Good Monday morning --
Let’s have some real talk.
The City of Austin continues to disregard the taxpayers nearly every week, and the latest example can be summarized this way:
At a time when nearly EVERYONE in Austin is concerned about affordability, the Austin City Council has placed Tax Rate Election (TRE) on the November 2025 ballot which will increase YOUR PROPERTY TAXES by an outrageous 20%. It is ASTOUNDINGLY tone deaf.
Here’s how Ben Thompson of Community Impact described it on August 14:
Austin's tax rate will jump from $0.4776 to $0.574017 per $100 in property value—a more than 20% increase requiring voter authorization. A failed TRE would drop the rate to the highest level allowed without triggering an election.
The "typical" resident—defined by the city as owning a median-valued home with standard utility and service use—could expect to pay almost $420 more in the coming year under the council-approved spending plan.
Our drunken sailors at City Hall are counting on two things:
- Low turnout in an off-year election
- Massive spending by a newly formed outside group funded by left wing interests who will DIRECTLY benefit from the new spending if that property tax increase passes.
I cannot believe this needs to be said: Increasing property taxes by 20% is THE OPPOSITE of what any thinking person would do if they wanted to improve affordability.
When this vote originally occurred, Mayor Kirk Watson proposed a property tax increase half the size of what was passed, which would have been better than this outrage. And thankfully taxpayer champion and thoughtful Council Member Marc Duchen (who succeeded Allison Alter) opposed the property tax increase proposals and has specifically proposed an audit of city spending. He was the only opponent.
In a consistent pattern spanning multiple Mayors, the Austin City Council passed biased and prejudicial ballot language as part of this effort, but thankfully a courageous Austinite, Jeff Bowen, has sued the City.
His courageous attorney, Bill Aleshire, a former Democratic Travis County Judge and respected local attorney, is appealing to the Texas Supreme Court to require unbiased ballot language.
About this legal challenge, KUT reported:
After Texas' Third Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit against the city of Austin challenging the ballot language for its upcoming tax rate election, the lawsuit is headed to the Texas Supreme Court.
Former Austin mayoral candidate Jeff Bowen filed the lawsuit last month alleging the language intentionally misleads voters about the “permanence of the tax increase and does not describe specifically how the city council will use the more than $110 million in additional funds from the tax increase, if approved by voters.”
The city has said previously it will use the additional money to reduce homelessness, improve parks and address public safety needs, and help close a $33 million deficit.
But Bill Aleshire, Bowen's attorney, said state law prohibits language that is not "definite and certain," and that the ballot language doesn't specify how much money the council is committing to each category or project. He argued that this means the city could use the money it raises for any program or service, and that it is misleading to voters. The case filed Sunday with the Texas Supreme Court centers around the same argument.
“The truth is that the Council’s ballot language imposes no obligation on this council or future councils as to how they decide to spend this multi-year, ongoing tax increase,” Aleshire said in an email. “It becomes a new slush fund for use by the council in any darn way they want. I say to Mayor [Kirk] Watson, if you really trust the voters, then tell them the truth on the ballot.”
The city approved a tax rate of 57.4 cents per $100 of taxable value, which is 5 cents above what is allowed by state law, unless approved by voters. The city plans to ask voters to approve an increase to the property tax rate in November.
How did we get here?
To simply, the answer is that the City of Austin got drunk on COVID funding (ARPA) and when that ended, they never brought the city budget back to its right size. They want to keep the party going, except you’re not invited but you are paying for it.
But it’s actually worse than that.
As sober and insightful Austinite Larry Akers wrote in a recent Letter to the Editor in the Austin Chronicle (which I WILL NOT hyperlink):
To start the budget process, Council reversed their policy of not allowing base budget drivers (essential items) on a TRE ballot, so they could propose necessities the public would support, while burying all their discretionary spending in the base budget, beyond voters' reach.
They authorized I-35 Cap & Stitch, forcing $16.6 million in new debt in each of the next three years and initiating a billion-dollar project that will impact our structural deficit for generations. They tore down a viable convention center to spend $2.5 billion and devote $600 million of land for a new one. Voters never got a say.
Neither are we given a re-vote on a rail project that amounts to a third of what was promised, and for $8.234 billion rather than the $5.8B proposed, and that only duplicates existing transit service.
All these debt obligations will be beyond the reach of voters, impact our tax bills for decades, limit the ability to borrow for necessary things in the future, and increase the cost of doing so.
Our city leaders simply have not done enough to find efficiency in our budget to close the $33M budget deficit, all while showing how unserious they are:
- By approving $10M for art at the airport (which was slated to go to New York artists until a backlash)
- By spending over $1.1M for our absurd new city logo (which has made Austin the laughingstock of the country for over a week)
- By refusing to independently audit many of the departments that are the worst performers, including Austin Water, Austin Energy, the Austin Transit Partnership and, of course, homeless spending, which must be fully and independently audited going back to 2019
Austin families are cutting back. The City of Austin refuses.
It’s time taxpayers CANCEL THE PARTY.
- - -
Our hope is that a broad ideological coalition will come together to EFFECTIVELY fight and defeat Prop Q.
Anyone who wants to work with us on this, we will work with them.
We will raise money to do this, so we can educate voters about this indefensible Property Tax increase, and let them know how and when they can vote against Prop Q.
Early voting is Oct. 20-31. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4..
HELP US FIGHT THIS TAX INCREASE
- You can SUPPORT our campaign with a secure donation made here.
- You can mail a check made out to “Save Austin Now” and mail it to: Save Austin Now, 807 Brazos Street, Suite 306, Austin, TX 78701
- For wire instructions, please email matt@saveaustinnow.com.
If you have questions, please reply to this email and we will reply as quickly as we can.
As we have said before, WE HAVE ONLY BEGUN TO FIGHT!
THANK YOU.