Good Thursday morning --
We have THREE important updates today:
- CITY HALL ADMITS THERE’S A SPENDING ACCOUNTABILTY PROBLEM
In an undeniable sign that City Hall KNOWS they have a real problem with taxpayers, yesterday Austin Mayor Kirk Watson announced he is proposing an ordinance to conduct a ‘citywide'' and ‘systemwide’ internal audit.
You can read his full announcement here.
Council Members Marc Duchen (who courageously opposed Prop Q and who could use your financial support today, which you can give here) and Ryan Alter quickly signaled support for this ordinance. It will require at least six votes to pass it, and it appears Council wants to consider it in early February.
While we have not seen the ordinance language yet, here is our initial response:
Mayor Watson‘s announcement that he will seek to pass an ordinance for a performance review of the entire city budget is welcome and encouraging sign.
We will see if there are six votes to pass it, and which council members oppose this sensible short-term option.
Our external performance audit charter amendment effort continues, as it amends the charter to require regular, external performance audits that will outlast this Mayor and council and both rebuild trust with taxpayers and protect taxpayers form future City Hall spending failures.
If this ordinance is passed quickly, it can aid making next year’s budget (’26-’27) more efficient with improved delivery of core services.
Our charter amendment, which can only be considered on the May 2026 ballot, may take a little longer than this ordinance, but it will be incredibly valuable for the future of Austin.
We see these things working in tandem, in a complementary fashion.
Here are two local TV stories on the announcement:
Here is the Austin American-Statesman story:
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson pushes citywide performance audit ordinance
Watson is calling for an ordinance to create an “institutionalized program” for performance reviews as the conservative Save Austin Now PAC forges ahead with a charter amendment petition.
By Chaya Tong
Austin American-Statesman
Staff Writer
Updated Dec 10, 2025 4:23 p.m.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson on Wednesday announced a concerted push for a sweeping, citywide performance audit, urging the City Council to swiftly pass an ordinance to create an “institutionalized program for an independent, collaborative citywide review” of municipal operations aimed at improving efficiency, accountability and transparency.
“As Austin Mayor, my goal is to deliver the best city services possible and to do it living within our means,” he wrote in the latest edition of the Watson Wire. “I put Austin’s affordability first.”
Watson initially called for some type of audit program last month in a special election night edition of the Watson Wire after early returns showed voters were heavily opposed to Proposition Q, a measure that would have increased city property taxes by more than 20% to fund a menagerie of enhanced city services ranging from homelessness initiatives to park maintenance.
Watson’s call for an ordinance comes as the conservative Save Austin Now PAC, which led the charge against Prop Q, is circulating a petition that would amend the city charter to require an external audit every five years if voters approve the measure in May 2026.
In his Wednesday newsletter, Watson said he liked “aspects” of the PACs proposal and “don’t differ with the proponents on the goals of accountability, efficiency, and cost savings.” But he said an ordinance was the best approach. The biggest reason he gave was timing.
“A charter amendment makes us wait until almost the end of 2026,” he wrote. “A May charter election puts us at mid-year. And then it takes time to start the actual audit process. Passing an ordinance relatively quickly and getting started now creates opportunity to use the audit results in the next budget.”
The city would have far more flexibility with just an ordinance. Under state law, city councils can amend or repeal ordinances at any time whereas charters can only be amended through an election.
That’s one reason why Save Austin Now said it would continue forging ahead with its petition drive.
The PAC’s proposed charter amendment would “require regular, external performance audits that will outlast this Mayor and council and both rebuild trust with taxpayers and protect taxpayers [from] future City Hall spending failures,” Save Austin Now co-chair Matt Mackowiak said Wednesday in a social media post that praised Watson’s effort but called it a “short-term option.”
“We see these things working in tandem, in a complementary fashion,” Mackowiak said.
- PETITION UPDATE: 2,500 Signed Petitions Received with 37 Days to Go!
- Our effort to place a Charter Amendment requiring regular, outside performance audits on the May 2026 ballot is making good initial progress, but the clock is ticking.
While only launching about three weeks ago (and with Thanksgiving in between), we have now collected 2,500+ (10%) of the signed petitions that we need. We have JUST 37 DAYS TO GO!
We have tried to make this as easy as possible, given the constraints the City puts on these efforts.
We have mailed more than 40,000 households the petition (with postage paid in both directions). These mailers cost roughly $1.50/each.
We have a REQUEST BY MAIL option on our website where you fill out your address, and we mail you the petition directly (same week as requested).
You can download the petition on our SaveAustinNow.com website, print it, fillit out and sign it and mail it in.
If you email matt@saveaustinnow.com, we will email you the petition as an attachment.
We have recruited 15 (!) locations around town where you can sign IN PERSON any day of the week.
>> SUPPORT OUR AUDIT EFFORT <<
TAKE ACTION: WILL YOU MAKE SPECIFIC EFFORTS TO HELP US TODAY?
Ways to help RIGHT NOW:
- SIGN THE PETITION IN PERSON: THERE ARE 15 AUSTIN LOCATIONS WHERE YOU CAN SIGN THE PETITION TODAY -- We have 15 (!) locations all over Austin where you can go in person and sign the audit petition every single day at a time that’s convenient for you.
>> Here is a list of all 15 locations.
WANT TO HELP? Offer your business as a location for audit petition signatures, please fill out this form here.
>> SUPPORT OUR AUDIT EFFORT <<
- REQUEST AN AUDIT PETITION BE MAILED TO YOU
As of late last week, we have now mailed more than 40,000 Austin households a copy of the audit petition. These are Austinites who have donated to us or signed a past petition, and as we raise more money, we will mail more petitions.
If you would like an audit petition mailed to your home (with return postage pre-paid) go here. We will mail you a petition ASAP and it will have return envelope with postage paid.
- SEND US AN EMAIL AND WE WILL EMAIL YOU THE PETITION AS AN ATTACHMENT AND YOU CAN PRINT IT AT HOME -- Email Matt (matt@saveaustinnow.com) and we will email the petition to you as an attachment. You can then download the petition, print it, fill it out legibly and sign it (11x17 or 8.5x11), and mail it in. There are five sections for signers so we can take up to five signatures from City of Austin residents.
- LET US OFFER OUR PETITION AT YOUR BUSINESS -- We have 15 (!) businesses that are letting us place clipboards with petitions to sign in person on the premise. We will collect each week. Please consider offering your business as an in-person signing location here.
- SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER -- Here’s the volunteer form, with options to help collect, help pick up, and help validate — on your own schedule.
- DONATE TO OUR EFFORT -- We absolutely need your financial support.
With VERY limited time to qualify for the May 2026 ballot, we are relying on mail as our primary collection method.
We are mailing a cover letter, the petition (2 pages, 11x17, and an envelope with return postage paid). This costs roughly $1.50/each. The more we mail, the faster we hit the 25,000 we need. We then must self-validate, which we do by recruiting volunteers and paying workers to do this.
- WAYS TO SUPPORT US
-You can securely contribute here.
-You can make a check to “Save Austin Now PAC” and mail it to: 807 Brazos Street, Suite 306, Austin, TX 78701
-If you wish to send a wire, please email Matt.
As we have said before, WE HAVE ONLY BEGUN TO FIGHT!
THANK YOU.
-Matt & Steven
Pol. ad. paid for by Save Austin Now PAC. Leland Bickers, Treasurer. SaveAustinNowPAC.com