Economy dominates mayoral debate

AUSTIN (KXAN) - On a day when the City of Austin financial staff projected anywhere from a $30 to $40 million budget shortfall, the topic du jour for Austin mayoral candidates at a mayoral debate Wednesday night included ways to cut the budget.

KXAN Austin News and the LBJ School of Public Affairs along with the Center for Politics and Governance hosted the only live major broadcast Mayoral Debate Wednesday at the LBJ Library and Museum/

The debate saw Austin council member Lee Leffingwell and Austin Mayor Pro-Tem Brewster McCracken square off with former Austin Mayor Carole Keeton Strayhorn, businessman David Buttross and hotel worker Josiah Ingalls.

The main topic was the economy.

"Hard working Austin families cannot keep pace with this City of Austin budget," said Strayhorn. Strayhorn had harsh criticism for the two incumbent council members, Leffingwell and McCracken.

Both Leffingwell and McCracken largely chose not to respond to Strayhorn's remarks.

"My council members voted to spend $137 million more than what was coming in in revenue this year," said Strayhorn.

McCracken and Leffingwell both spoke about whether to cut Austin's public safety budget and salaries, which takes up more than two-thirds of Austin's general fund; a fund sluggish now because of a lack of sales tax revenue and declining development fees.

"There's really no way that you can make cuts into the city budget [by] avoiding public safety cuts," said McCracken.

McCracken Wednesday called for an exploration of a one percent salary cut for city employees, including public safety employees, as city leaders presented their budget forecast.

City Manager Marc Ott Wednesday called for a pay freeze for some city employees. McCracken said he asked the city manager for salary freezes to apply including public safety employees as well.

The City of Austin faces $30 to $40 million dollar budget shortfall for 2010. The number varies depending on whether the city raises property taxes. City leaders say that is likely to be their recommendation.

Leffingwell said he would only recommend salary cuts across for every department, including public safety departments, as a last resort.

And when asked, said he would shore up any shortfall by consolidating city departments. "Shifting of departments from one to the other," Leffingwell said.

Another big point of contention between Leffingwell and McCracken focused on Leffingwell's call for a 2010 bond election. McCracken said the proposal would raise property taxes, while Leffingwell said city staff had assured him that would not be the case.

The two other candidates trailing in a KXAN/Constituent Dynamics poll had their thoughts as well.

"I would not cut the budget of the fire department police department and EMS because lives depend on those services," said Hotel Employee Josiah Ingalls.

"The first thing I would do when elected mayor is forgo my salary," said Businessman David Buttross. "and I would lead by example."

Austin's city staff said they hope to present their ideas for shoring up Austin's 2010 budget by May 22.

The candidates also talked about Austin's creative economy, live music, and transportation at Wednesday night's debate.

You can watch the entire debate here, along with a replay of the live blog. Also, see quotes from the debate here.

Editor's note : A previous version of this story said Brewster McCracken called for an exploration of one percent budget cuts across the board. McCracken actually called for an exploration of salary cuts, not budget cuts.