City of Austin reconsidering budget following ice storm recovery

KVUE
Author: Pamela Comme
Published: 7:05 AM CDT April 10, 2023

AUSTIN, Texas — More than 167,000 tons of storm debris have been collected from Austin Resource Recovery (ARR), said a spokesperson for the department. 

That is enough debris to fill the Q2 Stadium three times over!

While it may seem like a huge feat, there's still work to be done. ARR leaders predict they'll be collecting trash related to the storm through the end of June. The main concern is the cost associated with the cleanup.  

Up until March 30, ARR has estimated about $19 million in expenses related to recovery efforts.

"The impact of that $20 million expenditure is gonna have on our bottom line ... [it] is pretty astounding," said Victoria Rieger, ARR chief financial manager.

While the City is prepared for unforeseen event like the winter storm, during the most recent Zero Waste Advisory Commission meeting, Rieger said this spending will put them in a tight spot. 

"We expect our fund balance at the end of the fiscal year to be fully depleted and in the negative," added Rieger. 

Rieger said they will likely run in the negatives until they receive a potential FEMA reimbursement.

"ARR intends and is preparing to seek reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), but any reimbursement is dependent on a federal disaster declaration which has not yet occurred," said a spokesperson for ARR.  

FEMA could reimburse about 75% of the total costs related to recovery. However, that will be about a one to two year wait for the funds to come in. 

Initially, staff hoped they could compensate the increase in costs through some gradual increases to service fees - and the additional fees are proposed to start rolling out next year. This would increase the typical cost residents are billed by about $2 in 2024. 

In 2028, the fee would be up by about $5 when compared to this year. But the timeline of rolling out those rate increases is now uncertain. 

“Once we pull back on those [rate increases], that ending balance is going to look more negative,” said Rieger.

Staff will be reworking their budget ahead of the deadline for budget proposals in May.