AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Austin City Council members unanimously passed an ordinance on Thursday to establish a comprehensive, citywide efficiency study, months after voters rejected a proposed property tax increase at the ballot box.
With the assistance of a third-party consultant, the new program will examine municipal operations from top to bottom to identify potential savings.
Under the ordinance, City Auditor Jason Hadavi is directed to launch the audit within the next year. To ensure public transparency, the proposed schedule, the auditor's recommendations, and the city's progress in implementing them will be published on the city website.
Mayor Kirk Watson praised the unanimous vote, calling it a “really proud step” for Austin. He described the initiative as “both a back-to-basics and a modernization of local government,” noting that Austin is uniquely positioning itself as a leader by adopting an ongoing, systemic, and independent assessment of its operations.
Council Member Marc Duchen, who initially proposed the audit in August after observing a similar initiative in Houston, stressed that passing the ordinance is only the first step.
“The work doesn't stop here. We'll need to continue to be vigilant long after this vote,” Duchen said. “We’ll need to work with the auditor and get regular updates and ensure that we're receiving audit recommendations in a timely way to make informed budget choices, and I look forward to that work.”
Following the Rejection of Prop Q
While the idea for an audit was floated in the summer, it gained significant political momentum after the November election. Voters overwhelmingly rejected Proposition Q, a city council-proposed ballot measure that would have raised property taxes by over 20% to fund various city projects and homelessness response services. Following the defeat of the tax hike, Mayor Watson officially launched his ordinance initiative in December.
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A Push for Permanence
Meanwhile, a parallel campaign is underway to make the audit a permanent fixture of Austin's city government. Save Austin Now, the political action committee (PAC) that led the charge against Proposition Q, is currently gathering and validating petition signatures to enshrine a citywide audit mandate directly into the city charter.
On February 6, volunteers and employees at the PAC's downtown headquarters were seen actively verifying that petition signers were registered Austin voters before delivering the documents to the city clerk.
While the group missed the deadline to place the charter amendment on the upcoming May ballot, PAC leaders told the Statesman they fully expect to see it on the November ballot. Matt Mackowiak, co-lead of Save Austin Now, said the organization supports the council's new ordinance but firmly believes a charter amendment is necessary. Because city ordinances can be overturned by a simple majority vote of future councils, Mackowiak argues that amending the charter is the best way to guarantee ongoing accountability.