Austinites urge council to protect social-service contracts as budget proposes cuts and bigger police budget

The Austin City Council on July 22 heard more than three hours of public comment as residents and nonprofit leaders urged the council to restore proposed reductions to social-service contracts and to preserve money for violence-prevention, homeless services and mental-health programs.

"How the city could even consider cutting funding for so many social-service nets at this particular time is astounding," public commenter Lily Ann Ortiz said during the morning session, urging the council not to reduce the programs that help Austinites avoid crises.

Speakers from grassroots groups, unions and service providers emphasized concrete program impacts to press their case. Hans Maverick, a policy and research organizer, asked the council to protect the Office of Violence Prevention and immigrant legal services while flagging a proposed $25 million increase in the police budget. Pierre Barristain, CEO of SAFE Alliance, told the council an audit of nonprofit contracts should improve city monitoring but "should not become a shortcut for indiscriminate cuts." He said SAFE answers calls 24/7 and that cutting survivor services would shift costs to emergency rooms and policing.

Multiple witnesses described measured program outcomes as a rationale for continued funding. Ryan Poppe, legislative aide for CWA Local 6154, said the expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team resolves 85% of mental‑health 911 calls without police intervention and saves an estimated $12 million a year. Speakers supporting community violence intervention programs pointed to sharp declines in homicides in neighborhoods served by ATX Peace and other CVI organizations and urged that prevention be preserved as a long-term public-safety investment.

Several people who described personal experience with homelessness and services said recent encampment sweeps damaged possessions and produced few shelter placements. One commenter summarized a recent city report cited during testimony: roughly 35 people were placed into shelter after visits to 127 sites, and several speakers said those outcomes showed the sweeps were not delivering the promised results.

Speakers also requested funding specifics: reinstating family stabilization grants, sustaining immigrant legal representation, funding childcare pilots and preserving workforce-development contracts. Nonprofit and philanthropic leaders urged the council to apply performance-based criteria rather than blanket cuts and to consider the local economic and human costs of reduced services.

The mayor paused public comment for a recess and scheduled additional budget work sessions this week. Council members asked staff to provide more analysis — including geographic impacts of proposed cuts and alternative scenarios that would reduce the scale of reductions if additional dollars are found — before final budget decisions expected in August.