Voters in Texas‘ capital overwhelmingly rejected a plan to raise taxes to pay millions for homeless services last week, but that isn’t stopping local leaders from looking for the money in other places.
The City of Austin is now proposing cutting millions in funding from the fire and ambulance services to give it the city’s unsuccessful program for people on the streets.
‘It’s a slap in the face because they really aren’t listening, and they really are steamrolling, whatever they want to do, and continuously trying to undermine the public will,’ local public safety advocate Cleo Petricek told Daily Mail Tuesday.
In a Friday night dump, Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax released a new budget proposal that calls for over $7 million in cuts to public safety.
While nearly every other city department facing cuts, the Homelessness Strategy Office gets a nearly $3.7 million boost under the same proposal.
The $1 million cuts for the fire department means emergency responders may not be able to attack a blaze as soon as they arrive.
‘You can’t do more with less; you can do less with less,’ Austin Firefighters Association President Bob Nicks told Daily Mail, explaining that each fire truck will only operate with three firefighters, instead of the four as mandated by local law and safety standards.
‘If you have three people show up to a fire instead of four, we can’t even start attacking the fire yet til we assemble at least four on the scene. Time is very important on a fire. If we don’t have have enough people on scene to act quickly, the chance of a good outcome is very diminished.
A homeless person sits inside a tent in Austin, Texas, USA, 22 April 2024
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City Hall did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.
Just last week, the city’s liberal electorate defeated Proposition Q– a measure that would have raised property taxes in order to hand city leaders over $100 million for the budget.
The city is short $330 million this year.
Ultimately, 63.48 percent of Austin voters voted no on Prop Q, while about half that supported it with 36.52 percent of the vote.
‘Mayor and city council all send out their press statements immediately after Prop Q failed resoundingly, saying that they heard us, that they’re gonna do better with transparency and accountability,’ Petricek added.
‘They’re still doing what they want and doing it in a sneaky way and it’s infuriating to see that because it’s like they never get the message.’
Mayor Kirk Watson’s statement after Prop Q’s defeat stated that residents were in clear in what they wanted.
‘Voters prioritized affordability. They’re worried about their finances, their grocery and utility bills,’ he statement read in part.
‘We need to give voters reason to trust us– to trust that we will strike the right balance between services and the funding needed to provide those services.’
Austin’s Fire Department, whose engines responded to the scene of a mass shooting at a Target on August 11, expects to lose about $1 million as part of budget cuts
Austin City Manager proposed the above cuts to the city’s budget – slashing public safety spending while boosting the budget of the city’s homeless services
Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services, which provides 9-1-1 emergency medical response to the citizens of Austin and Travis County serving a population of over 2.2M citizens, is expected to lose $6.3 million in funding
Austin’s already understaffed Emergency Medical Services, which includes the ambulance and 911 service is also bracing for cuts.
‘I think we’re just at a breaking point at this point. Something needs to change,’ James Monks, president of the Austin EMS Association told KXAN.
However, city council will have to go before residents before they vote to authorize cuts to public safety.
The city manager is expected to present the budget on November 13, and city council will have the opportunity to discuss is during a work session on November 18. A vote is expected on November 20.
Petricek expects a major turnout from angry voters on those days.
‘You continue to disregard the message we’ve sent, and the mandate that you need to priorities, public safety, and you need to quit shifting money around and do things that erode public trust,’ she warned.
