City Council Approves the City’s First $1.1 Billion Budget

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX – The Corpus Christi City Council approved an operating and capital budget of $1.1 billion for Fiscal Year 2020 which begins October 1, 2019. 

The approved budget is balanced and designed to address the community’s top priorities: Public Safety, Streets, Parks, Libraries, and Water Security and Water Quality.  

Five new police officer positions are added with a plan to add 5 more per year for the next four years. The Fire Department will add 16 cadets to the FY 2020 academy for a total of 50 cadets trained. Also added is one additional EMS unit and a Fire Protection Engineer to better assist the development community.  

The budget includes an unprecedented $128 million for street maintenance and residential street reconstruction which is more funding than in the past two Fiscal Years combined. The budget includes a focus on Parks maintenance and improved mowing frequencies. The City also will stop charging admittance fees starting October 1, 2019 at all City public pool facilities. 

Budgeted funds also have been earmarked to address community priorities such as homelessness, workforce housing, public health and fitness. 

As part of the FY 2020 budget process, Council Members and City Staff hosted five public input sessions in the community for residents to better understand the budget. Public input was instrumental in finalizing the budget. Feedback from the public was overwhelmingly in support of increasing services in code enforcement and libraries. This resulted in budget changes between the Proposed and the Adopted Budget by adding $107,000 for an additional code compliance position and more library staffing.