4. Draft recommendation related to climate and sustainability in the budget — original pdf

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Joint Sustainability Committee RECOMMENDATION 20260228-XXX Subject: FY 2027Joint Sustainability Committee Budget Recommendations WHEREAS a changing climate presents both a costly disruption and an urgent threat to Austinites way of life; and WHEREAS in 2021, Council approved the Austin Climate Equity Plan that provided 74 strategies to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions equitably by 2040; and WHEREAS Austin FY2027 faces an estimated budget shortfall of $54 M; and WHEREAS Austin is considering the FY2026 budget; AND WHEREAS Council Resolution 20250522-052 directs the City Manager to calculate any energy cost savings or revenue generated annually, realized by solar generation installed on City facilities for departmental use and utilize an equivalent amount of funding for projects that have a beneficial environmental impact, beginning with those identified in the Climate Implementation Plan; and WHEREAS analysis performed by ACAR and presented to the Bond Election Advisory Task Force - Transportation & Electrification Working Group on 10/15/25 in consideration of the CCIP demonstrated that spending on fleet vehicle electrification nets a savings of -41$ per ton of carbon dioxide avoided; and WHEREAS that same analysis demonstrated that rooftop solar nets a savings of -28$ per ton of carbon dioxide avoided, The JSC recommends the following for the upcoming FY2027 budget: 1. No Cuts to ACAR: Recommend that no positions within Austin Climate Action and Resilience be eliminated, reclassified or moved to other departments. Many departments ask ACAR for assistance in developing programs and policies needed to implement the Austin Climate Equity Plan. The department’s workload is only increasing and there already isn't capacity to do all the needed work. 2. No cuts to fire, flood, and zero waste programs: the Joint Sustainability Commission recommends the following programs maintain their budget for FY2026: a. Natural Land Restoration and Wildfire Prevention ($828,115 & 4 FTEs) b. Fire – Urban Forest Replenishment Fund ($1,000,000) c. Floodplain Reforestation Program ($143,000- $550,000) d. MoveOutATX ($15,000/year) e. Fix-It and Repair Clinics ($7,650/year) 3. Climate Revolving Fund Implementation: Recommend that Council ensure that the Climate Revolving Fund established by Resolution 20250813-022 in August 2025 is formally in place and that all appropriate savings are directed to it and that ACAR staff have authority to direct their use for appropriate projects. This fund is supposed to enable investments in city buildings that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Many such investments will lead to more financial savings for the City. 4. Local Solar Energy: Recommend that the Austin Energy budget included incentives for local, customer-sited solar installations done through the Solar Standard Offer program. In the absence of federal tax credits for solar energy there is expected to be a significant decline in customers purchasing solar installations and the Solar Standard Offer program provides an alternative. Providing the same level of incentives currently offered to customers who purchase on-site solar and that are planned for residential solar leasing for installations done through the Solar Standard Offer program will keep solar growing in Austin. These incentives can be paid for using the Energy Efficiency Services Fee, as are existing solar incentives. Revenue generated from new Community Solar subscriptions should also be allocated to the Solar Standard Offer rate - ideally for residential installations. Revenue from the Green Choice program could also be used to incentivize Solar Standard Offer installations. 5. Waste Reduction and Diversion: Recommend that the Austin Resource Recovery budget include sufficient funds for educating multifamily residents about recycling, composting and other waste reduction strategies, including fix-it clinics. Recommend funding for additional code enforcement employees to enforce the Universal Recycling Ordinance (URO). Composting and recycling requirements of the URO aren't being met at many multifamily properties, leaving a large number of Austinites without access to these services and without education on how to use them properly where they are provided. Austin can't meet its Zero Waste goal or the waste reduction goals of the Austin Climate Equity Plan without full participation from both single family and multifamily residents. We further recommend pausing the Zero Waste Business Incentives and Rebates for FY2026 (~$25k) and redirecting this money to waste reduction and diversion (composting and recycling) education for multifamily properties. 6. City Fleet Vehicle Electrification: recommend that Austin continue replacing internal combustion vehicles with electric vehicles, with a priority on heavy duty vehicles (such as refuse trucks) and, at minimum, maintain FY25 funding levels for Priority Charging Stations (level 2 & level 3). $1.2 million allocated for level 2 EV charging infrastructure and $3.2 million for level 3 EV charging infrastructure for City vehicles only. 7. Sidewalk Infrastructure Program: recommend that Austin complete a budget assessment and additional dollars for sidewalk development, City Pedestrian Plan and ADA Master Plan development and implementation, with a priority for high-need communities (e.g. N Lamar) and in response to clear high-risk data trends of fatalities and crashes. $15,000,000 8. Environmentally Sustainable Purchasing: Recommend adding a Sustainable Purchasing Program Manager FTE within Austin Climate and Resilience to establish a comprehensive environmentally sustainable purchasing policy and work with Financial Services to implement it and train all employees who are authorized to make purchases Commented [1]: what does this mean? Commented [2]: Not sure but it was the language in the budget from this year! we can rewrite to level 2 & level 3 if more helpful for the city. The City of Austin Climate Equity Plan Food & Product Consumption Goal 2 says “By 2030, greenhouse gas emissions from institutional, commercial, and government purchasing are reduced by at least 50%.“ Strategy 2 to achieve that goal is “Strengthen the City’s sustainable purchasing program.” Analysis by Austin Climate Action and Resilience shows that over 80% of the City of Austin’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the products and services that the city purchases. It is essential that the City establish a comprehensive Environmentally Sustainable Purchasing Plan that sets minimum standards for all products and services the City procures, and the City must prioritize ongoing staff support to educate all departments on sustainable purchasing and ensure that purchasing decisions comply with the Environmentally Sustainable Purchasing Plan. This work is also foundational for achieving Climate Equity Plan goals for private sector sustainable purchasing in the Austin Community. There is insufficient staff capacity at Austin Climate Action and Resilience to do this work. The Joint Sustainability Committee recommends that $110,000 be allocated to adding a full- time Sustainable Purchasing Program Manager position to Austin Climate Action and Resilience. 9. Establish revenue-generating C&D landfill: Recommend that ARR re-evaluate non- performing real property assets such as the FM 812 Landfill and to transform it to a revenue generating Construction and Demolition Sorting and Recycling facility similar to the neighboring adjacent property. A similar C&D Recycling and Diversion facility could possibly generate millions of dollars in annual ARR revenue and would meet the C&D processing needs of General Contractors who are required to follow the City of Austin's Construction and Demolition Ordinance 10. Furthermore, the Joint Sustainability Commission recommends that the following programs be considered as sources of funding for the above recommendations: ● Pausing spending on carbon credits for FY2026 (~$50k) ● Eliminate the Austin Energy retail rebate program for consumer rebates to purchase gas lawnmowers, linetrimmers, and leafblower rebate program (~$50k) ● Pause the Austin Water landscape conversion rebate for FY2026 (~$40k) Commented [3]: Do we have a proposal for how AE should use this money? Maybe for an incentive that requires scraping a piece of gas equipment? I think this can be a standalone item. Commented [4]: Instead of pausing, can we just (again) recommend reformatting this program to be more accessible to residents? (basically recycle from last year)