The City of Austin’s new fiscal year starts Oct. 1, and with it comes new city fees. That can mean anything from what it costs to swim at Barton Springs Pool to the fees associated with construction permits.
Here’s a list of some of the more notable changes this year:
Trash pickup got pricier.
The typical Austin household (one with a 64-gallon can, according to city staff) will pay $7.80 more this year to have the city empty its trash cans. Last fiscal year, Austin Resource Recovery finished a cost-of-service study and found it needed to be charging more for trash collection.
Renting out your home (legally) on Airbnb or HomeAway continues to get more expensive.
If you rent out your home or a room in your home as a short-term rental, you’re required to get a license from the city. A new license will now cost $522, up from $500 last year. You’ll also have to pay $313 – $13 more than the year before – to renew that license. These prices rose last year, as well.
Your Austin Energy bill is going up.
The typical customer – or someone who uses 860 kWh per month – will pay $15.96 more to get power to their house, according to Austin Energy calculations. The department says the increase is a recalculation of what it costs to provide services to city households.
Cremation at a public cemetery will cost more.
But cemetery charges are pricier across the board now – from funeral setup to disinterment. That includes cremation, up from $365 to $400.
You'll pay the same for litter cleanup, but that could change.
Austin households pay $8.95 a month for what’s called the Clean Community Fee, which covers services like litter cleanup and street sweeping. Austin City Council members initially talked about lowering this fee, in part to offset the rise in the trash pickup fee. But they decided instead to ask the city manager to study the fee, seeing if they could afford to lower the fee even as they agree to use some of the revenue to clear out some homeless camps.
