More budget cuts proposed for Austin

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin City Manager Marc Ott has recommended further and deeper cuts to many city departments, because of falling sales tax revenue and development fees.

The City Manager said Thursday he wants each department within Austin's $621 million general fund to cut at least 7 percent for 2010. The recommendations could include cuts to personnel, development fee increases and combining departments.

Ott asked Austin's police, fire, and emergency services department to slash 3.5 percent from their budgets. Austin Police Department Chief Art Acevedo said the cuts could involve police officers. Acevedo said on Thursday, the department might have to delay the September cadet class, but has not come up with any final recommendations.

"Any significant cut will be painful," said Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo. "And it will have some consequences in terms of how we provide services."

In a memo sent Tuesday to Austin's city council and the city's upper management, Ott asked for cuts and did not ask for temporary fixes.

"Every department has been asked to provide reductions that produce meaningful, sustainable reductions to our budget," said Ott in the memo. "I want to challenge each of you to think outside the box this year."

Ott gave the department heads until May 22 to come up with their menus of reductions. He also said any final recommendations would not be in the budget until the City Council reviews them and approves the 2010 budget in September.

The city manager's financial staff announced last week that the city would face a $29.6 million shortfall if the city raised property taxes. If the city did not raise property taxes, by denying a rollback property tax, the budget gap could be upwards of $40 million.

With the Austin mayoral race underway, a hot topic at the debate was budget cuts. Below is what the mayoral candidates said about budget cuts: