City Council: Budding Budgets

Photo by David Brendan Hall

In lieu of its regular meeting this week, City Council bundled into the Boards and Commissions room on Wednesday to hear a five-year financial forecast from Deputy Chief Financial Officer Ed Van Eenoo. His concern last cycle that the city would struggle to maintain revenue growth proved correct, he reported, which will make things even more difficult for the city if the state Legislature makes good on its promise to further limit property tax rate hikes.

Even with a shortfall in sales tax collections, franchise fees and traffic fines trending below budget, and development activity leveling out, the city can still expect a "slight" Fiscal Year 2019 General Fund surplus of around $750,000. Van Eenoo noted, however, that the city's number-crunchers are more conservative with their estimates around this time of year; that number could still change as the budget process moves forward. "It's typically not until much later in the year where we start really being able to project potential savings." See "Point Austin," April 6, and next week's issue for more details.