Austinites: Let kids play, hike fines

AUSTIN (KXAN) - If the community has any influence on the City of Austin 's troubled budget, the guardians at 11 of Austin's 26 supervised playgrounds will stick around through next summer.

More than 500 people at three recent community meetings voiced their opinions against cutting the City's supervised playground program . The program's cuts had the most opposition, encountering only a 21-percent approval from the citizens attending the budget town hall meetings.

Percentage of approval from people attending town hall meetings:

• Cutting the 2010 police cadet class: 22 percent approved
• Reducing overtime: 28 percent approved
• Cutting a free micro-chipping and sterilization program: 30 percent approved

The City released a summary of the opinions of community members Thursday.

Some 95 percent of residents said the City should hike parking violation fines by $5. Residents also agreed the City should charge higher development fees and charge the South by Southwest Music Festival for police services during the event.

The City is trying to shore up anywhere from a $30- to $45 million budget shortfall, depending on whether the city raises property taxes.

The City released 320 pages of recommendations from every general fund department, which included $45 million worth of cuts. Options do not include any employee layoffs, but eliminating positions is on the table.

City officials added a fourth budget town hall meeting to get even more community input on how to deal with the multimillion dollar budget shortfall.

The newly scheduled meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday June 30 at the Givens Recreation Center in East Austin .  City Manager Marc Ott also said Friday he would schedule a fifth budget town hall meeting specifically focused on young people's input.

He has yet to announce a date for that meeting.