Fitlump fucking won a Austin City Council seat, Now on to Congress 2026!

[Newdoc 3508]

Take out Austin's Energy and Water budget and it still sits above all Texas cities per capita spending. It still pales to Washington, DC, San Fran and NY. San Antonio is about midpack for the largest cities. Then there is the whole "value" proposition of what you get for your money., which is discussed ad nauseum on this thread. Austin CC has proven itself to be putrid on that front.

[wong 26]

15 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Correct.  And AE is most of that $2.4 billion, at $1.86 billion.  San Antonio, on the other hand, does NOT include CPS's total budget in its city budget (it just includes the transfer made to the city by CPS).

So, if you want to do an apples-to-apples comparison (both budgets without the expense side of the electric utility, you're closer to the comparison you cite.  There are certainly numerous reasons why the Austin budget on a per capita basis is higher than SA's, but that doesn't account for all of it, by far.  That is, the per capita budget delta isn't entirely on city government.....but a good chunk of it IS on them.

It's not just that Austin hasn't done a great job at managing its budget though (that's a big part of it).  Rather, a big takeaway here is that....drumroll....San Antonio is actually one of the best-run cities in the state, probably by far the best run of the large cities.  Seriously, lots of folks should look at how SA does things and say "we should do more of that."  Nobody's perfect, of course, but SA does things better than most.

There's a ton of truth to this. San Antonio can be frustrating from a white collar job market standpoint, but the place is actually incredibly well-run. It sucks that a majority of our smart kids end up Dallas, Houston, or Austin when they become adults. 

[ChickenSandwich 9918]

44 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Correct.  And AE is most of that $2.4 billion, at $1.86 billion.  San Antonio, on the other hand, does NOT include CPS's total budget in its city budget (it just includes the transfer made to the city by CPS).

So, if you want to do an apples-to-apples comparison (both budgets without the expense side of the electric utility, you're closer to the comparison you cite.  There are certainly numerous reasons why the Austin budget on a per capita basis is higher than SA's, but that doesn't account for all of it, by far.  That is, the per capita budget delta isn't entirely on city government.....but a good chunk of it IS on them.

It's not just that Austin hasn't done a great job at managing its budget though (that's a big part of it).  Rather, a big takeaway here is that....drumroll....San Antonio is actually one of the best-run cities in the state, probably by far the best run of the large cities.  Seriously, lots of folks should look at how SA does things and say "we should do more of that."  Nobody's perfect, of course, but SA does things better than most.

Total ATX budget was $5.9 Billion (subtracted $2.4 Billion to get to the $3.5 vs $3.4 number).  Is there an additional expense I am not accounting for?

 

And agree on SATX, first noticed with how they handle their homeless situation better than most.

 

per google AI

San Antonio has made significant progress in reducing homelessness, and is considered a leader in the field: 

 

• Decreased homelessness

  Since 2011, homelessness in San Antonio and Bexar County has decreased by 11%, while many other large American cities have seen significant increases. 

   
• Downtown homelessness

  Downtown homelessness has decreased by 77% since the opening of Haven for Hope in 2006. 

   
• House America

  San Antonio was the first community in the U.S. to surpass its House America goal of rehousing 1,500 households. 

   
• Homeless response system

  San Antonio has a sophisticated homeless response system that includes: 

   

  • Prevention 
     
  • Outreach 
     
  • Emergency shelter 
     
  • Transitional housing 
     
  • Permanent supportive housing 
     
  • Affordable housing 
     
  • Other supportive services 
     

San Antonio's success has been attributed to: A compassionate and collaborative community, Strong public-private partnerships, A well-established network of homeless service providers, An ethos of continuous improvement, and Strong data systems and wide participation. 

 

 

San Antonio is continuing to work to reduce homelessness: Increasing the number of encampment sweeps, Responding faster to complaints about encampments, and Spending more on shelters and housing

 

 

 

yet Austin city leaders went to Seattle and Los Angeles to get guidance on the homeless situation.

Austin Mayor visits Seattle, Los Angeles to learn what they “wished they had done” | KXAN Austin

Edited Friday at 06:55 PM by ChickenSandwich

[Eskimohorn 5675]

Take out Austin's Energy and Water budget and it still sits above all Texas cities per capita spending. It still pales to Washington, DC, San Fran and NY. San Antonio is about midpack for the largest cities. Then there is the whole "value" proposition of what you get for your money., which is discussed ad nauseum on this thread. Austin CC has proven itself to be putrid on that front.

I think its somewhat important to root this out because we’ll be hearing a lot of misinformation about COA government as the State seeks to disenfranchise a million Texans by removing our elected officials

[Wally Pryor 5388]

10 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

I agree with all this. She deserved to keep her post and her loss is the most shocked I’ve been by a race since Zo Qadri’s first election. I’m sure I won’t like her politics beyond the local level but her service to the city was exemplary.

At a minimum the consensus was that Kelly stayed engaged with her constituents and, God forbid, would actually respond to calls, emails or both.  In another words, she did her job. 

Certainly better than the corpse / Paige Ellis that represents my district. 

[atomheartbevo 90545]

10 minutes ago, Wally Pryor said:

At a minimum the consensus was that Kelly stayed engaged with her constituents and, God forbid, would actually respond to calls, emails or both.  In another words, she did her job. 

Certainly better than the corpse / Paige Ellis that represents my district. 

Yes, for that she should have stayed in.

Plus, it made for an entertaining simulation.

Now we just need to get Brisket elected next time.

[jimmyjazz 46972]

1 hour ago, Newdoc said:

Take out Austin's Energy and Water budget and it still sits above all Texas cities per capita spending.

Does that account for the return AE&W kick back to the city?  Honest question, I'm under the impression that we "bill" more than we budget, but I not only don't know if that's true but if it's a significant amount.

[Blotto 23974]

1 hour ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Austin City Council approved its $5.9 billion 2024-2025 budget — a $400 million increase from last year and the city’s largest budget yet.
 

Well over half of the spending will go toward Austin’s essentials. The city’s largest departments — Austin Energy and Austin Water — make up 41% (or ~$2.4 billion) of the expenses.

 

$3.5 Billion vs SATX $3.4 Billion

2023 population

ATX 979,882

SATX 1.495 Million

 

https://atxtoday.6amcity.com/city/austins-2024-2025-budget?_amp=true

Also the SA budget for FY 25 is 3.9B. (https://www.sanantonio.gov/portals/0/files/budget/fy2025/Adopted-Budget.pdf)

I have no doubt that the city of Austin wastes a fuckton of money on stupid shit, but pulling two numbers (one of which is incorrect) without a side by side comparison of like items is completely pointless. 

[ChickenSandwich 9918]

2 minutes ago, Blotto said:

Also the SA budget for FY 25 is 3.9B. (https://www.sanantonio.gov/portals/0/files/budget/fy2025/Adopted-Budget.pdf)

I have no doubt that the city of Austin wastes a fuckton of money on stupid shit, but pulling two numbers (one of which is incorrect) without a side by side comparison of like items is completely pointless. 

Correct. Should have been $5.5 for 2023

[Brisketexan 106618]

48 minutes ago, Wally Pryor said:

At a minimum the consensus was that Kelly stayed engaged with her constituents and, God forbid, would actually respond to calls, emails or both.  In another words, she did her job. 

Certainly better than the corpse / Paige Ellis that represents my district. 

Yep.  It's maybe job 1 of a council member -- be responsive to constituent issues.  She was.  Many others are not.

32 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Does that account for the return AE&W kick back to the city?  Honest question, I'm under the impression that we "bill" more than we budget, but I not only don't know if that's true but if it's a significant amount.

I took out just the expenditure side.  SA includes the general fund transfer the GET from CPS, so to do apples-to-apples, both should include the GFT they receive.

22 minutes ago, Blotto said:

Also the SA budget for FY 25 is 3.9B. (https://www.sanantonio.gov/portals/0/files/budget/fy2025/Adopted-Budget.pdf)

I have no doubt that the city of Austin wastes a fuckton of money on stupid shit, but pulling two numbers (one of which is incorrect) without a side by side comparison of like items is completely pointless. 

And yep, it needs to be a comparison of the same year.  Because in the past few years, inflation did a number on ALL budgets, so comparing a 2023 budget to a 2022 budget isn't really accurate.

[Bozo_Casanova 26773]

57 minutes ago, Wally Pryor said:

At a minimum the consensus was that Kelly stayed engaged with her constituents and, God forbid, would actually respond to calls, emails or both.  In other words, she did her job. 

Well put

[jimmyjazz 46972]

We all know she did a "decent" job, at least with regard to being accountable to her constituency.  The fact that fitlump could set a relatively high bar in the process tells us everything we need to know about the average city councilperson.

[Brisketexan 106618]

1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

We all know she did a "decent" job, at least with regard to being accountable to her constituency.  The fact that fitlump could set a relatively high bar in the process tells us everything we need to know about the average city councilperson.

And THAT is on-the-nose.

[Bozo_Casanova 26773]

5 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

We all know she did a "decent" job, at least with regard to being accountable to her constituency.  The fact that fitlump could set a relatively high bar in the process tells us everything we need to know about the average city councilperson.

If you want a good council, double the salary. If you want a really good one, quadruple it. It’s a terrible job and most of the qualified, dynamic leaders in our city want nothing to do with it. We treat our council members like shit, subject them to endless interactions with the most selfish, myopic and annoying people in the city, and we don’t pay them enough to live comfortably.

The most shocking thing about our city council is that it’s not much, much worse. 

[Deej 77669]

12 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

We all know she did a "decent" job, at least with regard to being accountable to her constituency.  The fact that fitlump could set a relatively high bar in the process tells us everything we need to know about the average city councilperson.

She was new to it all. Just excited to be there.  If she had been re-elected, I have little doubt she would have figured out how to grift. 

[Deej 77669]

1 minute ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

We treat our council members like shit, subject them to endless interactions with the most selfish, myopic and annoying people in the city

The last bit describes our city council members. 

[jimmyjazz 46972]

13 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

If you want a good council, double the salary. If you want a really good one, quadruple it.

It's certainly a headwind to attracting the most driven and capable individuals.  Not that $117K is terrible, but if you want serious, educated and dedicated public servants, then it's going to take more than that to pull them away from law firms, consultancies, etc.  The irony is that making the job more attractive wouldn't dent the budget, and they'd quite possibly have a net positive effect in that regard.

[randomhorn 2111]

23 minutes ago, Deej said:

The last bit describes our city council members. 

And is the Surly motto 

[Bozo_Casanova 26773]

1 hour ago, Deej said:

The last bit describes our city council members. 

Spend an hour with many of our activist groups and partisan clubs or sit in the chambers and listen to the cross-talk during a contentious zoning case, and you’ll come away with the distinct impression that this council is better than we deserve.
Not joking. 

Edited Friday at 10:10 PM by Bozo_Casanova