Putting our city budget in perspective

$3.4 billion isn’t just tough to spend — it’s tough to imagine.

The Alamodome transforming into a synthwave, cyberpunk aesthetic.

100 six-year projects — imagine the Alamodome under renovation till 2623.

Animation by SATXtoday team via Wikimedia Commons

When we talk about providing safety, relief, infrastructure, and wages for the No. 7 largest US city, numbers like “million” and “billion” get thrown around willy-nilly.

Take just one big ticket item in this year’s budget: the $35.3 million investment into a six-year Convention Center + Alamodome improvement program. That investment fits into the city’s total budget almost 100 times.

One more trivia tidbit to really drive it home. One million seconds is about 12 days. One billion seconds is 31 years. (One trillion is 31 thousand years — just in case you’re looking at any national budgets any time soon.)