How Austin is run
Who runs Austin, what it costs, and where your money goes
The city manager, council pay, the budget, your property tax bill and who provides each service, from Austin's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 9, 2026.
Who runs Austin
A city manager hired by the council runs the city day to day. The council sets policy, adopts the budget and sets the tax rate.
What they are paid
- $7,000 a year executive allowance
- $1,620.32 a year cell phone allowance
- City pays the maximum allowed yearly deferred compensation contribution
- $5,000 a month housing allowance for the first six months
- $5,400.20 a year vehicle allowance
- $900.12 a year phone allowance
- Yearly city retirement plan contribution
Austin city staff
16,822 full-time-equivalent positions, including General fund departments (police, fire, EMS, library, parks) 7,079, Enterprise funds (Austin Energy, Austin Water, Aviation) 6,885, Internal service funds (finance, technology) 2,454. FY2026-27. Full-time equivalent positions citywide, including the utilities and airport. City of Austin · Oct 1, 2026
The city posts pay scales by job title. We found no city-published list of pay by employee. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Austin in the red?
Cities must pass a balanced budget, so "profit" and "deficit" mean something different here. The useful questions: does the city's everyday money (the general fund) cover its everyday costs, how much does it keep in savings compared with its own target, and how big are its pension and debt bills.
The city's own outlook
The city's forecast plans a $1,598.4 million general fund for FY2027-28. To balance it, the plan assumes no civilian raises and cuts social service grants by a further $8.8 million. Reserves are projected at 16.4% of spending, $9.3 million below the 17% target. The city projects moderate surpluses in FY2029 through FY2031 from technology savings. City of Austin · Oct 1, 2026
Savings against the city's own target
Unassigned general fund balance: $192M (2025-09-30). The city's own target: Keep at least 17% of ongoing general fund spending in two reserves: 10% in an emergency reserve and 7% in a budget stabilization reserve. The FY2027 budget plans $260.8 million in the two reserves, 17.0%. City of Austin · Mar 6, 2026
Why we skip the "budgeted deficit": many cities plan to dip into savings, then spend less than planned. The audited result tells you what really happened.
Where the money comes from and goes
The general fund only: the city's everyday money for FY2026-27.
Comes from
- Property taxes$744M · 48%
- City sales tax$394M · 26%
- Transfer from Austin Energy (city electric utility)$147M · 10%
- Emergency medical services charges$60.6M · 4%
- Transfer from Austin Water (city water utility)$58.1M · 4%
- Franchise fees (telecom, gas, cable, broadband, other)$29.6M · 2%
- Interest$21M · 1%
- Other (other taxes, fines, permits, health and recreation charges, misc.)$89.2M · 6%
Goes to (FY2026-27)
- Police$549M · 36%
- Fire$288M · 19%
- Emergency medical services$157M · 10%
- Parks and recreation$141M · 9%
- Public library$80M · 5%
- Public health$67.5M · 4%
- Social services grants$46.8M · 3%
- Other (homelessness, municipal court, animal services, housing, forensics, transfers)$214M · 14%
Your property tax bill: who gets it
Of each property-tax dollar an Austin homeowner in Austin ISD and Travis County pays, about 26 cents goes to the city. The city's FY2025-26 rate was 0.524017. For FY2026-27 the council set 0.579948. Parts of the city are in Williamson and Hays counties and other school districts.
26¢
of each property-tax dollar goes to the city of Austin
- Austin ISD (schools)Operations 0.8022 plus debt 0.12300.9252 · 45%
- City of Austin (operations and debt)0.524017 · 26%
- Travis County0.375845 · 18%
- Travis County Healthcare District (Central Health)0.118023 · 6%
- Austin Community College District0.1034 · 5%
- Total ($ per $100 of taxable value)2.046485
2025 tax year (FY2025-26) rates for a home in the city of Austin in Austin ISD (Travis County). Texas Comptroller · Jan 28, 2026
See what a Austin home costs each year, line by line →Who provides your services
Not everything in Austin is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceThe cityAustin Police DepartmentCity of Austin · Oct 1, 2026
- FireThe cityAustin Fire Department54 fire stations; also serves Sunset Valley, Shady Hollow and Emergency Services District 4.City of Austin · Oct 1, 2026
- 911 dispatchThe cityCity of Austin public safety departmentsEMS triages and dispatches 911 medical calls. A new Joint Emergency Communications office starts in FY2027.City of Austin · Oct 1, 2026
- ElectricityThe cityAustin Energy (city-owned electric utility)City of Austin · Mar 6, 2026
- Water and wastewaterThe cityAustin Water (city-owned utility)City of Austin · Mar 6, 2026
- Trash, recycling and compostThe cityAustin Resource RecoveryCity of Austin · Oct 1, 2026
- LibraryThe cityAustin Public LibraryCity of Austin · Oct 1, 2026
- Parks and recreationThe cityAustin Parks and RecreationCity of Austin · Oct 1, 2026
- StreetsThe cityAustin Transportation and Public WorksPaid for in part by a monthly Transportation User Fee.City of Austin · Oct 1, 2026
Compared with similar cities
The cities in this state closest in population that we cover. Read it for scale, not as a ranking: cities provide different services.
| Per city | LaredoTX | Corpus ChristiTX | El PasoTX | AustinTX |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 269,515 | 317,247 | 683,012 | 1,002,632 |
| Top administrator's base pay | Not confirmed | Not current (2023) | $350,000 | $470,018 |
| Council member pay | $50,000 | $6,000 | $72,800 | Not current (2022) |
| General fund per resident | $1,114 | $1,131 | $964 | $1,540 |
| Debt per resident | $3,897 | $6,856 | $2,227 | $8,489 |
| Unfunded pension per resident | $955 | $731 | $1,052 | $3,523 |
| City staff per 1,000 residents | 13.4 | 13.1 | 10.2 | 16.8 |
Figures as shown in each city's section, divided by its population. Years differ by state, and pension figures are measured differently in each state (each city page says how).
What Austin publishes
What a resident can find online today. A "no" is something you can ask the council to publish.
- Yes: Audited financial report filed on timeFY2025 audited report (year ended Sept. 30, 2025) is dated March 6, 2026 and posted on the city's financial reports page. City of Austin
- Yes: Adopted budget posted online City of Austin
- Yes: City manager's contract findable online City of Austin · Apr 4, 2024
- Yes: Council votes recorded member by member onlineThe approved budget lists each member's vote: 9 for, with Mayor Watson and Council Member Duchen against. City of Austin
- Yes: Meeting videos and minutes onlineCouncil meeting pages post video, approved minutes and transcripts, e.g. the July 16, 2026 budget meeting. City of Austin
- Yes: Council pay stated in a public document City of Austin · Aug 17, 2022
- Partly: Employee pay publishedThe city posts pay scales by job title. We found no list of pay by employee. City of Austin
Questions to ask your council
- The city's plan projects general fund reserves at 16.4% of spending in FY2027-28, $9.3 million below its 17% target. How will reserves get back to the target?
- The three city pension plans had a combined $3.53 billion net pension liability on Dec. 31, 2024, and the employees' plan was 59.94% funded. What is the plan to raise funding?
- The FY2026-27 budget sets social services grants at $46.8 million, and the FY2027-28 plan cuts them by a further $8.8 million. How will the council track the effect on services?
- The city manager's contract set a base salary of $470,017.60 in 2024, raised since with civilian staff raises. Will the council publish the current amount?
Help decide what comes next
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