The Austin City Council approved spending $4,145 of the city’s contingency fund Monday to help Hardy Geranium with concrete work.

Hardy Geranium owner Vicki Trimble approached the council at its July 7 meeting to ask for help as she suspects water may have been diverted into her basement as a result of city flood mitigation efforts in 2008.

She approached the council last year after she experienced water coming into her basement in the southwest corner over the past few years. She said the basement didn’t used to have issues before the city removed a viaduct when it removed the Oakland Avenue bridges several years ago. Since then, Trimble said she gets water in her basement every summer.

“It starts when the frost leaves and it doesn’t stop until the frost comes back again,” she told the council on July 7.