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THREAD: Ahead of Austin FY21 budget adoption which starts Weds., the council is coalescing around a plan to transition additional dollars & functions out of Austin Police
https://www.kxan.com/racial-justice-and-equality-movement/austin-city-council-uniting-around-plan-to-transition-more-funds-duties-out-of-apd/ @KXAN_News #atxcouncil
https://www.kxan.com/racial-justice-and-equality-movement/austin-city-council-uniting-around-plan-to-transition-more-funds-duties-out-of-apd/ @KXAN_News #atxcouncil
Over the past few days, many Austin City Council budget proposals to reallocate dollars from Austin police to other areas of public health &safety have been synthesized into an initial proposal by @GregCasar @DGarzaforD2 & @NatashaD1atx https://austincouncilforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1327
To see specific amendments from each council member & the policy-dense discussion that has been non-stop among council members the past few days, I recommend you look through all the recent posts on the Austin City Council message board: https://austincouncilforum.org/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=6a21a5377fca76e5f6ee819200b6bac7
. @GregCasar has distilled all the major council proposals for reallocating dollars from Austin Police into one Google document that has been updated regularly: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1F95cQrX9RUwjM4Ryfuu2FD5Q5jDlVSWKVvTY-KfdGW4/edit#gid=1400856760
The proposal so far:
-immediately reinvest $23M from APD budget into other departments
-$80 million “decoupled” from APD budget & switched to other departments over the next year
-$50M transitioned from APD into a “Reimagine Public Safety Fund" over next year
-immediately reinvest $23M from APD budget into other departments
-$80 million “decoupled” from APD budget & switched to other departments over the next year
-$50M transitioned from APD into a “Reimagine Public Safety Fund" over next year
In total, this proposal would call for $150M to be moved out of APD & into other areas over the course of the next year, but would depend on how quickly city staff can do that. https://www.kxan.com/racial-justice-and-equality-movement/austin-city-council-uniting-around-plan-to-transition-more-funds-duties-out-of-apd/
Of the $23M which council says can be immediately reallocated from APD. Click to expand image of where council is calling for that funding to go:
-ATCEMS COVID-19 response
-Mental Health Response
-Violence Prevention
-Food Access
-ATCEMS COVID-19 response
-Mental Health Response
-Violence Prevention
-Food Access
While @GregCasar organized this Google Doc, all the council members have been involved with either authoring or co-sponsoring amendments and riders featured in this proposal: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1F95cQrX9RUwjM4Ryfuu2FD5Q5jDlVSWKVvTY-KfdGW4/edit#gid=1400856760
The council says on the message board that, as @NatashaD1atx & @MayorAdler have proposed, they are calling on city manager to withhold spending the 2nd half of APDs FY21 budget until the council has a chance to check in again in 6 months: https://www.kxan.com/racial-justice-and-equality-movement/proposal-floated-to-approve-austin-police-budget-for-six-months-then-reevaluate/
However, it is unclear if this call to suspend APD funds for the 2nd half of the year is legal/ feasible. A city spokesperson tells me “these issues are being looked at.”
It appears APD cadet classes may be a point of tension in this budget discussion. While APD tells me as of today they are still planning to have a cadet class starting November 23, none of the council members seem to support having this November class continue
APD cadet classes have been put on pause following a third-party investigation + an ongoing audit of training materials at APD’s training academy. APD tells KXAN that audit of APD training videos is not expected to be complete until November 9: https://www.kxan.com/investigations/community-panel-scrutinizing-apd-training-videos-needs-more-time-to-recommend-changes/
. @GregCasar @DGarzaforD2 & @NatashaD1atx in their initial proposal called for Nov 20, Mar 21, & June 21 cadet classes canceled. However @MayorAdler @kathietovo @ALTERforATX want to leave open possibility that 1 or 2 of those classes may proceed if revised curriculum is ready
*reminder* this is all a synthesis of posts on the council message board so far +my calls to council offices. All of this can change today, tomorrow, or later this week
Regardless of any differences over cadet classes, it appears council will have the 7 votes necessary to pass most of the measures called for in this proposal. Details here: https://www.kxan.com/racial-justice-and-equality-movement/austin-city-council-uniting-around-plan-to-transition-more-funds-duties-out-of-apd/
Conversations about these budget changes have been in motion for a while. Here is @GregCasar last week explaining that decoupling some programs out of APD may take a full year to complete:
oop! I forgot to finish this thread about #atxcouncil budget discussions. Stay tuned
Last week @Chief_Manley cautioned Austin City Council against pausing 3 cadet classes, saying “I do believe this really represents one of the greatest threats to the safety of our community.”
