CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — For months, the City of Corpus Christi has been working on a budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year, which begins October 1.
Tuesday, the second required vote to approve the capital budget failed 5-4, just one week after passing in a 6-3 vote.
"Oh, it failed. Yeah, it sure did. Okay, so the capital budget failed," Mayor Paulette Guajardo said just moments after the vote.
What followed was silence as Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni conferred with the City Attorney.
“Okay, Mayor, we’re going to get (City Attorney) Miles (Risley's) legal opinion on this because the charter requires a budget to be passed," Zanoni told the council. “Without passing the capital budget, that means we don’t have authority to do any of the projects, including road projects, water, wastewater, airport, so.”
The proposed $1 billion capital budget provides funding for the city's Capital Improvement Plan, which spans ten years and is broken down in a 400-page document.
The capital budget is separate from the operating budget, which passed Tuesday in a 5-4 vote.
A capital budget funds major improvements to facilities and infrastructure while an operating budget includes costs related to items such personnel and facility operations.
KRIS 6 News asked Guajardo what changed between last week's vote and Tuesday's vote. She said, "We had some council members who had some concerns and some questions. So, you know, they were not ready to vote on the particular budget that was presented."
Guajardo added that the capital improving budget is what contains those really important projects and said that the city needs to have a plan in place to excute those projects.
She said that the capital budget isn't something that is usually highlighted but that residents will see a differance if the budget doesn't get approved.
At-large City Councilman Mike Pusley was one council member who voted "aye" on September 3 and on September 10, voted "nay."
"We didn’t have to pass it yesterday and I think we had a lot of questions from council members, so we’re going to put it on the agenda for next Tuesday, and take a step back and look at it in more thorough discussion," Pusley told KRIS 6 News.
Pusley said he would also like better communication with residents about how much of that capital budget will be spent in the next fiscal year.
"I think one of the things on the capital budget, we need to also do is inform our constituents that, you know, the capital budget on paper is a billion dollars, over a billion dollars. But, we’re not going to spend a billion dollars next year. So, we need to take the time to explain that carefully so that people out there in the city understand exactly what we’re doing with respect to the capital budget," he said.
Zanoni told the council Tuesday that it is required to pass a balanced budget before the start of the fiscal year, according to the city charter, and that if it failed to do so then the current year's budget would remain in effect.
The capital budget for fiscal year 2023-24 is just over $700 million, which is $300 million less than the proposed budget.
"It would then delegate your authority to approve projects to me and I would appropriate, or I would proportion, based on the current year budget and so I would take your authority away and delegate it to me as the city manager based on the charter," Zanoni said.
The interpretation of the charter was questioned by Councilmen Jim Klein, Gil Hernandez, and Pusley.
According to the charter, "the city council shall adopt a balanced budget prior to the beginning of the fiscal year. If it fails to adopt the budget by this date, the amounts appropriated for current operation for the current fiscal year shall be deemed adopted for the ensuing fiscal year on a month-to-month basis, with all items in it prorated accordingly, until such time as the council adopts a budget for the ensuing fiscal year."
At issue, is whether the charter is referencing the operating budget or a combination of the operating and capital budget.
“Really by not approving a budget, you the council, lose one of your biggest things that you have according to the charter, which is the authority to set the city’s spending plan," Zanoni told the council. "You’re saying, ‘I don’t want to do it, I’m just going to have the manager do it and he’s going to base it on last year’s spending.' So you nine members are saying, "Meh, we don’t feel like doing it.'”
Hernandez disputed this, telling Zanoni that the council still has time to vote on the capital budget.
"You still have time and we have, we have another week," Hernandez said.
The capital budget vote was not the only item to fail on Tuesday.
An ordinance amending water and wastewater rates failed 5-4. Later, a motion was made to adopt the water rates, which passed. An ordinance setting wastewater rates will return to the council for consideration on Tuesday.
