Good Wednesday afternoon --

We have some updates this morning:

INTERNAL CITY-RUN AUDIT ORDINANCE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR OUR CHARTER AMENDMENT

On Jan. 12, six weeks after we launched our outside performance audit charter amendment petition effort, Mayor Kirk Watson announced he was proposing an audit ordinance that the city would manage.

To be fair, as we said at the time, we believe that any effort to review city spending that leads to more efficient spending is positive.

But let us be absolutely clear: A city-run audit ordinance is NO SUBSTITUTE for our charter amendment.

Here’s why: An ordinance can pass or be removed at ANY TIME with six votes.

Watson’s proposal has a clever provision that claims nine votes will be required to change it in the future, but that provision is VERY unlikely to survive any legal challenge as one council cannot bind the next.

It is not clear whether the Mayor’s ordinance will pass when it is considered at the Feb. 6 meeting, and his proposal will likely change between now and then.

To be fair, there are some good and positive aspects to his initial draft. We appreciate anything that reviews spending in a way that is deeper than any previous effort.

But here are two undeniable facts:

1. Any audit that is city tun is not external, whether an outside firm consults or not
2. You do not rebuild trust with taxpayers by only doing an internal audit

Our external performance audit charter amendment is:

1. Based almost entirely off what Houston just did ($500k cost, $120M in savings proposed)
2. Requires a fully external, regular, performance audit of the ENTIRE City of Austin budget (for the first time in history) that includes:
   • Every department (including homeless spending!)
   • Every vendor and subvendor
   • Every utility (Austin Energy, Austin Water, and the Austin Transit Partnership which is overseeing Project Connect)
   • The outside contractor must be selected within FOUR MONTHS of passage
   • The outside contractor must complete the first audit within one year of being selected
   • These outside, performance audits MUST BE conducted AT LEAST once every five years
   • Before ANY future tax rate election (like Prop Q), an audit must have been completed NO LESS THAN ONE YEAR before such an election

The simple reality is this: Mayor Watson’s ordinance could be undone with six council votes next year. Or the year after.

Once our charter amendment passes, it can only be undone with another charter amendment.

Our effort will be the most transformation, structural reform in City of Austin history.

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EIGHT AUDIT MEET UPs REMAIN OVER THE NEXT 13 DAYS: Drop off signed petitions or come sign in person!

We have eight remaining meet up events scheduled over the next 13 days where Austinites can come SIGN IN PERSON or DROP OFF SIGNED PETITIONS!   

Please come! Please share!

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PETITION UPDATE: 13,500 Signed Petitions Received with 13 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 on November 21 (and with Thanksgiving and Christmas in between), we have now collected 13,500+ (67.5%) of the signed petitions that we need. We have JUST 12 DAYS TO GO (!) before our HARD deadline of Feb. 1,1 2026.

We have tried to make this as easy as possible, given the constraints the City puts on these efforts:

• We have now mailed more than 80,000 households (20,000 more mailed 1/13/26 and 40k mailing THIS WEEK) the petition (with postage paid in both directions). These mailers cost roughly $1.50/each. We need to pay for all of this mail!

<< YES, I WILL HELP FUND MAIL ASAP >>

• 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, print it, fill it out, sign it and mail it in.
• If you email matt@saveaustinnow.com, we will email you the petition as an attachment.
• We have recruited locations around town where you can sign IN PERSON any day of the week. The list of locations is here.

Please make an effort to sign the petition today!

URGENT: VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

We need volunteers to help collect petitions, canvass large events, and validate collected petitions. You can set your own schedule.

» Please fill out the volunteer form here.

DOWNLOAD THE PETITION: We now have an EASY download link which downloads the petition into an 8.5x11 format for easy printing at home or work.

» Download link here.

Important: How to Print the Petition Correctly:
• In your printer settings, select “Actual Size” or “100% scale”.
• Do NOT choose “Fit to Page,” “Shrink,” etc.
• Print single-sided, black & white is fine.

If you haven’t signed yet, please download, fill out, sign, and mail back. There is space for five Austinites to sign.

If you have signed, can you please collect more signatures from family, friends, colleagues and neighbors THIS WEEK?

MORE MAIL NEEDED: We have now mailed 80,000 households a copy of the petition. We need to mail 35,000 more ASAP (it takes time for mail to hit, be opened and read, filled out and mailed back.

Will you help us mail more households TODAY?

» You can securely give here.

» You can also Venmo to @saveaustinnow.

» You can make a check to “Save Austin Now” and mail it to: 807 Brazos Street, Suite 306, Austin, TX 78701.

 
>> SUPPORT OUR AUDIT EFFORT <<

OTHER WAYS TO HELP

1. REQUEST AN AUDIT PETITION BE MAILED TO YOU -- 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.
2. 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.
3. SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER -- Here’s the volunteer form, with options to help collect, help pick up, and help validate — on your own schedule.
4. DONATE TO OUR EFFORT -- We absolutely need your continued 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 minimum of 20,000 valid signed petitions that we need. We then must self-validate, which we do by recruiting volunteers and paying workers to do this.

WAYS TO SUPPORT US

1. You can securely contribute here.
2. You can make a check to “Save Austin Now PAC” and mail it to: 807 Brazos Street, Suite 306, Austin, TX 78701
3. 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