Just months after Austin City Council approved an ordinance establishing an independent, comprehensive efficiency audit of City Hall, a political action committee says it has gathered enough signatures to place a charter amendment with similar aims before voters this November.
Save Austin Now PAC argues the February-approved council ordinance did not go far enough and pressed ahead with a petition to place a charter amendment on the ballot this fall. If approved by voters, the measure would require the city to hold a comprehensive performance audit every five years and within one year before any future tax rate election. Because it would become part of Austin’s city charter, any changes to the program would require additional voter approval.
“An ordinance can be undone with six votes on the council at any time,” said Matt Mackowiak, Save Austin Now’s co-chair. “A charter amendment can only be undone through another charter election.”
Both audit proposals stem from the overwhelming defeat of Proposition Q last November, which revealed growing skepticism among voters about City Hall’s fiscal stewardship. In the weeks that followed the election, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson pledged to rebuild public trust and advanced several measures to increase accountability and improve fiscal oversight. As part of that effort, City Council approved an audit ordinance that launched an ongoing, independent assessment of city services.
While Mackowiak says the charter amendment remains necessary to ensure long-term fiscal oversight, some city leaders, including Watson, have questioned whether the proposal is more about politics than improving city government.
Save Austin Now “leadership had opportunity to be a part of a collaborative process. But, instead, it chose to file the petition,” Mayor Watson said in a statement. “This is a political move and a repetitive, haphazard proposal. We will continue to focus on substantial government reform that results in tax savings and better services.”
In an interview with Austin Current, Mackowiak argued the charter amendment is broader than the City Council-approved efficiency audit ordinance because it explicitly requires independent reviews of city utilities, vendors and subcontractors. City officials dispute that characterization, saying the existing ordinance already calls for a comprehensive audit of all city departments, which also includes the city utility providers Austin Water and Austin Energy, vendors and subcontractors.
“We’re already doing the substance of what Save Austin Now is asking for,” Watson said in his statement. “The proposed charter provision isn’t seeking true independence. It’s a political attack on local government.”
Austin political consultant Mark Littlefield agreed that City Hall had work to do to rebuild public trust after Prop Q’s defeat. He said the ordinance advances that effort by improving financial oversight and argued a charter amendment “is absolutely the worst method” for initiating the audit process.
“You only have one chance to write that (charter) amendment,” Littlefield said, “As soon as the first signature goes on the first page, there are no changes.”
As a counter to Mackowiak’s argument that a more-permanent charter change will provide better assurance to the public, Littlefield pointed to the benefits of the existing ordinance in Austin’s city code. If the current efficiency audit proves itself to be ineffective, he noted, future City Council members can “tweak it, change it, edit it, delete some parts, add some parts.”
With more than 20,051 verified signatures, Austin voters will have the final say on the charter amendment this fall.
