THANK YOU!
Thanks to all of our efforts, Austin City Council voted in favor of a FY25 Budget that includes 16 new full-time positions for park maintenance, 4 new full-time positions for homeless encampment response within park maintenance and the creation of a land acquisition fund!
This is a major win in our effort to ensure that we have a fully supported Parks Department! (To understand the budget timeline, take a look at our blog from June where we outlined the items we advocated for in the FY25 budget.)
Thank you to everyone who reached out, wrote in, met with their council office or attended a Budget Open House. You had a direct influence on how the budget was shaped and made sure that we supported our priorities!
We also want to extend a HUGE thank you to our City Council Members who authored and championed these crucial budget amendments: Alison Alter, Ryan Alter and Paige Ellis.
And a thank you to all the council members who co-sponsored the amendments:
- Council Members Natasha Harper-Madison, Ryan Alter, Jose Velasquez and Leslie Pool for the PARD maintenance position amendment.
- Council Members Vanessa Fuentes, Jose Velasquez, Chito Vela, and Zo Qadri for the Homeless Encampment Response Team amendment.
- Council Members Vanessa Fuentes, Jose Velasquez, Chito Vela, Zo Qadri and Alison Alter for the land acquisition amendment.
To learn more about the park-related items in the adopted budget, check out this article from the Austin Monitor.