dankert, had told the council that a tax levy increase had to be 9.9% just to operate as it currently stands.

“I think we need to be somewhere in that area just to function,” Fischer said. “We might be able to go down a percent or two but that’s it.”

Council members will work on the budget and come back to a discussion on the budget and levy in the next few weeks. 

The council must set its preliminary tax levy and budget by Sept. 30. After that, the levy can not be increased, but it can be decreased.