» Council passes $3.9B budget for 2018, a new record,

Owner of median-valued home will see $151 hike in city taxes, other fees.

Austin leaders on Wednesday night passed a $3.9 billion 2018 budget — a new record for the growing city — after days and months of City Council frustration over wanting to add social services money and feeling hemmed in by previous spending commitments.

The budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 includes a $1 billion general fund, which covers most city operations, plus self-sustaining funds for things like electricity, water and aviation. It raises tax revenue 7.9 percent, just under the 8 percent limit that could trigger a rollback election, for a tax rate of 44.48 cents per $100 of property value.

An owner of a median valued home of $305,510 will see a $151 increase in city taxes and other fees.

Both the budget and the tax rate passed 8-3, with Council Members Ellen Troxclair, Jimmy Flannigan and Ora Houston opposed. Those three raised concerns that the city was dipping into its 12 percent reserve fund buffer, even if only slightly, and they wanted to slightly lessen the tax increase.

The budget does not increase the city’s 8 percent homestead exemption — that ship sailed in July — but the city’s homestead exemption for senior and disabled residents is bumped up from $82,500 to $85,500. The exemption lowers the value of a home for taxation purposes.

With little wiggle room in the budget to add new spending, the one department for which the staff initially proposed major increases was the Development Services Department. Staffers proposed adding 51 positions and increasing the department’s budget by 55 percent — costs almost entirely covered by fees — to speed permit reviews after the 2015 Zucker Report documented lengthy delays and other problems.

But the City Council backed away from that plan in the final days of budgeting, after Council Member Delia Garza raised concerns about steep development fee increases to pay for those new positions. Council members left those positions out of the approved budget, but might