Public Health Committee directs city manager to develop rubric and seek funding options to protect social services

The Austin City Council Public Health Committee on Feb. 4 unanimously approved a policy recommendation directing the city manager to develop a comprehensive rubric to prioritize social service contracts, explore sustainable funding and partnerships, and engage community stakeholders before finalizing FY27 budget decisions.

The committee action followed a staff presentation from the Office of Budget and Organizational Excellence that identified an anticipated set of reductions across the social services portfolio and proposed a three-tier assessment framework. Daniel Coletta, a budget office presenter, told the committee the city is "projected to face major budget shortfalls again in FY27" and staff flagged a planned $16.8 million in potential reductions across the social services contracting portfolio.

Why it matters: Committee members and nonprofit providers said abrupt or retroactive cuts risk destabilizing services that prevent higher-cost interventions later. Committee Chair Fuentes said the rubric should use the Austin-Travis County Community Health Assessment to help align funding with strategic public-health priorities.

What staff proposed: The presentation outlined three principal levers for the review: (1) partnership reassessment to map who provides services across the metro area; (2) potential funding-model adjustments (including timing and longer-cycle agreements); and (3) a grant-and-contract performance-evaluation filter focused on strategic alignment and return on investment. Staff also emphasized a "service vulnerability" check intended to prevent cascading failures if a contract is reduced or ended.

Council direction and next steps: Chair Fuentes moved the recommendation and Vice Chair Duchin seconded it; with no objections the committee approved the policy direction. The motion instructs the city manager to produce the rubric, explore citywide cost savings and sustainable funding sources, and conduct regular feedback and engagement sessions with providers and stakeholders. The committee requested a memo update from staff that identifies which contracts staff consider legally mandatory, which are candidates for realignment or consolidation, and the anticipated fiscal impacts of potential changes. Staff told the committee they are still inventorying contracts and have identified roughly 160 contracts totaling about $207 million as candidates for assessment.

Quotes from the meeting: "The city is projected to face major budget shortfalls again in FY27," Daniel Coletta said during the presentation. Chair Fuentes told the committee the CHA should "inform and guide our investments." After debate, Fuentes called for objections to the motion and, hearing none, declared the recommendation approved.

What happens next: Staff will continue the inventory and analysis through March and April, return recommendations in May, and present budget proposals in July with adoption hearings in August. Any contract updates would be slated to take effect in October, according to the timeline outlined to the committee.